Before the Sui Dynasty, the system of selecting officials in ancient China was different from generation to generation, but the system of recommendation and appointment always occupied an important position. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties carried out the "Nine-grade Imperial Examination"

Zhongzheng system ",aristocratic families control township elections and monopolize official career. When judging scholars and selecting officials, they emphasized the distinction between scholars and ordinary people and the level of family background, forming a situation of "no poverty for the top grade and no home for the bottom grade". In addition, there are overlapping organizations and overstaffed personnel, such as "more officials and fewer people, ten sheep and nine shepherds" and "no one can handle affairs easily", which exposes the disadvantages of the recommendation system. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, it carried out decisive reforms, abolished the nine-product system and established the imperial examination. The imperial examination in Sui Dynasty was in its infancy, which was a combination of local recommendation and central examination. In the seventh year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (587), every year, the states recommended three people from Gong Shi to take the Beijing exam, and those who achieved excellent results were called Jinshi. /kloc-there were only two subjects in 0/8 (598), namely discipline, honesty, fairness and dry economy. Candidates are recommended by Beijing officials, local managers and secretariat officials at more than five levels. After Yang Di acceded to the throne, it was expanded to include ten subjects such as literary talent, martial arts, moral character and political ability. Recommended by officials with more than five products, and it is stipulated that any works of art should be collected and recorded to keep pace with the times. At the same time, the Jinshi branch was established to test poetry. This is an important symbol of the establishment of the imperial examination system. Because the imperial examination is conducted in public, the prescribed knowledge structure is recognized as the main admission standard, which allows equal and open competition to some extent. Although the system was not complete at that time, it showed certain advantages in selecting talents. The emergence of the imperial examination system adapted to the needs of the political development of feudal society, and the power of selecting officials returned from aristocratic families to the imperial court, which was conducive to the consolidation of centralization of authority and was used by later generations.

Form and perfect

The inheritance system from the Tang Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty institutionalized and gradually improved the imperial examination. There are two kinds of subjects in the early Tang Dynasty: ① Regular subjects, which are tested once a year, mainly including Scholar, Ming Jing, Jinshi, Faming, Shu Ming, Ming suan and so on. Among them, the scholar subject is a special subject, and few students are admitted, so it will be cancelled when Gaozong is in power. Farming, Shu Ming and Shu Ming are the main targets for choosing professionals, which is "ordinary, but not expensive". (2) institutionally, presided over by the emperor, according to the needs of the situation temporarily ordered. There are many kinds of subjects, among which the common ones are virtuous and upright, outspoken advice, erudite and outspoken, qualified talents, martial arts security and so on. The sources of imperial examination candidates are: students recommended by academic libraries at all levels; Recommended by counties and counties is called township tribute. The number of rural tributes is distributed by the central government, with 3 people in the upper county, 2 people in the middle county and 0 people in the lower county/kloc-0. Talented people are not subject to quota restrictions; Regardless of family wealth, you can take the county exam, choose the capital step by step, and take students to take the exam in Shangshu Province. There are officials at all levels now, and some have already entered the imperial examination and won the first place in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them are recommended by ministers. The content of the imperial examination is mainly Confucian classics. At that time, most people of insight were willing to apply for Jinshi, and only one or two people were selected from 100; The Ming Classics Department mainly examines the memory of classics, often taking one or two out of ten, so it is known as "thirty old Ming Classics, fifty young scholars". The setting of subjects is based on the needs of the situation, and the propositions are mostly related to political affairs. People of insight often use strategies to speak out boldly, criticize the shortcomings of the times and put forward political ideas for reform, among which a number of accomplished politicians have emerged. There were more formal examination procedures and rules in the Tang Dynasty. After passing the examination of Shangshu Provincial Department of Rites, the admission level of the main department is level 4, and the Jinshi part is A and B. But only those who have been born can pass the examination of the official department before they can be admitted to the official position. There are four items in the official department examination: one is the body, which means that the shape is correct and rich; Second, speaking means that the language is clear and organized; Three books refer to the beauty of calligraphy; The fourth sentence refers to judging whether the words used in the text are appropriate and examining the management ability of officials. The system is divided into five grades, but only from the third grade, called A, and the fourth and fifth grades are B; Appoint an official as soon as you ascend to the throne, and you will be promoted faster. In the second year of Wu Zetian's Chang 'an (702), the martial arts examination was set up, with the Ministry of War as the main examiner. The examination methods are as follows: civil servant Ming Jing and Jinshi examination. The subjects of Wushu examination include long stack, horse shooting, step shooting, flat shooting, barrel shooting, carbine shooting, clearance, weight bearing and so on. Those who are majestic, responsive, brave and talented, and can be commanders are all admitted from the candidates. Civil servants who want to participate in the military election should be people who are over six feet tall and under forty years old, who are in Qiang Yong and can command the army. The imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty were as complete as those in the Tang Dynasty. Its subjects are mainly Jinshi, and the examination of Jinshi is decided by the emperor. The content of the examination was changed from Zongshen to Confucian classics. On the basis of Tang's "pasting the name" (the name on the sealed test paper), the examination rules further implement "copying", that is, sending another copywriter to record the test paper in block letters, so that the invigilator can't identify the handwriting of the candidates and ensure fair marking. During the examination, "lock the hospital" and it is strictly forbidden to go in and out to prevent collusion and fraud inside and outside. After palace examination passed the examination, he was divided into three classes: the first-class scholar, the top three being the champion, the second, and the flower exploration; Erli Jinshi was born; The top three are from the same background as Jinshi, and the first one can be awarded an official. In the Song Dynasty, the examination was changed to once every three years, the number of places was expanded, and the first place in the department of rites was allowed to retake the examination, and those who passed the examination could still be appointed. During the reign of Emperor Taizong and Renzong, ministers' children were restricted from taking exams in the DPRK on the grounds of "improper family background and loneliness", even though the offenders ranked first, in order to attract more small and medium-sized landlords and ordinary class soldiers to become officials in the DPRK. But if you don't do it for a long time, it will be abolished. In the Song Dynasty, Wushu was tested first in riding and shooting, and then in written test. Decide whether to stay or not with strategic achievements, and rank high with bow and horse martial arts. The imperial examinations in Tang and Song Dynasties also had various drawbacks, such as asking for help and interference by powerful people, which were common in feudal officialdom. However, through public examinations and measures to encourage competition, officials have a standard of knowledge and ability, and the ways of selecting officials have been expanded, attracting a large number of middle and lower intellectuals to participate in government work. This not only changed the composition of feudal officials, but also kept the bureaucratic team alive, which was conducive to easing the contradiction between the upper and lower classes of the landlord class and consolidating the centralized rule of the landlord class. At the same time, some talents have been selected, which is conducive to improving the ruling efficiency. At that time, most of the famous officials, celebrities, scholars and scribes came from the imperial examinations, and famous soldiers like Guo Ziyi were also selected from the martial arts departments. The imperial examination also promoted the popularization of culture and education and influenced social customs. The governments of all ethnic groups in the border areas followed suit, promoted cultural exchanges among ethnic groups through the imperial examination, and made certain contributions to the unity and unity of the Chinese nation.

strengthen

In the Ming dynasty, the imperial examination only tested scholars. In order to strengthen the autocratic centralization of monarchy and control ideology and culture, according to the legend of Ming Dynasty, the proposition of imperial examination in Yuan Dynasty was taken from Zhu's Notes on Four Books, which stipulated that the examination paper should be "spoken for saints" and the composition should be guided by Neo-Confucianism. At the same time, it is stipulated that the test paper must be written in eight-part essay, that is, the full text is divided into eight parts: breaking the topic, bearing the topic, opening the lecture, opening, opening, opening and ending. Each part uses two pairs of parallel words to limit the number of words, so it is called eight-part essay, which is also called intentional and perfect. The examination procedure is also more complicated, with the increase of pre-examination at all levels and the combination of schools and imperial examinations. The so-called "school reserve for preparation". Since the mid-Ming dynasty, the imperial examination has become increasingly important, and there has been a situation in which Jinshi or Hanlin did not enter the cabinet. In order to pursue the imperial examination quota, schools all over the country often focus on Confucian classics and stereotyped writing, resulting in a large number of students with single knowledge, rigid thinking and divorced from reality. At that time, people of insight compared the eight-part essay in the imperial examination to the burning of books and burying Confucianism in the Qin dynasty, and even thought it was "destroying the eight-part essay." In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination for martial arts took the system of Tang and Song Dynasties, and it was not until the fourth year of Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty (163 1) that the martial arts palace examination was established and the champion of martial arts was established.

Become weak and die

The imperial examination system, which takes stereotyped writing of Confucian classics as the examination content, developed to the Qing Dynasty, and its disadvantages have been exposed. In the early Qing dynasty, some ministers suggested reform, but in order to promote cultural absolutism, the rulers of the Qing dynasty took the imperial examination as a means to win over Han literati and a tool to imprison intellectuals' thoughts. Apart from admitting Manchu and giving preferential treatment to the children of the Eight Banners, the rest are inherited from the past. Emperor Qianlong also assigned Fang Bao, a scholar, to compile the eight-part essay written by famous Ming and Qing dynasties into The Four Books of King James, which was published all over the country for examiners to read. Because memorizing stereotyped Scripture can lead to promotion, more and more candidates take part in the imperial examination. In order to limit the number of students admitted, examiners often focus on examination questions, resulting in a large number of off-topic, difficult problems and strange questions that are worthless, similar to word games. Candidates try to find chapters and sentences to cater to the examination questions, and the imperial examination system is more rigid, which has become a major obstacle to innovative politics and the development of science and culture. The Qing dynasty also set up martial arts, and the examination was divided into infield and infield. Try the bow knife "ma bu" or horse stance just look in the outfield, and then enter Wujing after passing the test. At the end of Qing dynasty, firearms were widely used in the army, and the old methods and skills of fighting were out of date, and the contents of martial arts examinations were out of date. In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (190 1), the martial arts examination was officially abolished. In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), with the introduction of modern science and culture and the upsurge of domestic democratic revolutionary movement, the Qing court was finally forced to order the "suspension of imperial examinations" and abolish the imperial examination system that had been implemented for thousands of years.