(A) the emergence of the imperial examination system

During the period of Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, in order to establish a unified state power, various ethnic policies were reformed, including the system of selecting officials. The nine-grade system based on family status hindered the unification of state power, so the imperial examination system appeared and became the bud of the imperial examination system. On the basis of absorbing the experience of the imperial examination system, the imperial examination system was gradually formed. First of all, the first month of the seventh year of Emperor Chengzu of Ming Dynasty (587) marked the beginning of the imperial examination system. [1] Secondly, in the eighteenth year (598), "training two imperial examinations with ambition, being honest and diligent" indicated that Chaju turned to set up imperial examinations, which had important characteristics of the imperial examination system. Finally, in the second year of Daye (606), the Jinshi branch was established, [2] which indicated that the imperial examination system had been formally established.

(B) the development of the imperial examination system

After the establishment of the imperial examination system in Sui Dynasty, it went through the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties and continued until the Qing Dynasty.

1, the imperial examination system in Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty basically inherited the imperial examination system of the Sui Dynasty. On this basis, in the Tang Dynasty, the subject standards and the number of candidates for the imperial examination were clearly stipulated in the form of legal provisions. In the subject setting, there is a great degree of enrichment and development, which is divided into two types: regular subjects and systematic subjects. In addition, the content of the exam has also changed. Since the Sui Dynasty, there was only one examination, and each subject had its own examination content, and the scope of the examination content was also expanded.

2. Imperial Examination in Song Dynasty

The imperial examination system in Song and Yuan Dynasties has matured and become the most important way to select officials in Song and Yuan Dynasties. It is mainly manifested in the emergence of martial arts, the large-scale expansion of the number of imperial examinations, the remarkable rise and transcendence of the status of imperial examinations, the customization of imperial examination time, and the formation of a three-level imperial examination system for court examinations.

3. Imperial Examination in Ming Dynasty

The Ming dynasty was the heyday of the imperial examination, and it was the fate of being recommended and replaced and then restored. Its characteristics are: the children's examination-after having obtained the rural examination-after having obtained the rural examination-the palace examination has been customized, the imperial examination has a fixed style-stereotyped writing, and school education is closely related to the imperial examination.

(C) the abolition of the imperial examination system

During the Qing dynasty, the position of the imperial examination system as an important way for the government to select officials did not change, but the decline of the imperial examination system began in the Qing dynasty. For example, the school has become a vassal of the imperial examination, and the fraud in the examination field is very serious. Until the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system seriously hindered the development of new schools and was abolished in 1905.

Secondly, the influence of imperial examination system on China feudal society.

The establishment of the imperial examination system in Sui and Tang Dynasties had a great influence on education in China and even the whole world. In the history of China, few systems have had such a lasting and profound impact on the world, people's hearts and ethos as the imperial examination system. [3] Because of its importance, it was once considered by western scholars that "Imperial Examination" was one of China's great contributions to the world in the spiritual world, even surpassing the four great inventions of ancient China, and regarded it as the "fifth great invention" of China. [4]

(A) the positive impact on feudal society

Generally speaking, the far-reaching influence of the imperial examination system on feudal society is mainly manifested in the following aspects:

First of all, it improved the employment system in ancient China, made social identity no longer hereditary, and provided opportunities for the mobility of people from all walks of life in feudal society. The establishment of the imperial examination system led to the disintegration of the aristocratic family system, and children from poor families could pass the imperial examination and step onto the upper class.

Second, centralization has been strengthened. It eliminated the clan system and consolidated the feudal monarch's grasp of central power. The loss of political power of the rich and noble families and the influx of civilian children into the official career expanded the ruling foundation of the feudal regime, eliminated class struggle and dissatisfaction to a certain extent, and played a very obvious role in consolidating the feudal regime.

Thirdly, it promoted the development of culture and education in China. Because of the imperial examination and its great power to honor their ancestors and change their destiny, intellectuals take the imperial examination as their life goal, so people go to school in the hope of passing the imperial examination. Therefore, more and more people go to school to study, which plays a very important role in popularizing knowledge and greatly increases the proportion of intellectuals among ordinary people.

Then, it ended the ethos of literati's exclusive respect before the Sui Dynasty. For example, people of insight represented by the seven sages of bamboo forest formed in Wei and Jin Dynasties advocated a detached lifestyle, and then formed a Wei and Jin demeanor that respected nature and detached from things. The formation of the imperial examination system in Sui and Tang Dynasties reversed the China literati's thought of being frank and natural and not asking about the secular, and trained a large number of available talents and ruling officials for the authoritarian regime.

Finally, the system of selecting officials, which has been continued for more than 300 years in China's feudal society, was opened. Since the establishment of the imperial examination system, all dynasties have regarded the imperial examination as an important way to select talents, and the official selection system in China began to have formal and effective provisions.

(B) the negative impact on feudal society

Undoubtedly, the imperial examination system has played an important and progressive role in history, but with the change of political power in feudal society and the decline of feudal society in the late Qing Dynasty, the drawbacks and negative effects of the imperial examination system have gradually emerged.

First of all, the imperial examination is narrow in content and rigid in form. The content of the imperial examination has always been centered on Confucian culture. After the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu's Four Books and Chapters was taken as the answer standard of the imperial examination. In the second year of Qing dynasty (13 13), the imperial examination was ordered to give a topic "University, Analects of Confucius, Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean, with Zhu Zhangju as a note" [5] The appearance of stereotyped writing in Ming dynasty made the imperial examination system more rigid, and people just perfunctory it according to the meaning of the topic. In this way, the content of the exam will be consistent with the mainstream thinking of society.

Secondly, it imprisons scholars' thoughts and fetters their intelligence. The content of the imperial examination is fixed within the scope of Confucian culture, so people will repeatedly absorb and learn Confucian classics and have no interest and energy to study other valuable cultures and ideas. Moreover, the situation that Confucian culture dominates the whole country makes scientific and practical knowledge discarded and ignored. The imperial examination inspired scholars to study and be officials. However, when the school has become a vassal of the imperial examination, the content of the imperial examination is the content of school teaching, and all the purposes of education and students' learning are only for the imperial examination and. All stylistic paradigms are observed and obeyed by well-behaved people, who do not need to think or advocate innovation. The people's thoughts and minds only stay within the framework of the strict provisions of the imperial examination.

Finally, the examination atmosphere in the examination room is erosive, which also affects the world style. Some scholars spend their whole lives in order to be admitted to the imperial examination, to change their destiny, and to have wealth and fame. As a result, huge material benefits make some people prefer to take risks and engage in malpractices for personal gain. Cheating in exams in Qing Dynasty is the most serious phenomenon, which can be listed as follows: cheating, cheating, spreading rumors, spreading rumors. This cheating atmosphere in the examination room makes the fair selection of the imperial examination system questioned, which seriously pollutes the social atmosphere.

Thirdly, the influence of imperial examination system on contemporary education in China.

As the first move in China's cultural field and official selection system, the imperial examination system still has certain reference value for contemporary education in China. Because of the contradiction between advantages and disadvantages in the imperial examination system itself, its influence on contemporary education in China should also be analyzed from both advantages and disadvantages.

(A) the positive role of contemporary higher education in China.

First of all, the spirit of equality embodied in teaching students in accordance with their aptitude in the imperial examination system has continued in today's education. The imperial examination system flaunts fair competition, and the standard is "everything depends on literature". [6] That is, admission is decided according to the test scores, and everyone is equal before the scores. Through the way of examination, fairness and objectivity are reflected in a certain sense, which breaks through the situation that the official position of the gentry is passed down from generation to generation by families and aristocratic families. This spirit of equality is embodied in today's education, which shows that there are basically no strict restrictions on admission qualifications and conditions. Regardless of status, social status, race or gender, anyone who has reached the legal school age and is willing to receive education can go to school. Secondly, the imperial examination system in Sui and Tang Dynasties repeatedly emphasized the idea of "learning excellence for officials". Modern education also has obvious traces. Many students take the college entrance examination and receive education in order to acquire knowledge and improve their abilities, and then enter the official career and run the country for the officials, thus cultivating a large number of ambitious young talents for the development of contemporary China. Finally, the imperial examinations in Sui and Tang Dynasties created various examination methods, such as Mo Yi, oral examination, pasting classics, question and answer, etc., which have also been used for reference and developed to a considerable extent in today's education.

(B) the negative impact on contemporary higher education in China.

First of all, the imperial examination system has made the idea that "learning to be excellent is an official, and only reading is high" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The only way to survive is to take part in the imperial examination and embark on the road of official career. There is also a misunderstanding in current education that only the college entrance examination and admission to key universities are the only way out of life. Many parents and elders give everything for their children to go to key universities. It is certainly desirable to advocate reading and studying, but if reading and studying in key universities is regarded as a person's only way of life, it will lead to many problems. For example, the students' union only read dead books, and overemphasized the study of key undergraduate universities, resulting in a shortage of many industries that really need professional and technical talents.

Secondly, in the era when the imperial examination system prevailed, the educational task of the school was to let students win the first place in the imperial examination, and the school was the place to transport students for the imperial examination. In today's education in China, this pattern and situation are still clearly visible. What the school teaches is what the college entrance examination takes. The educational policy of all-round development that has been advocated has fallen into formalism. Today's "Examism" and "Progressivism" have well confirmed the consequences of this influence. The educational status quo of pursuing long live results will distort the educational goal of cultivating talents. Students under this kind of education are bound to be deeply influenced. For example, the lack of adequate moral education will lead to students' moral deficiency; The pressure of entering a higher school will lead to the proliferation of students' psychological problems; The school becomes a vassal of the college entrance examination, which will also lead to the failure of students' innovative spirit to play normally.

Fourth, how to overcome the negative impact of the imperial examination system on today's education?

We should face the influence of the imperial examination system on education in China today with an objective attitude. We should actively learn from its progress, abandon its negative effects, and try our best to eliminate its emerging disadvantages.

(A) the reform of examination-oriented education

The reform of exam-oriented education involves all aspects of adjustment. It is related to curriculum, examination methods and evaluation system. For example, in recent years, the Ministry of Education has issued some educational documents on curriculum integration reform in various stages; The adjustment of the college entrance examination system is a response to the disadvantages brought by exam-oriented education. Specifically, first of all, teaching materials should adapt to the training objectives of quality education; Secondly, we should improve the teaching management system; Finally, the examination system should be reformed.

(B) establish a diversified view of talent

Everyone is a different individual. Under the comprehensive influence of heredity, environment and education, these different individuals show different characteristics and talents. For example, some people are more suitable for general cultural education, some people are more suitable for learning music or painting, and some people have stronger hands-on ability. The real concept of diversified talents should be to be good at tapping the advantages of individual students, cultivating them and letting them do what they can. Therefore, we must first strengthen the integration of arts and sciences. Secondly, both specialized courses and elective courses are taught. Third, strengthen students' moral cultivation. Finally, using modern evaluation methods to optimize the teaching team and improve the teaching quality.

(C) establish the concept of education-oriented

Education itself should be its purpose, and education has no other purpose. [7] School education should take the role of education as the ultimate principle. The transmission and popularization of knowledge is the inherent meaning of education, so it should not be the only purpose of education. If the purpose of education becomes the transmission of cultural knowledge and the pursuit of institutions of higher learning, if school education becomes a means to go to officialdom, then education will lose its meaning. Therefore, no matter what stage of education, we should advocate education-oriented. The so-called education-oriented means that the primary purpose of the school is to help and promote students' growth, guide and plan students' future and life development. The role of the school is a guide, not a decider. If the idea advocated by school education is to pursue knowledge, explore and innovate, and promote students' physical and mental development and growth, instead of pursuing high scores and entering colleges and universities as the ultimate goal and taking career path as the best choice for students in the future, then the significance of education will be more pure.

The imperial examination system is an innovation in China's spiritual and cultural field and an important part of China's profound cultural system. When dealing with the influence of the imperial examination system on China's education, we should learn to be selective and constantly reflect and explore innovation on the basis of taking history as a mirror.