No credit, no hard work.
One system has existed for more than 1000 years and has not been replaced by other systems, which shows its own superiority and rationality of existence. This was an advanced method of selecting talents at that time, with no credit, only hard work.
During the Han Dynasty, the feudal system in China gradually improved. At first, the rulers adopted the methods of expropriation and recommendation. Local officials or aristocratic families recommend talents to superiors or even the central government, and those who are recommended are often aristocratic children. The recommendation standard is noble family background. "A scholar doesn't know books, but a filial father doesn't live." . Wei and Jin Dynasties implemented the system of "Nine Grades Being Right", which divided talents into nine grades for evaluation, but the main basis was still family background, supplemented by morality, literature and talent. The size of the presiding judge is also a noble family. "There is no poverty in the top grade and no home in the bottom grade." So from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Cui, Lu, Wang and Xie in the north and Zhu, Zhang, Gu and Lu in the south occupied an important position in the imperial court, and even the emperor Lao Zi had to give in to them by three points. This kind of door-to-door politics has caused an insurmountable gap between aristocrats and civilians and blocked the promotion of outstanding talents among ordinary people. After the Sui Dynasty, the imperial examination system was implemented to recruit talents. "After ten years of hard work in front of the window, they are famous all over the world." The children of Su Han's family were also able to enter the official career by studying the imperial examination, which broke the situation that aristocratic families monopolized the right to be an official, and the country had a broader world for selecting talents. Moreover, a person who changed jobs with a scholarship encouraged ten or a hundred people to study hard, and also improved the cultural quality of the whole nation. Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty were the periods when China's feudal society reached its peak and the imperial examination system gradually improved. At that time, a splendid culture was created, in which the imperial examination system contributed. In the Yuan Dynasty, ethnic minorities occupied the Central Plains. At first, the rulers didn't understand the function of the imperial examination, but later they realized it and resumed its use. Although Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had little education, he knew very well that the implementation of the imperial examination was conducive to consolidating his rule. He took part in the imperial examination soon after he acceded to the throne. So did the rulers of the Qing Dynasty.
Practical application of Chinese mouth shadow
Judging from the whole feudal society, it was not long before scholars dared to talk about practicality. Therefore, most imperial examinations with Confucianism as the guiding ideology are not divorced from reality.
In the 4th year of Bao You in the Southern Song Dynasty (1256), it was the top-ranked subject in Wen Tianxiang, with 586 words in examination questions. The last few words said: "The sky is getting better, people's livelihood is weak, talents are scarce, and troops are weak. Heze is not peaceful, and its edges are riddled with holes and thorns. Isn't it enough to resist the world? " Has the implementation of inhibiting chemical cutting not yet arrived? "The topic clearly pointed out the grim situation of the country, and asked scholars to make suggestions and resolve the crisis.
During Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty (1902), he took the Fujian Provincial Examination (examiner), and the examiner was Xu Yingzhen, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. There are three topics this time: the theory of employing people in Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, the theory of Gou Jian's thought and courage, and the theory of Zi Gong's mission to foreign countries. The first topic comments on history, which has the significance of making the past serve the present. The second topic is of great practical significance. At that time, China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War and the Battle of Eight-Nation Alliance, and suffered the humiliation of land compensation. He advocated carrying forward Gou Jian's spirit of hard struggle and swearing for national humiliation, which was closely combined with the situation at that time. The third topic is very interesting and brilliant. Zi Gong is a student of Confucius, who is good at managing money and doing business. Why couldn't the Han Dynasty send people like Zi Gong to the Xiongnu to do business, so as to benefit both sides of economic exchanges and achieve long-term stability in the border? The next exam (taking the Jinshi exam) was held in Kaifeng, because the Gong Yuan in Beijing was damaged by Eight-Nation Alliance and has not been repaired. President Sheng Xuanhuai gave a report entitled "On the Nationalization of Railways". This was a hot topic at that time and later became one of the fuses of Wuchang Uprising.
China's imperial examinations have always been guided by Confucianism. Confucianism, starting from Confucius, is to teach the world to apply it. The essence of Confucius' thought lies in The Analects. If the Analects of Confucius has no practical function, it is impossible to say that "half of the Analects can rule the world". Confucianism has been constantly reforming, and every reform is related to the ideology and politics at that time. Therefore, it is one-sided to say that Confucianism is divorced from practical application. In feudal society, scholars dare not comment on current events, so it is. However, once the network is relaxed, the situation changes. During the reign of Daoguang, the sound of practical use soared, and thinkers such as Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan emerged, which was the first to create a generation of ethos.
The mechanism of selecting elites is perfect.
Talented people like Li Bai and Du Fu failed to get into Jinshi, so some people think that the imperial examination is unfair. In fact, the imperial examination system has been implemented in China for more than 1000 years. The purpose is to let Jinshi pass the unified examination, select the best candidates and distribute them to officials at all levels, so as to realize the elite selection mechanism of the principle of learning to become officials.
First of all, the admission rate of imperial examinations is very low. Except Cohen, all subjects are held once every three years, and only one or two hundred people have passed the provincial examination. After the national examination, more than 300 people will be selected, and most of them will fail. How can such an admission rate reach what Tang Taizong said: "Those who fall into my trap are the best heroes in the world"? Secondly, some people deliberately take the "shortcut to the south" and are unwilling to take the imperial examinations step by step. Third, the imperial examination elected officials, not poets. Of course, poets and writers who meet the conditions of selecting talents and appointing talents in the imperial examination can also be selected. Among the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, except Su Xun, the other seven were all literati. Generally speaking, the imperial examination is fair on the whole, but it cannot be completely fair.
From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was implemented for more than a thousand years, and various systems were relatively perfect. For example, when entering the examination room, you have to go through a rigorous search, search the outside, check the utensils (ink and ink), and cut the lunch and dry food brought in. It is difficult to bring it into the room. It is not easy to buy off the examiner. Every time the examiner takes three or four exams, as long as he meets an honest man who doesn't want money and exposes you, he will be convicted of a felony. Moreover, the articles of the exam should be published, called "Mo", and the printed books should be published and sold to the participants as model essays. This was done by Mr. Ma Er in The Scholars. The article is not decent, it can't be sold, and it will be troublesome to print it. The imperial court used heavy penalties for cheating in the examination room, and it is not uncommon for people to be sentenced to death. During the Xianfeng period, Bai Jun, a university student, was beheaded for cheating in the examination room. Lu Xun's predecessors were also discredited and jailed because of their involvement in the imperial examination case. Therefore, except for those who occasionally take risks, most people dare not try their own methods, and cheating in exams is rare.
The top scholar in the imperial examination, as well as the scholars and juren, are mostly handsome people in the present society who can do something quite well. During more than 260 years in the Qing Dynasty, there were 1 12 imperial examinations, among which 1 12 won the first place, which produced many talents. For example, Bi Yuan, the top scholar of Gan Long Chen Geng Branch, has profound attainments in Confucian classics, history, philology and epigraphy. He presided over the compilation of the 220-volume Mirror of Continuing Education. Xianfeng Chen Bing champion Weng Tonghe, military commander and minister. He was the imperial teacher of Tongzhi and Guangxu Dynasties. He resolutely fought the main battle in the Sino-Japanese War and resolutely supported Emperor Guangxu in the Reform Movement of 1898, so that he was ousted by Empress Dowager Cixi. His courage was praised and admired by people at that time. Mao Zedong said that when it comes to modern industry in China, we should not forget four people. One of these four men is Zhang Jian, one of the founders of China's national industry and the champion of Guangxu Wu Jia Branch. There are also lucky winners. When Guangxu returned to the palace for the exam, it was the 70th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Shoupeng Wang, a scholar, was named Geely (according to ancient legend, Peng Zushou was 800 years old), so he won the top prize. The second-place students in the three subjects of Qianlong, Hehong, and, are all famous scholars, but the top scholar is not so good. Some people ridiculed the examiner as blind as a bat, saying that all three top scholars were lucky, but this is a minority after all.
In fact, the biggest injustice of the imperial examination is that there are some unreasonable restrictions on students. If you want to have a meal, you can take part in the imperial examination and get the first place, such as Lv Mengzheng in the Song Dynasty and Fan Jichang in the Ming Dynasty. However, some occupations are regarded as "cheap jobs", such as shaving hair and singing opera, and children and grandchildren can't take the scientific examination. This is an unreasonable provision and a serious injustice of the imperial examination system.
Abolish the imperial examination to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages
The imperial examination system itself has many disadvantages. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were not so many restrictions. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the interpretation of Confucian classics should be based on Zhu's Notes on Four Books, and should not go beyond people's thoughts. The Ming and Qing Dynasties also stipulated that the style of the imperial examination was eight-part essay, which was rigid and bound people's minds, both of which were criticized by the world.
The most fatal weakness of the imperial examination system is that the talents it selected in the middle and late Qing Dynasty could not meet the needs of the country and society. During the reign of Tongzhi and Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, some bureaucrats carried out the Westernization Movement and founded some new enterprises, such as China Merchants Bureau and Telegraph Bureau. These enterprises should be managed by western production technology and management methods, but the scholar who was born in the imperial examination is very unfamiliar with these things and can't do the job. Western schools train talents in this field. They include primary schools, middle schools and universities, and all kinds of specialized disciplines are complete, which is obviously superior to our imperial examination system. If we are still stereotyped scholars and strategists, where will new talents come from? In addition, after the spread of western learning to the east, various natural sciences, such as physics and chemistry, have spread all over the world. Our intellectuals are at a loss, ignorant and talk about poetry all day. How can they keep pace with social development? Therefore, people of insight in our country criticized the imperial examination and put forward "abolishing the imperial examination and rejuvenating the school", which is completely correct. This is not only an idea, but also has been put into practice. 1895, Beiyang minister Wang Wenshao founded Beiyang West School (predecessor of Beiyang University) in Tianjin; 1897, Sheng Xuanhuai founded Nanyang Public School (predecessor of Jiaotong University) in Shanghai. Later, new schools were established in various provinces. In this case, 1905 officially abolished the imperial examination and replaced it with a school, which is logical and inevitable. At this point, the imperial examination completed its historical mission.
Shen Daming, Ph.D. student in legal history: the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of Chinese imperial examination system
China's imperial examination system mainly shows three characteristics: saints can govern the country and use it for us; Objective standards and fair competition; Legislative protection, stable continuation. Its function and value are mainly embodied in: unifying value and continuing culture; Promote education and cultivate talents; It has stabilized politics and promoted development. Its negative effects are as follows: school education is divorced from society, with single content and extreme stylistic requirements. In a word, because of the imperial examination, there was a stable continuation of China bureaucracy, and because of the imperial examination, there was a tortuous development of China's history and culture.