Imperial Examination is an examination for selecting talents by ancient China literati. This is a system of selecting officials in feudal dynasties. It is called imperial examination because it adopts the method of selecting scholars by subjects. From the Sui Dynasty to the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu, the imperial examination lasted for more than 1,300 years.
Sui dynasty: the origin of ancient Chinese imperial examination system
The ancient imperial examination system in China originated from the Sui Dynasty. After the Sui Dynasty unified the whole country, in order to adapt to the development and changes of feudal economic and political relations, expand the requirements of the feudal ruling class to participate in political power, and strengthen the concentration of power, the power of selecting officials was handed over to the central government, and the imperial examination system replaced the nine-product system. In the third year of Yang Di, the Jinshi Department was established, and Jinshi was selected through examinations. The word "Jinshi" first appeared in the Book of Rites Wang Jian, which originally meant that "Jinshi" could get a title and salary. At that time, the main experimental policy was a political paper about the political life of the country at that time, which was called experimental policy. Although this method of selecting officials by subjects was still in its infancy at that time and had not yet formed a system, it closely combined reading, examination and being an official, turning a new page in the electoral history of China.
The characteristics of the imperial examination in Tang Dynasty are: diverse subjects, mainly poetry.
One of the most remarkable features of the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty is the rise of the imperial examination for scholars, which has become the main way for scholars to be officials. In the Tang Dynasty, the examination for Jinshi was mainly based on poetry and fu. Not only that, the documents to be tested in the Jinshi exam were written into books, which were voted by literary celebrities and politicians at that time or approved and recommended by them. In order to improve popularity and opportunities, this practice is called running script.
The characteristics of the imperial examination in Song Dynasty: attaching importance to poetry and neglecting practical ability.
Due to time constraints, papers are generally written like this. But as a literary genre, it also has some excellent works. Due to the implementation of civil service politics in Song Dynasty, a large number of literati entered the officialdom through the imperial examination. They not only have a say in politics, but also are literary leaders. Therefore, most of the literati in Song Dynasty were compound talents of officials, scholars and literati, and their knowledge structure was much wider than that in Han and Tang Dynasties.
Characteristics of Imperial Examinations in Ming and Qing Dynasties: Eight-fold Selection of Scholars
Eight-part essay is the main content of imperial examinations in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Every time you change a word in eight articles, the titles of the four books in the Ming Dynasty require more than 200 words, and the titles of the Five Classics require more than 300 words. In order to win, candidates often write more and more. In the forty-third year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, it was stipulated that eight articles should not exceed 700 words. Only in the form of eight papers, its content also has its own laws.