China passed the imperial examination system of eight-part essay in ancient times, which was formally formed in Ming Dynasty and remained in use until the end of Qing Dynasty.
At present, the evaluation of this system is almost negative, even completely negative, and has never played a positive role in history.
For example, some scholars said, "The rigid examination system ... cruelly fooled and corrupted China's intelligent scholars for five centuries.
"It" is the policy of the autocratic monarch and ignorant people "[1].
On this issue, the author has different views and comprehensively discusses it. If we wait another day, this paper only gives our own views on this system function that can not be ignored, as a small gift for the 90th birthday of Mr. He Ziquan.
In my opinion, in addition to paying attention to the legislative intention, the advantages and disadvantages of the system and its direct role, we should not ignore a perspective, that is, to consider this system in connection with the improvement of social civilization in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Undoubtedly, most people in ancient China were illiterate and semi-illiterate, and the culture was monopolized by a few nobles, bureaucrats, landlords and their children, so the civilization of the whole society was very low.
However, in the hundreds of years of Ming and Qing Dynasties, a prominent phenomenon emerged and developed, that is, some people in the general public worked hard to read books, read four books and five classics, and gradually got rid of illiteracy and semi-illiteracy and became scholars.
As for this gratifying progress, it is clear to compare the number of Jinshi in Song, Jin and Ming Dynasties.
According to Selected Four, Volume 31 of the General Examination of Selected Works, during the reign of Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, the system of "four years and one tribute" was implemented, and the examination was lifted in Fuzhou all over the country, and the number of people who paid tribute to the capital was "67,000"; Yingzong changed to try every three years, and the number of tributes decreased. "Three out of four" is four or five thousand people [2].
The same book contains Ouyang Xiu's Quotations. At that time, he tried to explain that "the army of Southeast State ... chooses one person from one hundred people, and the army of Northwest State ... chooses one person from ten people.
Because the southeast culture is developed, the northwest is backward. For example, if the number of people in the country is calculated according to a high proportion, the average is one eightieth, so it can be inferred that there should be about 400 thousand scholars at that time [3].
The rulers occupied the north, and the number of scholars decreased greatly.
According to "History of Jin Dynasty" (Volume 51, Selected Records 1), the lowest-level provincial examination in the middle of Jin Dynasty is equivalent to nothing. The admission ratio of government examinations and provincial (provincial) examinations is mostly 5: 1, and there are 500 or 600 people in each examination.
From this, it can be calculated that the number of participants is 2500 to 3000 each time [4]; Then only 6.5438+0.5 million people took part in the government test.
Of course, if we consider that some Han scholars lived in seclusion after the long-term war in the north, the actual number of scholars should be more, but it will not change much, which is certain.
The situation in the Southern Song Dynasty was different.
Because there was no major war, a large number of northerners went south, the culture was relatively developed, and the number of scholars increased significantly.
According to "Literature General Examination" volume 32 "Selected Five" records, the Southern Song Dynasty provincial examination 17 was selected 1.
According to scholars' research, the average admission quota is 474 [5], and about 8000 people take the provincial examination.
If calculated according to the proportion of 100 people in the "Southeast Prefecture County Army" in the Northern Song Dynasty, there should be 800,000 Jinshi in Fuzhou [6].
In other words, the number of Jinshi in the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty was slightly twice that in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The number of literati in Yuan Dynasty declined.
Wang Qi's "General Examination of Continuing Literature" (Volume 44), Jushi II: From the imperial examination to Yuan's death for more than 50 years, a total of 16 subjects were offered, with more than 100 candidates in each subject and less than 35 students; "As usual ... you get one point for three points", then you get 100 people, and only 300 people take the exam.
Even if the proportion of provincial examinations (equivalent to state examinations in the Song Dynasty) is calculated as 100, the total number of Jinshi taking the examinations in China is only 30,000.
Look at the school again.
Ibid., 60 volumes, school examination, Party history of counties, villages and townships: In the last year of Yuan Shizu, the Ministry of Agriculture reported more than 2 1300 schools nationwide.
This can be used as a proof that Yuan attached importance to Confucianism.
Actually, this is not the case.
First, the vast majority of schools should be located in rural areas, belonging to the enlightening "social studies", far from the state and county schools that trained improved scholars to participate in the imperial examination since the Song and Jin Dynasties, so they were reported by Zhang Nongsang and others, including "establishing a society" to persuade them to do so, rather than the Ministry of Rites [7].
Second, even in a few prefectures and counties, including academies, the actual number is very small.
For example, according to historical records, during the Dade period in Yuan Chengzong, there were 64 students in Jiankang Road, with developed culture, including Ming Dow Academy, Nanxuan Academy, Shangyuan County School and Jiangning County School. Among them, there are at least 7 students in 14, and only 40 students in 4 schools1* * [8].
Moreover, Zheng said at the same time that "today's capital is in Beijing and the county is outside, and it is not without learning."
This school exists in name only.
The reason for this is that the whole Mongolian ruling group values officials over Confucianism [10].
Therefore, although Yuan Renzong once attached great importance to Confucianism, the social atmosphere at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was still "being an official when people are lonely" [11]; "Nowadays, scholars can only write a few books, and their fathers and brothers have been ordered to be officials."
Su Tianjue thinks this is a "universal problem in the world" [12].
Under this historical background, it is difficult to achieve much effect whether it is the imperial examination or the establishment of schools and academies, and the general trend of the decline in the number of scholars in the Yuan Dynasty cannot be changed.
It can be inferred that its total amount should be far less than the sum of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty-800,000, which is not a big mistake.