Reading Notes "Tang Six Classics" Volume II Shangshu Officials Department (Part II) Tang Dynasty Imperial Examination

Continuation of Reading Notes "Tang Six Classics" Volume II Shangshu Officials Department (Middle)

This section is mainly about the Imperial Examination System of the Tang Dynasty, which was administered by Wai Lang, a subordinate of Kao Gong Lang:

In the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination was first presided over by the officials according to the Sui system, and then in the 26th year of the new century, it was managed by a person from the Ceremonial Department, and thus the Gongyuan was established, and the imperial examination had a special examination venue, but the content and form of the examination were quite different from the Ming and Qing imperial examinations.

First, the types of examinations are different:

First of all, there are six types of exams that are selected by the state government to take the exam every year:

1. Xiucai: There are five strategies for the examination, and those who are high in the examination are superior; those who are high in literature and science are on the top; those who are high in literature and science are in the middle; those who are equal in literature and reason are up and down; those who are rough in literature and science are in the middle and upper; and those who are inferior in literature and reason are not in the first place.

2. Ming Jing: Kao Da Jing "Li Ji", "Zuo Zhuan", Zhongjing "Mao Shi", "Zhou Li", "Li Li", Xiao Jing "Zhou Yi", "Shang Shu", "Ram", "Gu (Yu) Liang Zhuan" are combined into the Nine Classics, the Two Classics, one large and one small or two Zhongjing, those who pass the Three Classics, one of the large and small, those who pass the Five Classics, and the Great Classics; the Nine Classics can be selected, but the "Filial Piety Classic" and "Analects" are required to read. Examination: Two stickers of the "Filial Piety Sutra", eight stickers of the "Analects", each post of three sentences, six stickers of correct answers can enter the trial strategy stage;

Trial strategy: four articles each for the Zhou Li, Zuo Chuan, and Li Ji, three articles each for the Filial Piety Sutra and the Analects, and three articles for the rest of the sutras, for a total of twenty questions:

For those who have passed through the Five Classics, the ten paths are up and down, the eight paths are up and down, the seven paths are up and down, and the six paths are up and down;

For those who have three sutras, all of them are up and down, the ten paths are up and down, the nine paths are up and down, the eight are middle and upper, and the seven and two sutras are not the first for the five paths

3. Jinshi: A post of the Examination of the Nine Classics and "Lao Tzu", two essays, five articles of policy and current affairs, although the articles are required to be "Dongshi Wenlu" and the policy needs "righteousness and security", but the early Tang Dynasty was influenced by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the articles were often rhetorical but empty.

The economic policy is all through A; the policy is four, the tie through six is B, and the following is not the first.

4. Clear Law: One part of each examination law and order, each part of ten stickers; ten articles of planning and testing, seven articles of law, and three articles of order. All passes are A, pass eight or above is B, and below is not.

5. Ming Shu: Six stickers of "Shuowen" and four stickers of "Zilin"

6 Ming Zheng (suan four sounds, general calculation): three stickers of the "Nine Chapters", "Haidao", "Sun Tzu", "Wu Cao", "Zhang Qiujian", "Xiahou Yang", "Zhou Jie" and other seven parts of each one sticker, "Embellishment" six stickers, "Ji Gu" four stickers, the above ten books are for the ten books of the Arithmetic Classics.

Secondly, for the students of Hongwenguan and Chongwenguan, in the past, they practiced one of the "Records of History", "Book of Han", "Dongguan Hanji", and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and then studied one of the Great Classics, one of the Small Classics, or two Middle Classics, and the examinations were similar to those of the Ming Classics and Jinshi. Ten tests, can roughly explain the meaning, through the sixth, stone three, then pass the exam. If it is a matter of entering the military policy, it is required to "know the style of the book, do not lose the purpose of the question, and try five to get three."

Students of the Hongwen and Chongwen Iikan Kaomingjing or Jinshi must also study the Filial Piety Sutra and the Analects, and take the ten examinations.

Third, after being examined by the Taichang Declaration Ceremony Department, Sairo sent the Examination Gong Si to examine the Analects and the Great Scriptures.

Fourth, the Guozijian students have twenty people who have been selected for academic success, one examination in three years, tribute and the first and the most intelligent, recite a thousand words a day, and take the oral examination, pass the four classics, pass the ten passes and seven, take the "Filial Piety Sutra" and "Analects" a total of eight examinations, and the remaining nine classics have a general examination, each examination has eight articles, and the first one is elected to be an official.

It can be seen from the above that the Tang Dynasty examination system can be seen that Xiucai, Mingjing, Jinshi, Mingfa, Mingshu, and Mingshu were the only choices for the children of the Han Dynasty to enter the shi at that time, Xiucai, Mingjing, and Jinshi were entered by literature, and Mingfa, shu, and arithmetic were often not the choice of scholars at that time.

In the early Tang Dynasty, there were far more people who were made chancellors by Xiucai and Ming Jing than by Jinshi, but in the middle and late period, Jinshi and Di were favored by Shiren, and even some people's families achieved that the six brothers were all Jinshi and Di.

Hongwen, Chongwen Erguan, Zailang, Guozijian students, then most of them were enrolled in the imperial official Juemenyin, in fact, they were controlled by the Tang Dynasty nobles, becoming a cultural monopoly, and thus monopolizing the career at that time, becoming the shackles of class solidification, all the examinations were completed, and the first person could not get the official position immediately, but had to "keep the election" for three years, and wait for the vacancy of the official position before taking office, although the Guozijian students took the exam every three years, but because someone in the family could provide good official political resources and it was easier to obtain official funds. This situation did not gradually change until after the Tang Dynasty.

If changju and the first want to quickly obtain official positions, they often choose to participate in the system to achieve their goals, which originated from the Han Dynasty system of xianliang fangzheng and so on.

Compared with the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Tang Dynasty examinations were more extensive, including literature, history, scriptures, laws, books, arithmetic, etc., involving the Analects, the Filial Piety Classic, Lao Tzu, the Book of Rites, the Left Transmission, the Mao Poems, the Zhou Li, the Etiquette, the Zhou Yi, the Shang Shu, the Ram, the Gu (榖) Liang Chuan, the Twelve Classics of Arithmetic, and so on.

Those who participated in the examination, such as Xiucai, Ming Jingshang, Jinshijia, etc., did not have a single "first place", and there was only Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, and it was not permanent, so it is believed that the Tang Dynasty did not have a similar statement to the Ming and Qing Dynasty imperial examination system.

reference:

The Six Classics of Tang

General History of the Chinese Imperial Examination System, Sui and Tang Dynasties Volume

"Grassroots Civil Officials of the Tang Dynasty"