Although the titles of "Xiucai", "Juren" and "Jinshi" are not all due to the imperial examination, these identities are generally tacitly recognized as the titles of the imperial examination talents in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Therefore, if you want to understand their social status, strictly speaking, you need to talk about the two eras before the Tang and Song dynasties and after the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Before the Tang and Song dynasties, "Xiucai", "Lifting People" and "Jinshi" were just ordinary identities
"Xiucai" actually existed in the Han Dynasty, also known as "Maocai", is a product of the inspection system, in the records of the history of the time often see the record of "Maocai", that is, to talk about this matter.
In the Tang Dynasty, the reform of the imperial examination system was carried out, and it was once set up"
Xiu Caike
So those who take this exam are called "xiucai". But the exam was later cancelled and only existed for a short time.
The "Xiucai" or "Maocai" under the inspection system was "lifting people" at that time.
This is influenced by traditions such as "raising filial piety and honesty", and the local government recommends talents to go to the central examination, that is, the township tribute, and these people are called "lifting people".
The title of "Jinshi" is also relatively broad.
Unlike the Ming and Qing dynasties, which were called "KaoJinshi", in the Tang Dynasty, all candidates who took the examination of the "Jinshike" of the Imperial Examination were called "Jinshi".
In other words, no matter whether you pass the exam or not, as long as you want to take this exam, it is called "Jinshi".
Therefore, the Tang Dynasty's "Xiucai", "Lifting People", "Jinshi" are actually not so valuable, in fact, it is just another title for readers, and more specifically, it is the more excellent part of the readers.
Social status and normal students are no different, of course, those who pass the examination will enter the government to study, such as Hanlin and other institutions, and graduate in such a school, indicating that they have a certain ability to govern, and they will have the opportunity to be awarded official positions with real power.
The magistrates would not be in awe of these people, but at best showed respect among the readers.
After the Ming and Qing dynasties, "Xiucai", "Lifting People", and "Jinshi" had a higher gold content
Today's mention of "Xiucai" and other titles, generally tacitly acquiescing is the talent born after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, more like a special social class, between "officials" and "people".
The real starting point of a reader is to start from the "show talent" in the examination.
Don't think that this show is very easy to achieve, it also needs exams, and the difficulty is not low, not everyone can get the exam, after all, in ancient times reading itself is not a very easy thing.
Now some people think that "show talent" is equivalent to today's college undergraduate, which is the nonsense of laymen and should not be true.
Some people have done statistics, there are Qing generation children, that is, the title of the readers before the examination of Xiucai, the number of about 2-3 million, and less than 500,000 can obtain the status of Xiucai, while the population of the Qing Dynasty is between 100 million and 400 million.
In more than two hundred years, the empire with a population of more than 100 million people has a total of less than 500,000 talents, and do you still think that "show talents" are easy to be admitted?
Of course, being admitted to Xiucai, although generally cannot be an official, it also means that they have preliminary political qualifications.
At the same time, Xiucai also has a lot of privileges.
For example, if you see an official who does not kneel, of course, you must also depend on what official; if you are tried and not punished, you will naturally be divided into grades; if you do not accept servitude and do not pay the field tax, these two articles are more realistic.
It shows that as long as he passed the Xiucai examination, his living standard was much better than that of ordinary people at that time.
If the ability is strong enough, the third class is admitted to the first class, the imperial court gives rice money every month, and there are special condolences during the New Year's Festival, encouraging them to continue to take the entrance examination.
Because there are not enough grass-roots officials, some basic work, such as documents, litigation, and other work are outsourced to xiucai to do, they also help the people, the reputation is generally good, the government and the people have a little face, which is not available to other people with other identities.
Therefore, although the magistrates did not respect Xiucai, they generally did not offend, after all, they themselves were once from this origin.
And to be able to be a magistrate, the worst is also a person who is born, and Xiucai should be in awe of local officials.
If you can get the "lifting person" from the show talent, it will be even more powerful.
We say that Xiucai has less than 500,000 people in the Qing Dynasty, and even fewer people, only a mere 150,000 people. In the past three hundred years, only such a few people have been selected, and the average number of people is less than a thousand a year, which can be imagined to be difficult.
Of course, if you pass the examination, you think that you can become an official, if you only raise people, being a county magistrate is the lowest level of official positions, of course, there is still room for advancement.
At this time, the identity is no longer ordinary people, but represents the government.
We often divide the ancient people into "scholars, peasants, industrialists, and merchants", but in fact, above them, there are also officials who govern these people. Their behavior will directly affect the living standards of the people under their rule, and you must be honest and obedient, no matter whether you are a farmer or a rich businessman.
Therefore, once the province issued a notice announcing that the show talent in a certain place had been lifted, it was really a big deal. Not to mention the reverential attitude of the people around them before, that is, all kinds of rich merchants have to rush to tie the knot and give grace in advance, and it is best to pay tribute and dissolve those who have grudges in advance, otherwise they may return to their hometown one day to become parents and officials.
And for local officials, this is also an honor, and there is absolutely no harm in taking this opportunity to make friends, maybe this is the future colleague. Respect is there, although it is not in awe, but it will not be easily offended, and it is enough for the peers to discuss friendship.
This treatment is probably "one step to ascend to heaven", can you understand why Fan Jinzhongju went crazy after that?
At the stage of entering the army, it is very likely that he will be a future member of the central government.
Different from the Xiucai examination, the students who lift people in the examination must go to the entrance examination, and the road fee and tuition fee are reimbursed by the government, which is called "bus". In modern times, there is a "book on the bus", and that "bus" means this.
The triennial entrance examination, the number of admissions is about 300, how fierce the competition is needless to say.
The funny thing is that some people compare the entrance examination to the college entrance examination, which is too far away.
It should be noted that the examination at this time is not a two-session exam that can be completed, often has to be tested many times, which can be understood as the initial examination, re-examination, interview, two-sided, three-sided... Finally, the temple tried to divide the top three, which is not the end, the first three were excluded, that is, the champion, the list eye and the tanhua, and the rest of the people participated in the imperial examination.
Can I become an official after this series of exams?
It is also not right, because it is true that there are official positions in the body, but in fact, it is still in the stage of learning how to be an official, and there is no too important authority, and some people who have been valued often have to exercise externally after learning, which is a very complicated process.
Speaking of this, we can know that the status of a jinshi is very noble, and not all officials are from jinshi, and even most of the officials have not reached this level. The "jinshi" origin mentioned here still refers to all the people in the examination, and there is no subdivision level. If it is subdivided, there are also differences such as "jinshi origin", "same jinshi origin" and so on.
Then, in the eyes of those who have passed the examination for the "jinshi", the local officials are actually not a level of existence, and if there is no accident, it will be difficult for them to see the people who have passed the examination again for a lifetime, because these talents are almost all the reserves of the central government. Even if you are a poor jinshi, you can be a five-pin official or so, the worst is a provincial and ministerial level, and it is not impossible to be called a leader other than the emperor.
Therefore, there is a very interesting phenomenon, in some areas in the south that are rich in "Yuanyuan" and "Jinshi" and other areas, the local officials are often very depressed, and do not dare to offend too many people, who knows if there has ever been a "Jinshi" in the family of the offended?
The local parent officials may be proud of the fact that they have produced a jinshi under their rule, but when it comes to "reverence", because there is not much intersection, it is estimated that this attitude does not make much sense.