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The early song dynasty was a period of stability and promotion of economic and social development, not only in the political and military fields, but also in the profound changes in the System of Imperial Examination and Examination of the Song Dynasty also occurred in this period, which laid the tone for the later Song Dynasty's Examination and Examination system, and at the same time provided useful reference for the imperial examination system of later generations.
The attitude of the Taizu period to the imperial examination system was mainly to inherit the Tang system and maintain limited changes, while the Imperial Examination System during the Taizong Period was mostly a change, and the reform of the Imperial Examination System by the two dynasties had a profound impact on China's Imperial Examination System, which was conducive to promoting the fairness and justice of the examination.
The imperial examination system of the Song Dynasty basically maintained the imperial examination system since the Tang Dynasty, but it was limited to different historical conditions, and the Song Dynasty Adopted a cautious and tolerant attitude towards the examination and selection of scholars during the Taizu period of the Song Dynasty.
In the taizong period, the main direction of the imperial examination reform turned to prevent cheating, promote fairness and justice in examinations, and expand the number of recruited posts, especially increasing the proportion of civilian officials, and continuing to serve the Song Dynasty's heavy literature and light military service. So, how was the Imperial Examination System inherited and carried forward in the Song Dynasty? And what kind of impact has it had?
1. Taizu period
1. Heavy literature and light force
The bureaucracy had already set the tone since the time of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, and because of his own yellow robe and chen qiao's mutiny, Emperor Taizu naturally had to guard against military attaches.
The fundamental approach is to set up a large number of civilian positions, divide the power, suppress the power of the military attaché, even in the army, the military attache can not become the real commander, the highest officer of the army must be civilian officer.
It can be seen that during the Song Dynasty, the demand for civilian officials was greater, and the emphasis on literature and light force has been set since the Taizu period, and the idea of emphasizing literature and light force has gradually become deeply rooted in various classes.
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3. Inherit the imperial examination system
At the time of the founding of the country, the country was not yet completely unified, and Emperor Taizu was busy with conquests everywhere, and he also adopted the practice of following the Tang Dynasty for the examination of scholars.
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination was held every year, but compared with the number of recruits during the Tang Dynasty, the number of recruits was significantly smaller, and the number of recruits recruited during the Taizu period was only half of the Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty.
This is because the country has not yet been unified, and the demand for talents is not very strong. During the Taizu period, there were many people who cheated on the imperial examinations, and corrupt officials and corrupt officials regarded the imperial examination system as a cash cow for their own clever and arrogant use, and wantonly interfered in the imperial court examination system.
3. Guarantee food and accommodation
During the Taizu period, many preferential policies for candidates were also proposed, such as giving certain food subsidies and providing candidates with accommodation costs.
This was some preferential treatment for candidates in the early Song Dynasty, and after the stability and unification of the regime, this system was gradually abolished. After the imperial examination system was perfected, the food supplement system was also restored, and the special meritorious name was formulated, which affected the imperial examination system of later dynasties.
2. During the reign of Emperor Taizong
1. The Northern Expedition was defeated
After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, the unification war in China was basically over, and Emperor Taizong wanted to recover the land of Youyun Sixteen Prefectures in the Northern Expedition, and the location of the war did not affect the mainland, but several battles launched by Emperor Taizong ended in failure.
During this period, war was no longer the main affair of the imperial court, the strategic direction of the Song Dynasty had gradually shifted from strategic offensive to strategic defense, and the Taizong lord should focus on domestic political and economic construction, including the reform of the imperial examination system.
2. Reform of the Taizong Imperial Examination System
Turning our attention to the domestic examination system, the core essence of which is to promote the fairness and rationality of the examination. The examination system is a key channel to open up the people's career path, which is of great significance for gathering people's hearts and minds and promoting social equity. Emperor Taizong made an innovation in the imperial examination system.
The most direct innovation of the examination system was to establish the year of the tribute examination and the number of admissions. According to the social and environmental conditions at that time, the Song Dynasty held it every year or every one to two years, and the relative recruitment of posts was more rationalized.
The most important reform of the imperial examination lies in the lock-in system and the naming system, which determines the principle of fairness and justice to the greatest extent, which can be said to be pioneering and has a certain enlightening effect on the refinement of the imperial examination system and the contemporary imperial examination system in later generations.
This has also become the most obvious sign of Emperor Taizong's reform of the imperial examination system. This reform is more like a major change, subverting the original examination system, coupled with the special situation of the dictatorship of the people, resulting in the imperial examination system in the Taizong period still showing an arbitrary situation, the process is a certain law to be found, and the organizational structure and process results of the examination are becoming more and more fair and just.
For the imperial examination system is more to inherit the Tang Dynasty, because the country has not yet been unified, so the demand for talents is not large, and the political system of the examination for the examination of scholars cannot be said to be perfect.
The biggest feature of the Song Taizu period is to provide food and accommodation for candidates, help candidates reduce their economic burden, and the number of posts recruited each year is less than that of the Tang Dynasty, and the overall trend is stable.
In the Taizong period, the imperial court turned more attention to the country, Emperor Taizong also began to actively intervene in the imperial examination system, the defeat of the Northern Expedition, let Taizong realize the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the people, and the reform of the examination system is a key step to gather people's hearts and open up the people's entry into the army, Emperor Taizong is committed to reforming the shortcomings of the examination, clarifying the number of years of tribute, establishing the locking system and the naming system of the examination system, greatly improving the fairness of the examination and promoting the equality of the examination.
This measure was pioneering at that time, and had a certain influence on the development of the imperial examination system and the contemporary college entrance examination system in later generations, and also became an important symbol of Emperor Taizong's imperial examination reform, affecting the imperial examination pattern after the Song Dynasty.
Reference: History of the Song Dynasty