As an ancient "college entrance examination", the imperial examination system can provide a perfect opportunity for scholars to show their talents and enter their careers. Taking the Ming Dynasty as an example, if the scholars passed the courtyard examination, the township examination, and the meeting examination, they would usher in the palace examination presided over by the emperor of the current dynasty in March of the year of the examination. The temple test is also known as the court test, with those who will test the Chinese style as the test takers and the Cewen as the examination carrier.
Cewen can be said to be the core of the temple test. Why? Just look at the Minghui Canon. The Minghui Canon records the process of the temple examination in this way, and the official of the ceremonial department acts as a guide to guide the gongshi into the Imperial Pole Hall to queue up to the north, and then the emperor goes to the Imperial Pole Hall to preside. After paying homage to the emperor, the deacon "raised the policy question case", the internal attendant "paid the ceremonial official with the policy topic", and the official ceremonial department of the ceremonial department issued a test paper.
Above_ "Ming HuiDian", which records the Chinese Ming Dynasty canonical system, an official revision book based on administrative regulations, referred to as the "MinghuiDian"
After kowtowing, the examinee began to take the exam, and discussed the policy questions proposed by the emperor in a targeted manner to form a countermeasure. The emperor came up with a policy question, the scholar wrote a policy essay, and after this question and answer, the examination results came out.
It can be seen that Cewen is a ruler in the emperor's heart to judge the talents of the scholars, and is a very important part of the palace examination. So what is this text? Cewen is not a one-way style, but a two-way style of communication between kings and subjects, including policy and countermeasures, which is the emperor's policy, countermeasures refer to the disciples in response to the emperor's formulation of the policy topics and express arguments, suggestions and a style, in general, the policy text is the "emperor has asked, the soldier has answered" application style.
So what is the theme and content of the text in general?
Above_ Ancient Imperial Examination Schematic Diagram
The theme and content of the text
Most of the Ming Dynasty's policies are related to current affairs and politics, and through the policies, it is not difficult to see which state affairs the emperor pays special attention to, and what the emperor's attitude is to deal with these national affairs. Here is an example of Hongwu's thirty years of ce wen.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor, paid attention to the issue of indoctrination and punishment, and was more inclined to impose punishment in view of the different realities of human feelings. Therefore, although he mentioned that the Son of Heaven was an act of obeying the Mandate of Heaven when formulating the policy, he turned to the example of "the ancient sage king set up punishment to punish the five religions", pointing out that the ancient sage king could not make everyone obey the indoctrination, so he had to implement the "five punishments", which was obviously a hint that the candidates affirmed the punishment to get favor.
The leaders of that term also realized this, and mentioned in their countermeasures that the ancient saint kings also had to rule the country with five punishments.
Combing through the Ming Dynasty's policies, it is not difficult to find that the rulers mainly formulate policies from the political, cultural, and economic aspects.
Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398)
Political aspects
Political issues were naturally of the emperor's greatest concern. This article intends to take the relationship between monarchs and subjects as an example. Between Jiajing and Wanli, due to the lack of power of the king and the tension between the monarch and the courtiers, Jiajing and Wanli often complained to the disciples in the policy, saying that this minister could not do it.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Tianqi and Chongzhen found that there were too many problems to deal with, and they had to use people everywhere, so they began to show their desire to "seek talents". However, the reality is that the morale is not strong, and the emperor has no choice. Please look at Chongzhen's seven-year policy: "The current scholar is not accustomed to misconduct, he wants to see small things quickly, he wants to be a true scholar, he wants to be a good scholar, and he is retro- This means that the morale is not right now, the soldiers are eager to do things and covet small profits, and the revitalization of the morale is the current major event. Liu Lishun's countermeasures grasped the focus of Chongzhen's attention, criticizing some deviant and skillful disciples who had already caused some adverse effects, believing that in order to gain the rule of the world, it was necessary to first make the "hearts of the soldiers settle down".
Although Chongzhen paid special attention to the issue of seeking meritocracy, throughout the whole dynasty, Chongzhen did not realize his desire to seek meritocracy and gain the great rule of the world. In the end, before Chongzhen committed suicide in Coal Mountain, he also left a sentence with indignation: "The king is not the king of the subjugated country, and the subjects are all the subjects of the subjugated country!" ”
Above_ Chongzhen Emperor Committed Suicide at Coal Mountain
Socio-cultural aspects
The Ming Emperor's policy will pay attention to social issues, and will also consider adding cultural factors such as etiquette and folklore related to social issues, taking the Policy of the Chenghua Period as an example. Chenghua's eleven-year policy held that "raising the people is more important than making the fields and the extensive trees and livestock, and the people are no more important than worshipping schools and ming li righteousness." The juxtaposition of the adopters and the parishioners suggests a connection between the two. The author believes that the relationship between the two is that first of all, to support the people, the basic material needs of the people are met, and it is necessary to use schools to teach the people knowledge and etiquette, so that the people's customs are simple.
When the Chenghua disciples wrote countermeasures, they tended to start by selecting talented officials and letting them complete the task of raising the people and the parishioners. Xie Qian's countermeasures wrote that for officials, they should be evaluated and evaluated on time, and let them advance and retreat by merit, because of their achievements, so as to complete the task of raising the people and educating the people.
Above_ Xie Qian (1449~1531) Ming Dynasty minister, Chenghua eleventh year jinshi first, Yuanyuan
Socio-economic aspects
Economic issues were also of concern to the Ming emperors. The policy topics in the early Ming Dynasty were generally about the field system, the policy topics in the middle of the Ming Dynasty were generally about taxation, and the salt administration issues in the late Ming Dynasty became a hot topic. Economic problems are often not isolated, but closely linked to pressing social problems. Here is an example of the policy of the Jiajing Emperor.
Jiajing five years of policy, the Jiajing Emperor was distressed by the extravagance of the society, although he persuaded nongsang, but the people are still poor in food and clothing. Although the government of storing livestock was advocated, once natural disasters such as floods and droughts were encountered, the people were still displaced, and once there was a change in the border, they complained that the food for the soldiers was exhausted. This is the relationship between grasping the social climate and economic conditions.
- Jiajing Emperor, Emperor Ming of The Ming Dynasty (16 September 1507 – 23 January 1567)
In the eight years of Jiajing's policy, the Jiajing Emperor raised one social problem after another, that is, disaster diagnosis and survival, the people's uneasiness, thieves were rampant, and there were movements on the frontier, and issued a message to the disciples: "Wealth is abundant and food is enough, I don't know how to achieve this?" questions. Undoubtedly, if these social problems were not basically solved, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty would not be optimistic. Of course, this was the policy of the Taiping Period. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, wars gradually became frequent, and the inadequacy of military food and grass was reflected in the policy.
Of course, most of the scholars studied the Four Books and Five Classics, the economic knowledge reserves were not sufficient, and the countermeasures proposed tended to be general, but the scholars still dared to directly criticize the actual social problems.
Above_ Ming Dynasty Imperial Examination
The theme and content of the text have been introduced above, so what are the characteristics of the text
1. Utility
Utility is the primary attribute of Cewen, which is embodied in the fact that Cewen is a tool for the emperor to consult the government. Policy topics often contained the ruler's thinking on some existing political problems, and the disciples made suggestions based on countermeasures, which naturally gave the emperor some inspiration to deal with the problem.
2. Seasonality
The policies in the Ming Dynasty temple examination were all current affairs policies, and the requirement was to write more than a thousand words of "only Chen Directly". When scholars get test questions, they often give examples based on their actual living conditions. Here we take the twelve-year-old measures of Zhengde as an example. Grasping the reality, using the techniques of comparison and contrast, this leader pointed out that during the Zhengde period, the state, official positions, ceremonial music, and schools were as old as before, but the people's livelihood was haggard, the deeds were wasted, the people's customs were luxurious, the scholars' habits were not perfect, and the society was ruined, showing a keen sense of observation.
Above_ "Ming Zhuangyuan Tu kao"
3. Political
The Ming Dynasty was founded on Confucianism, so the emperor's policy was based on Confucian scriptures, and the policy implied a certain political guidance. For example, the Yongle four-year policy takes "Ming Zhuxin" as a condition for "perfecting its extremes", so Yuanyuan Linhuan grasps the key of Ming's original heart, caters to the wishes of the Yongle Emperor, points out that "there is a root for governance, and cares about the first ming of the hearts", and then discusses that the imperial examination and the field system are not far from this center.
In the eyes of the emperor, the courtiers only need to follow the emperor's ideas and answer. Therefore, in the temple examination, if a scholar who has not yet entered the official field disobeys the saint in the countermeasures, he will have to take a certain risk.
Above_ In the second year of the Wanli Calendar (1574), the painting shows the scene of the Ming Dynasty Gongyuan holding an examination
4. Literary
It can be seen from the above that the Ming Dynasty's cewen was a practical style applied in official occasions, so was it not that the literary requirements for the article were not high? This is not the case. Countermeasures can be used as an example to find out. From a practical point of view, the countermeasures that stand out in the temple examination are rigorous in structure, straight in language, and without losing abundant emotions.
In terms of structure, countermeasures often first throw out arguments, then introduce arguments in the form of total scores, juxtaposition, progression, etc., and then summarize the above and finally make suggestions. In terms of language, countermeasures are divided into three parts: policy head, policy item, and policy tail, of which the polemic language, exposition language, etc. of the policy head, and the discourse of the policy item generally need to highlight the utility, current affairs, and politics of the countermeasures, while the tail sayings are generally aimed at the emperor's behavior, and often need to show literary style and express their intentions, so there are literary requirements in the text and feelings.
Author: Xia Zhen Correction/Editor: Lilith
References: A Study of the Trial Strategy of the Imperial Examination Hall in the Ming Dynasty. FANG Tao. Nanjing Normal University, 2019
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author