In the ancient history of our country, some people who love to read and learn are called shusheng, and with the development of society, the term "shusheng" has gradually evolved into many new terms, such as protégés, yinsheng, inmates, gongsheng, etc. What are these types of students?
Students
"Protégé" is probably derived from the word "protégé", during the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius first opened a private school to teach, and his three thousand disciples all claimed to be Confucius disciples. By the qin and Han dynasties, some powerful families or Confucian masters called their disciples protégés, such as Yuan Shao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was "a protégé who was a protégé all over the world".
In the Han Dynasty, the system of selecting officials was to raise filial piety, and the scholars entered the career through the recommendation of local officials, and the recommended state and county officials were called "lifting the lord", and the recommended sage became the "protégés" of the lord.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the "protégés" once degenerated into a kind of people attached to the powerful warriors, most of whom had certain talents, pursued fame and fortune, and became vassals, disciples, and even slaves of powerful families.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, due to the examination system, those students who were selected in the examination or entered the examination often became the "protégés" of the chief examiner, which is very similar to the filial piety of the Han Dynasty, the difference is that the scholar established a special teacher-student relationship with the chief examiner through the examination.
Because the chief examiners who appeared at the end of the Tang Dynasty formed parties for personal gain and cultivated their own forces, they posed a threat to the emperor's centralized rule. In view of this, Zhao Kuangyin, the ancestor of the Song Dynasty, decided to add a third examination to the original two-level examination system, that is, the temple examination.
In the temple examination, the emperor himself took the exam and set the rank, so that the emperor became the chief examiner, and those new scholars became the emperor's students, that is, "Tianzi protégés".
Proctors
In ancient times, there was a highest institution that all students dreamed of entering, that is, the Guozijian. It was first produced in the Western Jin Dynasty, and in 278 AD, Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty established the Guozi Academy, and set up a doctor and a Guozi sacrifice. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, guozixue was renamed Guozi Temple, and the Sui Emperor officially changed its name to Guozijian. Students who study in the Guozi Prison are called "prison students".
During the Song Dynasty, only a few people could enter the Guozijian, and at that time, it was stipulated that only the children of officials with more than seven pins were eligible to enter the Guozijian to study, while ordinary people could not enter at all.
The Ming and Qing dynasties relaxed restrictions, and in the Ming Dynasty, there were generally four types of prisoners: those who failed to pass the test had the opportunity to enter the Guozijian for further study, called "juju supervisor"; those who entered the prison as gongsheng were called "gongjian"; the children of meritorious officials were called "yinjian" by those who were specially approved by the imperial court; and those who donated money were called "routine supervisors".
In the Qing Dynasty, the prison students were mainly divided into four categories: enjian, yinjian, excellent supervisor, and routine supervisor. Among them, unlike the Ming Dynasty, the "Enjian" refers to the "Eun Jian" who was recruited because of the royal celebration of the Special Kai'en, and the Youjian is similar to the Gongjian.
Unlike ordinary students, inmates can still take the examination for the imperial examination, and even if they fail in the examination, they still have the opportunity to become officials, and their future is relatively secure. Therefore, the fact that a student can become a proctor is also a rather sensational event.
It was only after Qianlong that the Guozijian gradually became an institution for selling officials, and the inmates basically became synonymous with spending money to buy officials, and these inmates only took a name in the Guozijian and did not really study, so the officials who were born as prisoners in the late Qing Dynasty were looked down upon.
Shade
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a kind of person who obtained the qualification of invigilator by virtue of the previous generation of Yu Yin appeared called Yin Sheng. This kind of Yinsheng can also be regarded as a kind of royal policy for the children of officials, and it has basically had this policy in successive dynasties, but it was called "Yinsheng" in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Yinsheng is also divided into several types according to the situation: those who entered prison according to the conduct of their predecessors in the Ming Dynasty are called official students, those who are imprisoned by the emperor because of the official qualities of the previous generations are called Ensheng; those who are imprisoned in the Qing Dynasty because of the royal celebrations are called Enyin; and those who are imprisoned because of the death of their predecessors in the line of duty are called Nanyin.
Gongsheng
It can be seen from the literal meaning that "Gongsheng" is the outstanding students contributed by the state capital to the emperor, and these outstanding students who have achieved excellent results in various provinces, prefectures, and counties have the opportunity to study in the highest school, Guozijian, and these students are called "Gongsheng".
There were four main types of tribute students in the Ming Dynasty: a group of students with excellent grades selected by the prefecture and the government every year to study in the Guozijian were called "Nian Gong"; those selected by the prefecture or the prefecture every three or five years were called "Xuan Gong"; those who were elected to the GuoziJian because of the happy events of the court were called "Engong"; and those who bought it with money were called "Nagong".
In the Qing Dynasty, there were six kinds of tributes, in addition to the four kinds of Ming Dynasty, there was also a kind called "Bagong", which refers to the selection of first- and second-class students in the provincial science examination; "Deputy Gong" refers to the selection of outstanding students from the township examination, which is equivalent to a deputy list of people who lift people.
The advantage of Gongsheng compared to ordinary Xiucai is that he can participate in the imperial examination like ordinary Xiucai, even if he is not in the middle, there are officials in the end, but generally not large, often for the county, county, teaching and other official positions, such as the famous Qing Dynasty novelist Pu Songling repeatedly failed to succeed, and finally with the identity of Gongsheng made a "Confucian discipline" petty official, specifically responsible for supervising the school spirit of county school.
This article refers to: "All knowledge of Sinology"