When it comes to the official of "studying politics," many people know very well that they are specifically responsible for the cultural and educational work of a certain province. However, in different periods, the position of xuezheng has some subtle changes, its grade, qualifications and specific positions are different, the following will talk about the qing dynasty's academic politics.
1. The basic history of study and politics
The Qing Dynasty scholarly and political system was inherited from the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty system, the enrollment of students from various provinces, prefectures and counties was originally managed by the inspectors of the imperial history, the two divisions of the envoys, and the prefectures and counties. During the orthodox period, there were first school officials, who only managed education and ignored local civil affairs. However, because the Tixueguan is also an official of the imperial court, and the people have many words to complain about, so the Tixueguan can receive the lawsuit, but has no right to deal with it, and needs to be handed over to other administrative departments for handling.
At the same time, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the Governor and the Second Division of the Cloth Press could not interfere in the promotion of academic ministries. However, there are also loopholes in the system, because the tixue is routinely carried out with the title of deputy envoy of the inspection department and the title of a minister, so it is not allowed to be less subservient to the supervision, and often the affiliation is accommodated, and it is impossible to elevate one's post.
It is not difficult to see that the Ming Dynasty's tixue actually belonged to the establishment of local officials and had specific grades. In the early Qing Dynasty, basically this set of practices was followed, and a supervisor was set up in each province, and the title of inspector was uniformly carried out, and most of them were concurrently served by sub-guards and sub-patrol roads.
Twenty-three years after the Kangxi Dynasty, the scholars in the provinces underwent essential changes. This year stipulates that the scholar officials of the three provinces of Shuntian, Jiangnan, and Zhejiang must be appointed as Hanlin officials; the scholar officials of the remaining provinces will be selected from the five officials who should be promoted to langzhong, senator, Dao, and prefect, and listed for use.
Since then, the provincial scholar officials have been divided into two categories, those who are appointed by Hanlin officials are "Adjutant Xuezheng", also known as "colleges"; those who are appointed by subordinate officials and other officials are "Inspectors of Learning", also known as "Xuedao". The three provinces of Shuntian, Jiangnan, and Zhejiang have the largest number of candidates participating in the imperial examination because of their flourishing literary styles, so the imperial court attaches the most importance to these three provinces, and it is reasonable that their students and officials are highly qualified.
During the Yongzheng period, the situation changed somewhat. The scholar officials of each province are uniformly named Xuezheng, and they are subordinate to those who are simple, according to their origins, and each Gahanlin Academy edits and reviews the title. Since then, the status of Xuezheng has also changed, and there is no longer a "Dao title" in the directly subordinate ceremonial department, and it is called "Tidou Xuezheng".
In other words, since Yongzheng, the establishment of the provincial academic government is subordinate to the Ministry of Rites, no longer a local official, and the grade is not fixed, like the Shuntian Xuezheng belongs to the high match, generally the various ministries are served by the attendants and jingtang, while the other provinces are filled by officials such as Hanlin, Zhan Shi, Ke Dao, and subordinates.
2. The term of office and specific positions of the study of politics
The three-year term of office of the student government is a well-known problem in the world, and the key is that the term of office of the student government must be associated with the imperial examination. According to the regulations, after the end of each township examination, the imperial court will select candidates for study and politics in each province, and when the three-year period expires, that is, after the end of the next Zhengke township examination, the appointment will expire. In the Qing Dynasty, no one was re-elected in the academic and political affairs of a certain province.
It can be seen that since Yongzheng, the post of studying politics has no longer belonged to the ranks of officials and has been included in the scope of "dispatch". Although the provinces do not have a fixed grade, only the original title. However, in the official system of the Qing Dynasty, the status of xuezheng was very high, second only to the governor among the civil officials, and higher than that of the cloth and the second division.
Unlike the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was not a magistrate and was therefore not subject to the supervision of the governor. Judging from the situation of the position of the head, the government of the school, the scholar style, and the government decree of the literary style of a province are in charge. After Xuezheng arrives at his post, he must first conduct a thorough examination for Confucian students at all levels in the province to understand the overall level of Confucianism in the province.
Every year, the school administration also inspects the provinces, states, and counties, and presides over the college examination. The college examination is an important part of the imperial examination, and it is the selection examination for readers to obtain the first meritorious name in their lives - Xiucai.
In fact, the workload during the three-year term of the study and administration is very large, and it is necessary to go all over the province to preside over the college examination. After the end of the college examination, the school administration will also inspect the students who supervise the enrollment, and preside over the annual examination and the subject examination, especially in the township examination year, it is even more strictly controlled, so that those students who meet the conditions actively participate in the township examination, and at the same time, they must also select tribute students for the imperial court examination and send them to the state for further study.
In addition, the imperial court also had many restrictions on academic politics, such as not receiving officials, teachers and students on non-official affairs, not accepting civil lawsuits, not allowing administrative affairs outside the school, and not visiting the relatives of the gentry during their term of office.
Having said that, since Qianlong, there have also been many examples of studying and interfering in local administrative affairs. For example, in the fifty-first year of Qianlong, Dou Guangnai, who was then the scholar and government of Zhejiang, became more powerful and exposed the deficit of zhejiang province, so the Qianlong Emperor also sent Ah Gui and other Chincha ministers to Zhejiang to investigate, and as Dou Guangnai said, a large number of officials in Zhejiang were deposed and punished.
It is theoretically illegal for xuezheng to interfere in local government affairs, but some xuezheng are deeply favored by the emperor and are given the right to play the secret fold, and even the xuezheng of some provinces is still an eyeliner installed by the emperor in the local area, which is another matter.
The Qing Dynasty was very cautious about the simple release of xuezheng, and for those small Beijing officials, it was a great honor to be able to release xuezheng or to let go of the township examination examiner. Usually, officials can do the last term of study and politics, which is very helpful for their career prospects, and after the expiration of their term, they will be promoted as usual.