For a long time, the imperial examination system has been mistaken for the great institutional creation of ancient China. In particular, its role in dredging class mobility is often best known to posterity. But it is strange that the imitators of the imperial examination system are only in North Korea and Vietnam, and even In Japan, where Confucianism prevails, it has not been greatly affected. Although the civil service examinations in Europe and the United States in modern times are regarded by many as students of the examination system, the political effectiveness of the two is very different. After all, no magistrate in the West has ever been selected by examination.
So, why are only the three countries of China, Korea, and Vietnam in human history keen on winning the imperial examination?
Could it be that class mobility does not exist in other civilized countries? The situation is certainly not so simple!
Ordinary people have the expectation of class rise, and they can't be willing to act as "animal power" for others.
First, we must make it clear that any civilization has and must have class mobility, and that no ruler would want his subordinates to be a bunch of sacks of rice. The main means of solving this problem is to introduce a competition mechanism and promote potential talent seeds from among the civilian population. For example, the chivalry system in the European Middle Ages was the succession of soldiers who served as tools of domination for lords. Therefore, as long as the civilians are highly skilled and can even prepare their own weapons such as kurama armor, they have the opportunity to be promoted to knights. If they have outstanding military merit in subsequent battles, they will naturally be further rewarded with official titles.
The medieval group of knights in Europe functioned as a class mobility
If you don't want to take the martial route, then being a respected scholar is also a good choice for class promotion. According to dr. John Baldwin of Hopkins University in the United States, between 1178 and 1215, among the 16 parisian teachers who had left biographical materials, 4 were from low births, 3 were illegitimate children, 1 was from the civic class, and 7 belonged to the families of small and medium-sized lords. Only 1 person came from a large aristocratic family! This means that even in the European Middle Ages, where the nobility was everywhere, as long as they tried to advance, then there was room for class mobility in both civil and military affairs.
The University of Paris in the Middle Ages gave many low-class children hope to emerge
In addition, the promotion method of commoners in the European Middle Ages is indeed fundamentally different from the eastern imperial examination. One of the most typical phenomena is that the heads of local governments at all levels in Europe are often controlled by hereditary aristocrats. The commoner Hugh wanted to ascend to the throne of duke and earl overnight, as the imperial examination system did. Such phenomena seem very irrational and intuitively reflect the deep monopoly of political power by the aristocracy. But by analyzing the differences in power structures between the East and the West, it is easy to understand the real logic behind it – not that the Western system is too rigid, but that the power in the East is too concentrated.
European feudalism was about checks and balances
As we all know, feudal Europe was full of aristocratic lords. In addition to the powerful kings, the lords of all ranks were equally thirsty for talents and eager to promote the civil elite for their own use. This is mainly due to the relatively fragmented political power, with each noble lord being an independent small core of power. But to observers of the East, who are unfamiliar with the situation, such a form of class mobility would seem very strange.
The originator of the imperial examination system, Emperor Wen of Sui
In contrast, the imperial power in the East has developed from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the height of the peak. If the commoner class wanted to be promoted, it had to take the imperial examination, which was approved by the center. Moreover, unlike the previous Han Dynasty inspection system and the Nine Pin Zhongzheng system of the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, the former was that the scholars directly established a subordinate relationship with the central government, and the latter two gave local forces the right to elect officials to a certain extent. In other words, the fundamental purpose of the imperial examination system is not to dredge up class mobility, but to eliminate other cores of power and ensure the monopoly of the central imperial power.
It was popular in the Wei and Jin Dynasties during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system
Some people may ask: Isn't the replacement of the nine-pin Zhongzheng system with the examination system dredging up the promotion channels at the bottom level? The answer is clearly no! Many of the criticisms of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system stem from a misunderstanding of the system, which would otherwise have existed for hundreds of years during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. No country relies on capable elite governance and has no chance of a North-South confrontation. Moreover, such a popular figure like Tao Kan, who came from the bottom, was not uncommon in the political arena at that time. At least at that time, the high-ranking official Houlu and the power were two completely different concepts. What is even more tragic is that the four generations of the Southern Dynasty's Song Qi Liang Chen were all usurped by the Shu clan, but no high-ranking warrior clan succeeded. Because the scholar class had been hollowed out at the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it evolved into a group that only held a false title but did not hold real power.
The four generations of usurpers of the Song Dynasty, Liang Chen, were all from the Shu clan
Of course, the change of the imperial examination system to the ecology of power is not achieved overnight. In the early Sui and Tang dynasties, the imperial examination was not only sparse in record officials, but also had local feudal towns with greater autonomy. It was not until the two Song Dynasties, when the usurper came to power, that the official system was widely adopted and the official system was reformed, so that the imperial examination system ushered in a golden age that belonged only to itself. The Southern Song Dynasty theorist Zhu Xi once said: This dynasty has learned from the shortcomings of the five generations of feudal towns, and has exhausted the power of the feudal towns. The soldiers also received, the wealth was also collected, the rewards and punishments were collected, and the states and counties were weak. In other words, without the existence of a large number of rogue officials who were screened by the imperial examination, it would be difficult to succeed in the slight seizure of local governments during the Two Song Dynasties. The operation of the political system of the Song Dynasty also showed the tragic characteristics of "maintaining the upper and lower levels, the light and heavy system, such as the arm of the body, and the finger of the arm".
The scene of the imperial examination during the Song Dynasty
Subsequently, under the impetus of the imperial examination system, "learning to become a literary martial art, goods and the imperial family" became the biggest dream of reading and learning martial artists. Because unlike the former shi clan door valves, the status and power of the juzi completely came from the central system of the imperial examination, and without this system there was nothing. Therefore, they will not reject the system. Instead, it is necessary to desperately maintain the life of the system. For the emperor, the greatest importance of the imperial examination system was not to stimulate social vitality, through which the direct control of the scholar class was achieved. As the dependence of the scholar class on imperial power intensified, the authority of the king was further increased. It can be said that it was not until the Song Dynasty that the "scholar-doctor bureaucratic class" in people's daily concepts today was formally formed.
The Ming Dynasty controlled the imperial examination system more than the Song Dynasty
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, China's imperial autocracy had reached its peak. When Zhu Yuanzhang decided to hold the imperial examination, he clearly explained the purpose of opening the examination and obtaining scholars: I am strong, and the whole world has to fight. I am gentle, I will not argue with him, but those who fight for wealth will be few. If I have the law to soften the world, it is not as good as repeating the system!
During the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was more controlled than that of the Ming Dynasty
Therefore, the most prominent feature of the Ming and Qing dynasties is that the central imperial power has become more and more tightly controlled over the localities. For example, although the Centralization of power in the Song Dynasty was greatly strengthened, the power to manage the township test still belonged to the local government. However, from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the management of the township examination was also transferred to the central government, and the main and deputy examinations were directly assigned by the emperor. Later Manchu rulers also accepted all the orders, and often the emperor himself wrote questions, creating a subordinate relationship of the so-called "Tianzi protégé".
The development of the imperial examination system in the Qing Dynasty gave rise to the so-called Tianzi protégé phenomenon
It follows from this that the imperial examination was not so much a system of strengthening class mobility as a means by which the emperor relinquished some of his power to strengthen his authority. The relationship between the emperor and the officials produced by the imperial examination is like a magnet and an iron nail. The nail itself is not magnetic, only the magnet gives it magnetism.
The idea of officialdom is a direct product of the imperial examination system
The long time of operation of this system will naturally lead to the idea of official standards. Even the poorest of the soldiers will appear superior because of a "rotten street" show talent. The famous satirical novel "The History of Rulin" has this detailed description:
The hu butcher also instructed his son-in-law: Now that you have won the righteousness, you must establish an individual system in everything. For example, in my industry, there are some serious people with faces, and they are your eldest relatives, how dare you pretend to be big in front of us? If these farmers and excrement collectors at the door of the house are just ordinary people, if you fight with him and sit on an equal footing, this is a violation of school rules, and even my face will be naked.
It can be seen that in the eyes of this Hu butcher, although Xiucai is not a "very valuable" thing. However, even if they are "heads and faces" figures in the system, the flat-headed people can no longer "sit on an equal footing" with them. Even if Fan Jin is still poor, he can't even make his biological mother hungry.
Fan Jinzhongju is a subtle satire of the imperial examination system
If you can further squeeze into the ranks of "lifting people", then the life situation of the talents will immediately turn upside down. In the novel, Zhang Xiangsheng once dismissed Fan Jin. The latter starved for three days before taking the township exam, and did not see him send the slightest life-saving food. Once the news of the middle lift came, he tried his best to run to take the initiative to win over. This contrast is undoubtedly ironic.
The development of the imperial examination system has spawned a solidified class that relies on the title of the gold list
What is even more sobering is that Fan Jin has spent his life on the imperial examination, but has never considered finding another path to rise. This also reflects from the side that the examination system may not only not strengthen class mobility, but also limit class promotion. Today's social elite to achieve self-worth, the optional path includes but is not limited to business, politics, study and many other ways, the ancients only have to participate in the imperial examination to serve the emperor this way out. It can be seen that the imperial examination should not be a system invention that future generations should be proud of.