The most famous example is undoubtedly Fan Jin. In the middle school textbook, the fragment "Fan Jin Zhongju" is selected from the third episode of Wu Jingzi's "Ru Lin Wai Shi" ("Zhou Xuedao's school scholar Ba Zhencai, Hu Butcher's murder and Zha Jie report". This time it is the story of Fan Jinzhongju. The novel depicts Zhou Jin, a scholar in Guangdong, who went to Guangzhou to take up his post, first took two examinations for students, and after two examinations, the third was for children from Nanhai and Panyu counties to take the examination. There was Fan Jin among the children, and Fan Jin won the first place after taking this exam, and when he became a Xiucai, people called him "Xianggong". After Fan Jin entered school, he wanted to further examine people, and after being admitted to the school, people would call him "Old Master".
Influenced by some modern literature, film and television works, we believe that ancient Chinese readers must at least be a middle scholar before they can become officials. However, why did Fan Jin just lift in the middle, he was happy to be crazy, and he was called Wenqu Xingxia Fan by Hu Butcher? What kind of official can Fan Jin be able to achieve after the middle lift?
How could a Qing Dynasty scholar become an official
The qing dynasty's way of becoming an official was more complicated, among them, juren, jinshi, special branch, wugong, and yinsheng belonged to the right way in various ways to enter the shi, and were the most orthodox origins.
The so-called Yin Sheng, because the ancestors accumulated virtue, the elders were in high positions, or sacrificed their lives for the country and were given official qualifications by the emperor.
Wugong refers to the year gong, engong, bagong, yougong, vice gong, "gong", the meaning of tribute to the royal court, gongsheng that is, the local tribute originated from the imperial court. Generally speaking, the personnel selected by the provincial academic government according to the policy assessment are reported to the imperial court, and they are selected by the Ministry of Ceremonies to become officials, and they can also enter the state through examinations to study.
Teko was a qing government's election to try to co-opt intellectuals and implement reforms to the imperial examination, and only once in the Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties. As the name suggests, it is to select talents who are knowledgeable and write well articles, whether they are officials, whether they are show talents or people, as long as they are recommended by local governors, they can take the exam, and once they are admitted, they can directly become officials.
The Erudite Hongzi Branch began in the first year of the Tang Dynasty, such as the famous Tang Dynasty Zhongxing Prime Minister Pei Du and the famous literary scholar Liu Yuxi were all selected through the Erudite Hongci Branch, and the great literary scholar Han Yu was a failed student.
Yuan Jiagu, the only economic special branch in ancient and modern Times, is a Shiping man in Yunnan
At the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1903, there was also an economic special section to select talents who had insight into economic construction, however, within a few years, the Qing Dynasty died.
Because the above-mentioned correct paths do not have normalization, the jinshi section of the imperial examination is in an absolutely superior position on the way. For most of the examiners, the path they aspire to and must take is to obtain the middle age through the test in order to obtain a better future.
A reader who has "experienced hundreds of battles"
A reader who wants to go to the top of the pyramid needs to go through three levels of examinations:
The first level is the child test, first enlightenment and then hard reading, and then participate in the county test, government test, and hospital test and become a show talent. Generally, each state capital has only 30 places per year, and there are only about 5 people in each county.
The second level is the township examination, Xiucai participates in the township examination organized by the province, and after passing, he is a person. The term "township lifting" is found in the Zhou Li, which refers to the recommendation of talents by the township to the imperial court. The Han Dynasty's system of inspection and examination, such as filial piety, literature, and the Ming Dynasty, was a township lift, but it did not require an examination. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the examination system was established, and the township examination was required to pass the examination, so it developed into a township examination system. After passing the township examination, the Ming and Qing scholars obtained a permanent meritorious title ——— and could participate in the ceremonial examination indefinitely according to the subject.
In the Qing Dynasty, the township examination was held every three years, and it was held every day, noon, 卯, and unitary, which was called the main section. In the event of the emperor's longevity, ascension to the throne and other celebrations, added once, called Enko. If the year of celebration coincides with the year of the main section, the year of the main section will be changed to Enko, and the original main section will be held in the year before or after. The "Zhou Li" has a three-year system of great comparison, so the year of the township examination is also called the year of the great ratio.
The township examination is held in August, also known as autumn. The township test was divided into three sessions. Taking the 9th, 12th and 15th days of the first year as the main stage, candidates will enter the day before the main stage of each session and appear on the next day.
Jiangnan Gongyuan, the largest examination hall of the Qing Dynasty (1888)
The third level is the hui examination and the temple examination, and in the second year after the township examination, people are admitted to Beijing to participate in the examination, and after passing, they are called gongshi; Gongshi then participates in the temple examination, and the "Gongshi" who will be admitted by the examination will be ranked, so that they can be counted as middle-aged soldiers.
The Qing Dynasty examination was held in the spring at the Jingshi Gongyuan, and the trial period was mostly in March, so it was also called the Spring Examination (Spring Examination).
The Qing Dynasty continued to reform on the basis of the Ming Dynasty's Northern and Southern Volumes, and finally in the fifty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1713), the Emperor Enke was tested and the median amount was determined by province. That is, according to the number of test takers in each province entering Beijing, according to a certain proportion of admissions, the number of admission places in each province is determined.
In the Qing Dynasty, the number of subjects in the examination was different, generally more than 100 or 200 or 300, the maximum number of one subject was 449 (1646), and the minimum of one subject was 83 (Qianlong fifty-eight years). Will try to put the list in April, the Chinese style is called Gongshi, and its first name will be Yuan.
There will be a round of re-examination after the test, and here basically no longer brush people, just arrange one, two or three ranks, unless it is really bad, mixed up through fraud. After the re-examination, the temple examination was held on the twenty-sixth day of April, and the twenty-fifth day of the Qianlong examination (announcing the ranking), after which it became customized.
The ranking of the temple examination is divided into three first divisions, one first three in total, the first name Yuan, the second name bang eye, the third name Tanhua, the Shi Jinshi and the first; A number of second-class names, born into the Shishi; A number of the three first ranks, given the same jinshi origin.
Five days after the temple examination, the entrance examination was held in the Bohol Hall to select the Hanlin Yuan Shu Jishi, called the museum selection, and the results were also divided into first, second, and third grades. The admission of Shu Jishi is based on the results of the three examinations of the re-examination, the temple examination and the imperial examination, and the results of the imperial examination are mainly based. Generally speaking, the examination to the temple examination of the second class or above, the re-examination, the first class of the imperial examination, called the "four numbers", can definitely be admitted. The results of the imperial examination were also the basis for the appointment of officials, and the cabinet center in the Ming and Qing dynasties basically came from Shu Jishi.
The re-examination, the temple examination, and the imperial examination all attach importance to the calligraphy method, and it is difficult for those who are not good at calligraphy to obtain the best grade.
Rare lifter
Like the examination, the Township Examination in the Qing Dynasty was also a provincial quota, and the number of provinces in the median amount varied, depending on the height of the literary style, the size of the population, and the weight of the Ding Endowment. The person who wins the township test list is called a lifter, and in addition, one place in each of the five places in the list is taken from the deputy list, also known as the deputy tribute.
When the list is released, it is written from the sixth place, and after the last name is written, the top five are written, and the fifth place is written backwards to the first place, which is called "Five Classics Kui". Nowadays, when folk drink, they guess the fist order, and the most famous liquor order is the "Five Leaders". The first name of the new Keju people, Xie Yuan, the second name Ya Yuan, the third, fourth and fifth names Jing Kui, the sixth name Ya Kui, and the rest called Wen Kui, are all awarded by the state to 20 two arches silver and top wearing hat plaques. The plaque hangs above the residential gate, where a memorial arch can be erected.
People generally think that the difficulty of entering the examination is the greatest, in fact, it is false, the Ming and Qing dynasty scientific examinations, the township examination is the most difficult level.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 140,000 people, a total of 112 temple examinations were held, and a total of 26,849 jinshi were admitted, and the ratio of examinations was about 1:6. In the township examination, the number of Confucian students who took the examination in each province greatly exceeded the median admission quota. In the 58th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, there were more than 12,000 students in Jiangxi Province, and only 90 people in jiangxi's township examination, and the ratio of the number of test takers to the median number was 134:1. However, Jiangxi Province is not the province with the most scholars, and the disparity between other provinces that attach importance to education is even greater. According to the median number, it is divided into counties, and the person who is selected in the examination is probably the first place in each county.
The show talent obtained each year is equivalent to the top five in the county, the township examination is three years a subject, to be in the examination, it must be the top one hundred in the province, which is equivalent to standing out from the top five in the county every year in the past three years, and there are so many repeat students accumulated over the years, and the difficulty can be imagined.
The "number room" of the Qing Dynasty imperial examination
In the "History of Ru Lin", Fan Jin belonged to Guangdong people, and during the Shunzhi period in the early Qing Dynasty, Guangdong could only take more than 90 people per township examination, and in the Qianlong period, it was changed to 72 people. Fan Jin took the seventh place in Guangdong Province, which is a very high ranking.
Becoming a person also initially has the qualifications to be an official, so on weekdays, Zhang Xiangsheng, who has been a squire in Zhi County, will come to talk to Fan Jin, and a shot is fifty-two silver, a three-entry house meeting gift.
The box basket for transporting food and other supplies, and the common form of the basket that the soldiers brought into the field
In the novel, Fan Jin finally won the Jinshi, and even did the Shandong Xuezheng, but if Fan Jin failed to pass the jinshi in the end, was there no official to do it?
The formation of the mega-provocative system
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, when the source of officials was lacking, it was stipulated that people could serve as zhi county, and with the improvement of the ranks of officials, only jinshi were more likely to be awarded official positions. In the 49th year of the Qianlong Examination, among the participants in the examination, there was one person who was 90 years old, 20 people over 80 years old, and 5 people over 70 years old, and none of them were Chinese.
There are many people, and it is even more difficult for the middle soldiers to enter the army, making it difficult for most of the people to hold office within twenty or thirty years. Thus, the method of big choice came into being.
Big picking is to pick a position from among those who will fail to pass the test in more than three subjects. During the Qianlong period became customized. One does not look at knowledge, the other does not spell literary style, but only looks at the appearance conditions of these people. The main criteria for selection are body shape and face shape, according to the eight characters of "Tongtian Guanri Qi Jia Yu Shen", the so-called "same", referring to the square body of the face; The so-called "field" refers to the demeanor of the condensation; The so-called "through" refers to the length of the body; The so-called "day" refers to the lean bones. If the appearance has these four characteristics, then congratulations, you will be selected as superior. The so-called "qi" refers to the improper appearance; The so-called "A" refers to the upper width and lower cutting; The so-called "by" refers to the narrow upper and lower thickness; The so-called "Shen" refers to sharp and medium thick up and down. If appearance falls into one of these four situations, then, unfortunately, you're out.
That is to say, the big pick of the Qing Dynasty is to determine the victory or defeat based on the appearance value.
The "Great Provocation" was originally held every 6 years, and from 1814 onwards it was changed to every 12 years. The prince sent by the emperor was responsible for the selection of appearances, and the officials were responsible for leading the people in groups.
Every year of the big pick, every twenty people in a group. First sing the first three names to pick the first class, and appoint them as Zhi County (正七品); After the three people were singled out, they sang the names of the eight people, which were not hired, commonly known as "eight immortals", these people were all out, and went home to continue to prepare for the examination after three years; The remaining nine were not named and were appointed as teachers such as Prefectural Scholar Zheng (正八品) and Prefectural Scholar Teaching (正八品).
If there is no vacancy in zhixian county, you can be accommodating to serve as a prefectural experience (正八品), zhou tong (from liupin), prefecture judgment (from seven pins), and county 丞 (正八品). If there is no vacancy in the study or teachings, the teachings (from the Eight Pins) can be used for accommodation.
Before Fan Jinzhong lifted up, when Hu Butcher scolded Fan Jin, he said a vicious word:
"You don't see those old masters in the Zhang Mansion (Zhang Xiang Squire) in the city, they all have thousands of furniture, and they have big ears in every aspect. A monkey with a sharp mouth like you should also pee and take care of yourself."
Before taking the exam, Fan Jin took the exam from the age of twenty as a child, and did not pass the xiucai examination more than twenty times, only because the last exam was poor by Zhou Xuedao and selected as a xiucai, only to have his later story. Fan Jin was fifty-four years old at the time, and if he failed to pass the entrance examination three times, Fan Jin, who was sixty years old and ugly-looking, participated in the big pick, and it was very likely that he would be classified as the lowest eight immortals and belonged to the runners. The best result can only be rated as second class, going to a county Shimizu Yamen as the director of the education committee (county school teaching).
As a supplement to the imperial examination system, the "big challenge" has enabled a large number of people who have fallen into the first place to see hope, gained the opportunity to become officials, broken the rules of normal entry into the military and served as officials, and challenged the rigid imperial examination system. To a certain extent, appearance can reflect other information of a person, or there is a certain positive correlation between appearance and ability, and it has a certain truth to choose people from appearance, just like taking soldiers from the kaifa. In today's society, talent recruitment, in addition to looking at the file, must also go through the interview, good looks can naturally add points to themselves.
However, the big pick only selects talents based on appearance, the design is not strict, the selection criteria are not rigorous, and the subjectivity is very strong. Moreover, it is difficult to say absolutely what is necessarily related to one's ability and appearance.
Yan Jingming
For example, Yan Jingming, a Shaanxi scholar (a native of Dali County), repeatedly failed to participate in the conference test in his early years, and then participated in the "big pick" and planned to take a shortcut to enter the career. But he was short, his face was like a jujube core, and his two eyes were one high and one low. When he participated in the "big pick", he had just knelt down, and the prince in charge shouted loudly: "Yan Jingming will get up first!" Humiliated for a moment, he left in a daze. Yan Jingming had to continue to apply for the next subject, and in the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang (1845), he entered the Hanlin Academy. Later, successive officials such as Hubei Envoy, Inspector of Shandong, Shangshu of Hubu, Scholar of Dongge University, Minister of Military Aircraft, etc., made outstanding achievements in economic, military, financial and other aspects, and became famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, the "big pick" system in order to prevent talents from being missed is very unserious in itself. It would be absurd and undesirable for a government to base the criteria for selecting officials on an evaluation system such as appearance.