#历史开讲 #
The importance of talent to the country is self-evident.
Qin Xiaogong Huan Quliang regretted the mistakes of his ancestors, and issued a recruitment order to recruit talents from all over the world, and even fully supported the Shang Martingale reform method to lay the foundation for the great unification of the Qin state.
"The Great Qin Empire - Fission" Huan Quliang reads the recruitment order
Since ancient times, ordinary people, if they want to counterattack at the bottom, they must have both ability and integrity, or at least one of them, and then they are waiting for an opportunity. The talent selection system of previous generations is the opportunity for most of the bottom to counterattack.
This article, for you to sort out and tell about the talent selection system from the Western Zhou to the Qing Dynasty, is very useful for history lovers, or language and history learning, it is recommended to collect.
Four types of talent selection systems in the pre-Qin period
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, officials such as the Zhou royal family and the princely states could pass on the post to their sons after the death of their fathers, inherit this position, and enjoy the position for generations, which was the "Shiqing Shilu system" at that time.
Qing is a high-ranking official in ancient times, and the "qing" in Shiqing Shilu not only refers to Qing, but also refers to a series of officials such as Qing, doctor, and scholar. "Lu" is the ancient official's salute.
In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family divided the clan and the meritorious ministers, and canonized more than a thousand princely states, while in the areas directly ruled by Zhou Tianzi and in the countries of the princes, they further canonized the secretary as the official who governed the country, and the secretary below him as a doctor, and then a scholar.
These officials had fiefs and enjoyed hereditary rule within their respective fiefs, while they were accountable to their superior lords.
In the middle and late Spring and Autumn period, in addition to the Shiqing Shilu system, a new talent selection system - the military merit knighthood system was gradually produced.
The transformation of the Qin State General's meritorious knighthood system was the most thorough. Duke Xiao of Qin strongly supported the Shang Martingale Reform Law, and promoted "those who have military merit shall be awarded the title by their respective ranks", and "the theory that the clan office does not have military merit and must not be a subordinate".
This gave the people of the Qin State a way to counterattack, and all those who made military merits, regardless of their origin, class and class, could enjoy the title of Jue Lu.
Those who did not have military merit in the clan would revoke the hereditary privileges enjoyed by the nobles of the clan family, and no longer enjoy the privilege of being a high-ranking official and knighthood based on blood relations alone.
The military merit system gives the soldiers on the battlefield a way to be promoted. So how do literati achieve their ambitions?
One is the selection of the township, and the other is the cultivator of the Spring and Autumn Warring States.
Selection in the township was a method of selecting talents in the pre-Qin era.
The "Rites of Zhou" records a specific selection method called "Dabi", which is held every three years, in which villagers with high morality and skill are selected and paid tribute to the King of Zhou.
The cultivators of the Spring and Autumn Warring States were a relatively unique way to select officials during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period.
The monarch and the princes of the nobility recruit talents with both talents and virtues or have special talents in some aspect, raise them by their side, and when the time is right, they select talents from them and select official positions.
Meng Weijun of the State of Qi, Xinling Jun of the State of Wei, Chunshen Jun of the State of Chu, and Pingyuan Jun of the State of Zhao were the four princes who were famous for their cultivation at that time.
Three types of talent selection systems in the Han Dynasty
In the Han Dynasty, the talent selection system was relatively flexible, not only the emperor could directly promote talents, but also the senior central official Sangong Jiuqing, as well as local prefectural pastors, county guards and other officials, could recruit subordinates and delegate official positions.
The expropriation system was a system of selecting officials in the Han Dynasty.
Without recommendation, the emperor directly recruited famous talents from the people to join the dynasty as an official called conscription; The direct summoning of talented people by senior officials to serve as staff members is called a rebellion.
Talents recruited by the emperor are generally awarded the title of doctor or edict; Talents recruited by officials are generally called 掾 [yuàn] 吏. Doctors, edicts, and officials often undergo a period of political experience before they can hold office.
In general, the conquest was a top-down system of selecting officials, a supplement to the Han Dynasty inspection system. In fact, conquest was a legacy of the Warring States period.
Influenced by the fashion of raising warriors in the Warring States period, officials in the Han Dynasty were proud to enlist famous men from all over the world. At the same time, the scholar also regarded it as a shortcut to enter the profession. The conquest began in the Western Han Dynasty, flourished in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and ended with the decline of the Wei and Jin dynasties.
The system of lang officials and officials is a system for selecting talents in the Han Dynasty, and it is also a unique way for wealthy families to become officials.
Langguan Langguan is a collective term for the Han Dynasty emperors' attendant officials Lang, Langzhong, Zhonglang, etc., often referred to as Langguan.
The Lang officials mainly selected shrewd scholars from among the noble children to the emperor as alternatives, and it was not in fact a real official position, not even Yulu, and the emperor only controlled it, and occasionally rewarded it.
For example, in the early Han Dynasty, officials who served for more than three years could send one of their children to Jingshi as lang, called "renzi"; People who have assets of 100,000 yuan (changed to 40,000 yuan in the time of Emperor Jing) and are not merchants, bring their own clothes and horses, and can also be candidates for lang, called "sage".
These teenagers who served as lang officials were generally not very old, most of them were between fourteen and fifty to twenty years old, and on the one hand, they were inspected by the emperor on the one hand, and on the other hand, they were familiar with political affairs, which was a kind of political internship, and most of them could obtain official positions after a few years.
Many important court ministers and generals in the Han Dynasty were born as Lang officials, such as Gongsun Hong, Dongfang Shuo, Sima Xiangru, etc. among the Western Han courtiers, and Huo Qubing. In addition, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others of the Eastern Han Dynasty were also from Lang officials.
Chen Daoming played by Dongfang Shuo
However, because this kind of talent selection was limited to the aristocratic eunuchs and the scope was too narrow, Emperor Wudi of Han began the system of filial piety and show talent, expanding the scope of talent selection to the whole country, which is the birth of the Chaju system.
The inspection system was an important talent selection system in the Han Dynasty.
Chaju, that is, the princes, secretaries, and county guards recommended talents to the imperial court as a source of officials. The targets of prosecution can be civilians or officials.
Specifically, it is divided into two subjects, one is a regular subject, that is, a regular number of recommendations; The second is the special branch, which is irregularly, and is held by the emperor according to his needs.
Among them, Changke was recommended by the county guards of various regions to the imperial court every year, one filial piety and one honest person, which was later uniformly called filial piety; The special branch specifically includes a variety of subjects such as virtuous literature, Ming scripture, Youdao, virtuous Fangzheng, Dunhou, Ming Fa, Yin and Yang calamities, etc.
Filial piety was a kind of inspection system, and later became the most important way to select talents in the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao was able to become a lang official because he was elected by Zhu Xiaolian.
In addition, Xiucai began as a special branch, and later became a regular department, and gradually formed a system of state show talent and county filial piety.
After these talents who were inspected arrived at the imperial court, they also had to pass an exam, and only after passing them could they be considered passed. The inspection system basically ensured the dynasty's demand for administrative talents.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the system of inspection and prosecution was relatively strict, but in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, political corruption, the powerful and powerful asked for fraud, and there was a folk song that satirized filial piety: "Show talent, do not know books." Filial piety, fathers do not live. ”
The system of prosecution has lost its original effectiveness.
The talent selection system of the Wei and Jin dynasties
Due to the drawbacks of the inspection system, the Cao Wei regime established a new talent selection system during the Three Kingdoms period, the Jiupin Zhongzheng System, which also became the main official selection system during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
During the Three Kingdoms period, most of the people in the chaotic times were displaced, and relying on the Han Dynasty filial piety system evaluated by the clan and township party, it was no longer realistic in terms of operational means.
Cao Cao
In addition, in order to strengthen the government's control over talent selection, Cao Cao sent special officials to various places to evaluate and select talents. Later, in order to win over the Shi clan, Cao Pi made this method a system, that is, the nine-product zhongzheng system.
The specific operation method is that the government sends an official named Zhongzheng in each state and county, and Zhongzheng evaluates the figures in the states and counties according to the three perspectives of family lineage, morality, and talent, which are specifically divided into nine products, namely: upper upper, upper middle, upper middle, upper and lower, middle upper, middle middle, middle and lower, lower upper, lower middle, lower middle, lower lower.
Zhongzheng reported the results of the review to the imperial court, and the imperial court entrusted these talents with official positions based on the results of the review.
When the nine-product zhongzheng system was first implemented, it was very effective, and a large number of talents were effectively selected for the Cao Wei regime, and the reason why Cao Cao had a large number of talents in the first place was not unrelated to this system. The Wei state was eventually able to unify the three kingdoms, and this system also played an important role.
In the late Wei state and the Jin Dynasty, due to the rise of gate politics, the Zhongzheng people gradually ignored talent in evaluating talents, and only based on family lineage as the standard, the selected talents were basically family families, so that there was a situation of "no cold door in the upper grade, no shi family in the lower grade", and the nine grades were made into a tool for the rule of the Shi clan.
By the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, because the northern government was mostly established by ethnic minorities, the nine-pin zhongzheng system was even weaker. By the establishment of the imperial examination system in the Sui Dynasty, the nine-product zhongzheng system was abolished.
From the Sui Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system was used for more than 1,300 years
The imperial examination system was a system of selecting officials in China from the Sui Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty for more than 1,300 years. The imperial examination system can be said to be a system created by the ancient Chinese through continuous exploration.
The origin of Chinese officials, first through the hereditary system of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, then through the chaju conquest system in the Han dynasty, and then through the nine-pin zhongzheng system in the Wei and Jin dynasties, were terminated because of their shortcomings. It was only after the imperial examination system that it was fixed and became a long-term official selection system in Chinese feudal society.
In more than 1,000 years, in general, the imperial examination system has undergone a process of beginning, perfection and rigidity.
The Sui Dynasty was the initial period of the imperial examination system, when Emperor Wen of Sui took into view that the nine-pin zhongzheng system of the Wei and Jin dynasties was no longer applicable, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, the power to select officials was transferred to the central government, and the imperial examination system was first opened.
However, the imperial examination system was not yet established, and the Sui Dynasty died; It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the imperial examination system was further improved, and it was divided into many subjects according to the different types of talents needed by the imperial court, and Wu Zetian also added martial arts.
In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination was further standardized, and an examination system of three levels was formally formed once every three years: township examination, meeting examination, and palace examination; In the Ming Dynasty, due to the attention of the imperial court, the imperial examination reached a prosperous period.
While the imperial examination flourished in the Qing Dynasty, due to the inequality between the Manchu and Han dynasties and the proliferation of the phenomenon of selling officials in the late Qing Dynasty, it also became a period of decline and even demise of the imperial examination system.
In terms of the advantages and disadvantages of the imperial examination system in different periods, in general, the imperial examination system was relatively healthy in the Tang Dynasty, when the imperial examination atmosphere was relatively relaxed, and it was not only exams that discussed people.
Examiners often already know which candidates are more talented and ready for admission before the exam, and also allow candidates to "sell" themselves to the examiner before the exam through the recommendation or self-recommendation of others.
By the Song Dynasty, the examination paper implemented a pasted name system, which began to produce the disadvantage of only one test for life. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, under the appearance of the prosperity of the imperial examination, the content of the Baguwen examination completely made it rigid, gradually did more harm than good, and finally abolished.
On the whole, the imperial examination system can be said to be a fairly clever official selection system, which not only continuously sent officials of reasonable quality to successive regimes, but also used learning as the criteria for selecting officials not based on origin, family, or wealth, which has made China have a long-standing fashion of respecting learning and reading people.
It can be said that this is an important reason why Chinese culture has been maintained for a long time and constantly innovated. In addition, the reason why Confucianism has been passed down for a long time is that the imperial examination can be said to be its carrier.
Write at the end
In the 27th year of Guangxu (1901), the Qing government issued an edict to reform the imperial examination, and issued an edict to open schools and establish a new type of education. Two years later, Yuan Shikai, the governor directly under him, and Zhang Zhidongshang, the governor of Liangjiang, asked for the gradual abolition of the imperial examination, "so that the world's soldiers and the school have no other way to enter." ”
In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), the Qing government officially announced: "Starting from the beginning of the Bingwu (1906) section, all township and conference examinations will be stopped, and the provincial examinations will also be stopped." ”
At this point, the imperial examination system in Chinese history finally came to an end. Although the imperial examination system has ended, the talent selection system is still continuing and innovating.
Although the form and nature of today's college entrance examination system are different from the imperial examination system, the internal meaning is roughly the same, and it has become a way for contemporary students to break through the class and counterattack upward.