The word Shi, which has a deep connotation in Chinese culture, sometimes represents an identity, sometimes represents a profession, sometimes represents a demeanor, and sometimes represents a spiritual form.
The title of scholar began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and was the last level of the aristocratic class, that is, the soldier in the "king, prince, secretary, doctor, and scholar". In the Spring and Autumn Period, most of the scholars were the courtiers of Qing Dafu, some of whom made a living from Feng Lu and some of whom ate fields. However, the aristocratic status of the scholar is relatively reluctant, "Li Ji Yuzao": "Shi Pei Xuan and The Group of Shi Pei". The stone sub-jade, which is what archaeology calls "false jade" today, is turquoise, crystal, chalcedony and the like. The soldiers were one level inferior to the real nobles, so they could only wear "fake jade" tied with yellow ribbons.
In his class, the status and identity of the soldiers are indeed slightly awkward. The White Tiger Tongshu Certificate, Volume I, and Jue, clearly states: "Shi Fei Jue" and "Zhi Qing Yi Jue Ye with The Doctor". If a soldier is in the ruling class but is excluded from the aristocratic knighthood system, at least he cannot have a "feudal" status and "land splitting" qualifications, so he can never be called a "certain king", but only a subordinate under "a certain king". "White Tiger Dredging Certificate, Volume 1, Lord":
The subordinates were the first professional administrative or technocrats. But we know that the operation of a stable political body, especially in China, a social form that has been formed very early on with a top-down centralized governance system, these technocrats are the main force of daily social management and the solid foundation of the regime. Therefore, although the identity is awkward, the importance is unambiguous, and how to cultivate and select them has become a key part of the national system. Therefore, the scholar is the foundation of the ancient Chinese unified centralized power system, and the elective system is also the source of the development of the elective official system. The system, which has been continuously developed for more than three thousand years with its source, directly constructs part of the logic of historical upheaval.
Because of its importance, the selection system is clearly recorded in the Zhou Li and The Book of Rites of the Three Rites, and is directly recorded in the Book of Rites, which is recorded as:
The system of electing soldiers contained in this "Royal System" ranges from xiushi to handsome and creative warriors, and finally becomes a jinshi can be awarded an official after examination. The scholar, and then the soldier, proves that the "soldier" is the source of the qualification of the bureaucracy. This account is believed to be the Western Zhou system, which is now the beginning of the explanatory text of the source of the imperial examination in the Nanjing Imperial Examination Museum. However, the current "Book of Rites" has a dubious source, and it has long been discussed that it should be a pseudo-book of the Western Han Dynasty. Judging from the description of its selection system, for example, from "township" to primary election is called "theory"; from the township to the top of the two ways: the name of the person who is promoted by the situ and the scholar is different; and then enters the central examination, and the qualified person is awarded the official. This process is very much in line with the characteristics of the late Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the nouns in it are different. Therefore, this system of electing scholars is most likely a pseudo-"Zhou system" made by Han Rutuogu, and its reaction is more likely to be the inspection system of the Han Dynasty. Yes, it is more reasonable to use the Han Dynasty inspection system as a source for the Chinese election system to examine.
In the late Warring States period, the monopoly of politics by the nobility was broken, and a large number of well-known grassroots people appeared on the core political stage, most of whom were called secretaries, and "shi" began to become the title of the intellectual class with political status, the most knowledgeable of which was called "doctor". At the same time, the title "soldier" also began to have room for generalization, and some people who focused on certain skills and affairs were called soldiers, such as "rangers", "debaters", "chivalrous warriors" and so on. "Explanation of Words":
The Shuowen Jiezi was written in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and the interpretation of "shi" here is still relatively close to the essence of the "shi" of the Warring States. It was also at this time that the term shi began to have other cultural meanings besides identity.
It is also worth noting that the status of the adversary at this time entered a state of semi-openness: on the one hand, it was indeed still a ruling class, and even still regarded as part of the nobility; on the other hand, it began to open part of its entrance to the non-aristocratic class. It can be said that at this stage, the political connotation behind the taxi began to transform into a channel of social class mobility. In this regard, the "soldiers" at this time have a certain similarity with the so-called "knights" group in the early days of European feudal society. The "knight" in Europe at this time was also a new concept, referring to a large number of people who did not have official titles and had vague qualifications, in exchange for land and positions as armed vassals of the official nobility. The difference is that after Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty completely ended the "feudal" era, the Chinese "soldiers" directly evolved into a large and stable bureaucratic group, rather than the European "knights" who relentlessly integrated into the aristocratic group.
From the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, the system of electing officials (scholars) has truly appeared on the stage of history.
The establishment of the Western Han Dynasty was the first regular change of China's unified centralized dynasty. This first time had too much experimentality, and the familiar operations we saw in history in the previous revivals would not necessarily exist in the early Western Han Dynasty, such as correction of Shuo, amnesty, Juntian, and so on. Even how to establish the administrative system, for the Liu Bang Group, it is necessary to feel the stones to cross the river.
General Canon: Election 1:
Looking at it from this point of view, there are three main points:
1, I am too short of people, the elites of the world, since you accepted me as emperor, you have to come out to help me rule the world, come out, don't hide anymore.
2. In the face of Qin's tyranny and government, the Han Dynasty emphasized that the core of the standard for employing people is "morality", and those who have mingde can use it.
3. Assign kPIs to current officials to select people, and even dismiss officials if they cannot be completed.
From an administrative and practical point of view, this edict can be said to be only rough and lacks practical guidance, because there are no standards or processes. But even such a large and improper edict was still promulgated in the eleventh year of the establishment of the regime, which shows how difficult and chaotic the first decade of the Han Dynasty was administratively difficult and chaotic. But in any case, such an edict opened up the history of the han dynasty and even the entire Chinese system of electing officials.
After Emperor Gao began to explore the system of appointing officials, Emperor Zhihui and Empress Gao made some progress, which can be regarded as the result of Emperor Gao's era, Tongdian Election I:
Although no substantial progress has been added to Emperor Gao's edict, please note that the first concrete indicator is proposed for the specific criterion of "Matilda": filial piety. This was followed by the Wen and Jing dynasties, which together with the era of Emperor Gao constituted the prelude to the han dynasty's system of electing officials, Tongdian Election I:
Emperor Wen began to practice the art of Huang Lao, and the essence of Wen and Jingzhizhi was to earn money and save money, without many moral shackles after respecting Confucianism, but also with a strong impulse to enrich the national treasury as much as possible. Therefore, the "rich man who has money to become an official" in later generations has no obstacle to the grand state policy at the time, and even has a theoretical basis, that is, "The greed of the officials of the times is that they think that they have enough food and clothing, and they know honor and disgrace, so they limit the amount of 100,000 yuan to be an official." ”
However, it also made a contribution to the establishment of the inspection system in the era of Emperor Wu, that is, it was believed that the incorruptible people had no money, so they lowered the standard of value requirements so that the incorruptible could enter the army. The Zewen and Jing dynasties added another concrete criterion to Emperor Gao's principle of employing people "Mingde": honesty.