ancient

The National Civil Service Examination is referred to as the "National Examination". In ancient times,"national examination" called imperial examination, Qin and Han Wei and Jin fashion no imperial examination system, it will be attached to the "examination." The ancient costume comedy Su Xiaomei, a spoiled wife, deduces all kinds of attitudes of scholars in Song Dynasty towards imperial examination, and many Qing Dynasty operas also introduce the details of examination field in Qing Dynasty in detail. Jiao Zhongqing, a minor official of Lujiang River in the traditional drama Peacock Flying Southeast, benefited from the inspection system of Han Dynasty.

When the "National Examination" comes another year, I will combine the stories inside and outside the drama to talk about the alternative side of the ancient "National Examination", which may be of benefit to students who are fascinated by the "National Examination".

Only rich people in the Qin Dynasty were qualified to be officials

During the broadcast of the TV series "The Legend of Chu and Han", someone once asked me that there were no imperial examinations in the Qin Dynasty. How did Xiao He become a prison official in Pei County during the Qin Dynasty? To be honest, I really got me wrong at the time. Only after I calmed down and flipped through the book did I realize that Xiao He's conditions were basically consistent with the Qin Dynasty official selection system.

In selecting officials in the Qin Dynasty, three main conditions were paid attention to: First, if they had a certain amount of family wealth, the poor could not be officials. For example, Han Xin "when he was a commoner, he was poor and had no conduct", so he "could not be promoted to an official." Xiao He's family conditions are better than those of Han Xin and Liu Bang. Second, you must be able to write and understand the law. Xiao He is diligent and studious, and he has a lot of research on the laws and regulations of the past dynasties. 3. The age must be above the "prime of life", and at least after 17 years of age can be qualified to serve as an official. The year Qin Shi Huang died, Xiao He was 48 years old.

Of course, in the Qin Dynasty, there were also military service titles, enfeoffment systems, hereditary systems, etc. The so-called proverb "generals from the west of Guandong, ministers from the east of Guandong" came from here.

After the unification of the six countries, the ranks and officials were separated. Those with titles may not necessarily be officials, and those who are officials may not need titles. For example, Prime Ministers Wang Wan and Feng Quji not only did not have titles, but also did not have military merit. By the way, there were also examinations in the Qin Dynasty, but they were not for scholars, but for in-service officials.

In the Han Dynasty, filial piety was the prerequisite for the inspection of parents

In 196 BC, Liu Bang issued the "Order of Seeking Talents", which pioneered the inspection system.

In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Wen issued an edict to "select virtuous and upright people who can speak out and remonstrate with the utmost." In the fifteenth year, he also issued an edict to "select virtuous and upright people who can speak out and remonstrate with the utmost." At this point, the inspection system has been basically finalized.

During the Emperor Wu period, this system was further refined, and a recruitment system was established to complement and implement it. For example,"no family other than Confucianism is allowed to nominate", which means that scholars are selected based on Confucianism, and no non-Confucianism is selected. In addition, the standards for the selected or recruited "scholars" are also clearly stipulated, such as four aspects: virtue, knowledge, laws, and strategy. This regulation has far-reaching implications for future generations.

In the Han Dynasty, there are two categories: "annual review" and "imperial review". Annual elections are regular subjects and are recommended once a year. Subjects include "filial piety and integrity" and scholar. Filial piety and integrity were originally divided into two subjects: filial piety and integrity, and later they were even called one subject. Filial piety was the prerequisite and integrity was the reference, so it became the only channel for Han Confucian scholars to jump through the dragon gate.

The candidates for filial piety and integrity include local officials with less than 600 stones and Confucian scholars familiar with Confucian classics. They are recommended by the county to the central government every year. If the former are promoted, they will be given the opportunity to serve as Lang officials in the central government, and the latter will be qualified to enter an official position. Jiao Zhongqing lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. If he had not been extremely filial to his mother, how could he have become a petty official in Lujiang?

This is why "promoting filial piety and integrity" is most familiar to future generations.

Scholars of the Tang Dynasty left the examination room and entered the brothel

In the third year of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty (607), the policy of selecting scholars according to subjects, which is the imperial examination, finally emerged in the true sense of the "national examination". This system, which embodies "learning well leads to becoming an official", lasted about 1300 years, and was abolished after the last Jinshi examination was held in the 31st year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1905).

In the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examinations were divided into two types: regular subjects and system subjects, which were somewhat similar to the annual examinations and imperial examinations in the Han Dynasty. Regular subjects are held in stages every year, while system subjects are held temporarily by the emperor's edict. There are many types of examination subjects, so I won't list them one by one. Interestingly, in addition to bringing a win-win situation to scholars and the imperial court, the "National Examination" of the Tang Dynasty also benefited from it and made a lot of money. According to the records in "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao","Chang 'an has Pingkang Square, a place where prostitutes live. There are young chivalrous men in Kyoto and scholars gathered here. At that time, people called this square a romantic swamp." It's okay for ordinary young masters to go to brothels, but people who have won the first prize and Jinshi also go. It's a bit strange.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand. Meng Jiao has a poem that can be annotated: "In the past, it was filthy and not worth praising, but today it is debauchery and endless. When you are happy with the spring breeze, you can see all Chang 'an flowers in one day." It turned out that I was too depressed when I was not happy, but now I am awarded the title of "horseshoe disease". It is necessary to completely and thoroughly relax my body and mind.

The most popular "catching a son-in-law under the list" in the Song Dynasty

The imperial examination system entered its glorious period in the Song Dynasty. Scholars are proud, rulers pay more attention to it, many talents are selected, and stories of "catching a son-in-law under the list" often occur, making people laugh.

As the saying goes,"Zhu Zigui in the Manchu Dynasty was all scholars." Once a scholar passes the exam, his iron rice bowl will be settled, and other over-value returns are also extremely amazing. Therefore, the criterion for Song people to evaluate the prosperity of a family was to see how many men in the family had who passed the imperial examination and how many women married to those who had been born in the imperial examination. In this way, the "National Examination" examination room has become a place where powerful people compete for the best son-in-law.

After the palace examination with the emperor as the chief examiner, a name call ceremony will be held. This is the time when the results of the "golden list" will be announced. It is the saying that "the scholar from the day before yesterday is the official today." After the roll call is over, there is the "Festival Fair", which is a banquet event for new entrants. However, the roll name and the episode are not in the same place, which provides conditions for those who "choose a son-in-law". The journey from the roll name place to the market place became the place for "selecting son-in-law". Famous families and noble residences competed to watch and choose the satisfied person. When the market is good, in a day,"eight or nine people are in bed in the Middle East."

Of course, there were also many jokes.

There was a young man who was young and handsome. He was favored by a powerful family and sent more than a dozen strong men to escort him home. The young man neither refused nor escaped, but went happily. Not long after, a man dressed in a high-ranking official robe asked him: "I have a daughter who is not ugly. I would like to marry you. May I?" The young man bowed deeply and declined: "I came from a humble background. It would be a blessing if I could reach high. Why don't you wait until I get home and discuss it with my wife?" The onlookers all burst out laughing when they saw this.

In the "National Examination" of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, forming cliques was the mainstream

The imperial examinations entered their heyday in the Ming Dynasty, and the system was more complete. For example, schools were linked to scientific examinations, and the establishment of three-level examination systems such as rural examinations, general examinations, and palace examinations made the "national examinations" more difficult than in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The Qing Dynasty imperial examinations followed the Ming Dynasty. The difference is that the Qing Dynasty imperial examinations were of a certain ethnic discriminatory nature.

These are all the reasons why Fan Jin, Kong Yiji and others failed to succeed repeatedly.

The notorious "eight-part wen" style that is familiar to people is a product of the imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is also called "Shiwen","Zhiyi","Babi Wen","Sishu Wen", etc. It is characterized by emphasizing form rather than content. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the harm of eight-legged characters began to become prominent. Mr. Gu Yanwu once said indignantly: "The eight chapters flourished but the Six Classics weakened. The eighteen houses flourished but the twenty-one history became obsolete." He also said: "I think that the eight strands are more harmful than burning books."

Another distinctive feature of the imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was the formation of cliques for the future. Whether it is a provincial examination or a general examination, the relationship between the examiner and the examinee, and between the examinee, is determined at that moment: those who are admitted must call the examiner a mentor and call themselves "students"; those who are admitted to the same subject become "fellow subjects" or "classmates" with each other. Later,"teachers, students" and "classmates" stayed in Shilin, and taking care of each other became a well-known "hidden rule".