The current official selection system generally passes the civil service examination, but in ancient China? Look at the information I collected below. How do we select "civil servants" in each dynasty of our country? In addition to the similar examination and selection system such as the imperial examination system, there are actually other official selection systems.
From the ancient times to the last imperial examination in 1904 (the 30th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), the official selection system in ancient China experienced six changes:
Ancient times
Yao knew that his son Danzhu was unworthy and could not grant the world, so he granted power to shun. If Shun is granted, the world will get its benefits and get Danzhu disease; If you give Danzhu, the world will be ill, and Danzhu will benefit from it. Yao said, "in the end, we will not benefit one person from the disease of the world"—— Records of the five emperors
This is the description recorded in Sima Qian's "historical records of the Five Emperors". During the period of the three emperors and five emperors, Yao, the leader of the Chinese tribe, abandoned passing the throne to his son, but elected the next tribal leader Shun through the system of abdication.
The period of three emperors and five emperors was a stage of social transformation of Chinese regional aborigines from primitive social group to patriarchal tribal era. During this period, the primitive clan commune linked by blood relationship collapsed, and a new clan formed by regional relationship rose. This is mainly due to the emergence of private ownership and the polarization between the rich and the poor. Even as a tribe or tribal alliance, there has been the emergence of substantive power. In a way, power has divided the tribe into classes.
Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties
With the spread of Xia Yu's son Qi, the ruling form of "family and the world" was formed, so that in the whole slavery period of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, from royal power to Qing and doctor, it was the system of Shi Qing and Shi Lu, that is, hereditary system.
At that time, the social hierarchy was very obvious. From the supreme ruler to the aristocrats of slave owners at all levels, their power was inherited by their own descendants. They controlled their political positions and power for generations, and enjoyed various economic privileges for generations. Even the monarch could not be appointed or removed at will. Civilians and slaves could not turn over at all, so the officials at that time were mainly the native people or relatives of the son of heaven.
During the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the princes began to break the original hereditary system of officials and barons and choose officials according to the principle of "selecting talents and appointing talents". For example, Shang Yang implemented the military merit award system during the reform of the state of Qin. At that time, the generals and ministers were often promoted and appointed by the monarch from the civilians, and the middle and lower level officials were trained through "cultivating scholars" and "military merit".
Han Dynasty
During the Han Dynasty, China's feudal autocratic rule was further developed. At this time, the past method of selecting talents through military merit and cultivating scholars can no longer meet the needs of the realistic feudal centralized system. Therefore, under the new historical conditions, the selection of officials in the Han Dynasty has further developed and began to form a clear selection of officials system. At that time, the system of "examination and recruitment" was mainly implemented.
The so-called "examination", also known as recommendation, refers to the recommendation of the so-called civilians or lower level officials with noble moral character and outstanding talents to the imperial court, granting them official positions or improving their positions according to the investigation. Examination was a main method of selecting officials in the Han Dynasty.
The so-called "expedition" is a system of selecting and appointing subordinates by the imperial court and senior officials. Senior officials recommend prestigious and talented people to the imperial court. Those appointed by the imperial court are called "Zheng", and those who are hired by local senior officials as their own Cai Liao are called "Bi".
The system of "examination and recruitment" in the Han Dynasty paid attention to the recommendation of prestigious officials. Although sometimes the imperial court also conducted assessment, it was only an auxiliary means of recommendation.
Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties
During the Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties, in order to maintain their ruling position, the noble families tried their best to carry out the official selection system of "nine grades in the right system".
From Cao Wu, Emperor Wen of Wei Dynasty, the central dynasty appointed officials specially responsible for identifying and selecting talents. The county is called "Zhongzheng" and the state is called "dazhongzheng". They are responsible for evaluating the local people according to their moral character and knowledge, such as upper, upper, lower, middle, lower, upper, lower, lower, middle and lower nine, so as to be employed by the state according to their talents. The method is called "nine grade face law".
Its critics only watch the door, the height is low, and do not pay attention to practical talents. The power of selecting officials is controlled by aristocratic families, forming the so-called situation of "no poor family in the top grade and no aristocratic family in the bottom grade".
The "nine grade system" seriously hindered the entry of the middle and small landlord classes and aroused their strong opposition, which was very disadvantageous to strengthening the feudal centralization, so the voice for the reform of the official selection system became stronger and stronger. In the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties began to implement the official selection policy of "the system of giving up family resources" and began to break the trend of selecting officials by family background.
Imperial examination system era
In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the development of social productive forces, the voice of small and medium-sized landlords for political participation became stronger and stronger, so the imperial examination system of selecting scholars through the opening examination came into being. The emergence of the imperial examination system provided an opportunity for the common landlords to enter the official system. This system was inherited by the later feudal dynasties and became the most important official selection system of the feudal dynasty.
Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty abolished the nine grades system and began to use the method of subject examination to select officials; Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty began to set up the Jinshi Section, and the imperial examination system was formed. When Emperor Taizong came to the Tang Dynasty, he added examination subjects, mainly Jinshi and Mingjing; During the reign of Empress Wu, the number of people selected for the imperial examination was greatly increased, and she also initiated the military examination and palace examination; Tang Xuanzong appointed senior officials to preside over the examination, which improved the status of the imperial examination.
The obvious difference between the imperial examination system and the nine grade Zhongzheng system is that the selection of officials is no longer based on family fame, but based on the examination results, and the power of selecting officials is not in the local but returned to the central government. The establishment of the imperial examination system was a great progress of the feudal official selection system: it restrained the power of the clan, expanded the source of officials, and essentially reflected the changes of class relations in the Sui and Tang Dynasties; It improves the cultural quality of officials and is conducive to political clarity; The centralization of power has been greatly strengthened, which is conducive to the stability of the political situation. It should be pointed out that although the imperial examination system has expanded the source of officials, it is still the official selection system of the landlord class and serves the landlord class.
The development of the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty. The imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty has further developed than that in the Tang Dynasty, and has its own characteristics, which is mainly reflected in the customization of the palace examination and the implementation of the "paste name method", and the number of places adopted has been greatly increased than that in the Tang Dynasty. The development of the imperial examination system opened the way for all strata of the landlord class to enter the official career, further expanded the ruling foundation of the Northern Song Dynasty, and strengthened the centralization of power.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the eight part essay was adopted to select scholars. The interpretation was based on Zhu Xi's collection of notes, and the article format was eight part essay, which could not be played at will. The essence of eight part scholar selection is a kind of cultural autocratic system. It imprisons people's thoughts and seriously hinders the development of culture and science. It is an important reason why modern Chinese science and technology lags behind the West. In the reform movement of 1898 in the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination system was reformed, eight shares were abolished, and the policy theory was changed. The imperial examination system existed for nearly 1300 years in the history of official selection in ancient China, and was not abolished until 1905.