Research on the system of foreign calling and testing in the Song Dynasty
Ouyang Xiu reviewed his experience of knowing the system in his writings, and he mentioned: "The system of the national dynasty, the knowledge system must be tried first and then killed. This shows that in the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to become an intellectual, one had to go through the imperial court's summons.
Historically, the system of calling for examinations in the Northern Song Dynasty was not achieved overnight, but went through a long process of evolution. From the drafting of the edict in the Zhongshu Province of the Tang Dynasty, to the Hanlin scholar in charge of the edict, and then to the distinction between the internal and external systems in the later period, it was a gradual improvement process.
Although the Northern Song Dynasty was founded in 960 AD, the formation of the foreign system of calling and testing did not mean that it was immutable, but that it was appropriately adjusted according to the actual needs of the imperial court.
Different scholars have different views on the historical periodization of ancient China. Naito's Tang and Song Dynasty Theory of Change is the most recognized, arguing that ancient Chinese history can be divided into "antiquity", "medieval" and "modern", and that the Song Dynasty is the beginning of China's "modern era".
The theory of change in the Tang and Song dynasties was put forward in the 19th century and has a history of more than 100 years, attracting many scholars to conduct research. Many well-known scholars in China have also conducted in-depth research on this.
Although many scholars believe that during the period from the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty, some changes did take place, including politics and economics, whether they have reached the level of "change" still needs to be rigorously studied and discussed.
In order to prove that the history of the Tang and Song dynasties did not appear as violent as "change", scholars cited many examples to prove that the Tang and Song dynasties had the characteristics of "continuity" in many aspects.
In the ancient Chinese political system, the development and change of official positions have always attracted much attention. Especially in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the rulers of the Song Dynasty carried out a series of reforms in order to strengthen the monarch.
These reforms led to the Northern Song dynasty"Two governments and three divisions"The establishment of the ** bureaucracy, which some believe is different from the Tang Dynasty's three-province and six-ministry system, is a manifestation of the Tang and Song Dynasty reforms.
However, in fact, the Tang Dynasty's three-province six-ministry system and the Northern Song Dynasty's"Two governments and three divisions"All of them are for the purpose of better centralization, and they are different in terms of institutional settings and official appointments, but they are not completely different.
In the Tang Dynasty's three provinces and six ministries system, Shangshu Province, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province cooperated in the division of labor and balanced each other, plus the six ministries subordinate to Shangshu Province, forming a complete set of ** official system.
This bureaucratic system was continued during the Northern Song Dynasty, but there were differences in the specific institutional settings and official appointments. of the Northern Song Dynasty"Two governments and three divisions""Erfu"Refers to:"Under the door of the book"with"Privy Council"。
Among them,"Under the door of the book"with the Tang Dynasty's"Three provinces"It has close ties, and the Privy Councillor, one of the Privy Councillors, was first established in the early years of the Tang Dynasty. Not only that, the Northern Song Dynasty inherited the previous Tang Dynasty in the establishment of the ** official system, and even inherited some important official positions and their employment methods, such as the appointment and assessment of the indispensable edict in the imperial court.
These facts show that although the Northern Song Dynasty differed from the Tang Dynasty in some aspects, its inheritance and changes in the political system were all aimed at achieving the highest centralization.
In the era of the alternation of the Tang and Song dynasties, although many political, economic, and cultural changes took place, the two periods were still closely linked due to the continuity of Chinese civilization.
Therefore, the study of the relevant systems of the Song Dynasty edict must start from the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, the system of external summoning and testing had an important impact on the Song Dynasty.
Although the Song Dynasty was influenced by the Tang Dynasty in many institutions and the establishment of official positions, it is undeniable that due to the changes of the times and the changes in the political situation, the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty also made some changes accordingly and formed their own unique characteristics.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the system of three provinces and six ministries was the core of the operation of the imperial court, among which the Zhongshu Province was responsible for drafting the edicts, which were mainly undertaken by the Zhongshu Sheren. Although it is recorded in the history books that other ** edicts have been drafted, they have not been customized.
Therefore, it can be said that the relevant content of the knowledge system is "Tang story".
1.During the period of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court gradually formed a form of edict issued by the Hanlin scholar to draft the edict and issue the edict, this kind of edict and edict issued directly by the palace is called the "internal system", the Zhongshu people still have the power to draft the edict, and the emperor will also send other ** to draft the edict, this edict and edict is called the "external system", collectively referred to as the "two systems", which was inherited by the Northern Song Dynasty.
2.In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to strengthen the centralization of power of the monarch, the imperial court established the difference between "official", "position" and "dispatch", thus forming an external system of calling and testing the test.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a distinction between official positions and "dispatches". ** rank and status are symbolized by "official" and "position", while "dispatch" is the actual official position.
In this context, although the Zhongshu Sheren had the power to draft edicts, they were not actually in actual positions, but were called "Jilu officials", and the Imperial Court was responsible for drafting edicts.
There was a house in the Imperial Palace, and the ** who was responsible for drafting the edict was usually held by others**, and the person who held this position on a temporary basis was called the Quan Zhi Zhi Zhi Edict. The Northern Song Dynasty had a certain amount of investigation for the position of the commander, and it was necessary to go through the process of calling for an examination to determine the candidates.
The setting of the official position of the Song Dynasty was not entirely determined by the emperor's likes and dislikes, but needed to go through a certain selection process. In the early years of Yongxi, Taizong selected Li Wenzheng Gongxin, Song Xiang, Wang Huaji and others to serve as the intellectual system, Huaji was not competent in the previous chapter, so he began to call for the examination of the Chinese book, and formulated the regulations for the examination of the two poems, which became a traditional procedure.
During the Yongxi period of the Northern Song Dynasty, the selection method of the Zhizhi system has formed a fixed norm. This system was first recorded in the two Song Dynasty and several hundred years. In the fifth year of the Taiping Rejuvenation of the Kingdom, the historical records record that ** was appointed as the Zhizhi Emperor after being called for an examination, but scholars generally believe that this is an accidental phenomenon and not a custom of the imperial court.
However, in the Song Taizong Dynasty, the external system of calling and testing gradually matured, not only in terms of method and content, but also in the knowledge system.
Due to the short period of time in the early period of Song Taizong's reign, many institutional constructions were completed during his reign. At that time, the main ones of the Zhizhi Dynasty were the former ministers, which was closely related to the special historical environment at that time.
In the early days of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Han Dynasty had not yet been unified, and the Zhao and Song regimes only ruled the Yellow River Valley. After the southern conquest and the northern war, the Northern Song Dynasty ruled the traditional Han land. In the process of expanding its territory, the Northern Song Dynasty absorbed many former ministers of the previous dynasty, who had a high status and high level of education.
The arrangements for this group need to be carefully considered. The Zhizhi Decree is not only a close minister of the Son of Heaven, but also has to draft an edict according to the emperor's will. Although they are decent, they do not have the right to call the wind and rain.
In the early Northern Song Dynasty, a strict system of external summoning and examination had not yet been formed, so experienced former courtiers were the best choice. After the Yongxi period, the system of calling and testing outside the court gradually matured, and the old ministers of the previous dynasty gradually faded out, and were replaced by new Jinshi.
At the beginning, the way of calling for the test was not perfect, and there were various methods, such as"Direct selection"、"Selected by articles"、"Recommended"or"Self-referrals"。With the passage of time, the content of the external call is gradually fixed, such as:"To tell a story, those who enter the West Pavilion must accept the call of the Chinese book to try to produce three articles, two of which are 200 words each, and one is 100 words. "
The most important thing is to be able to draft the edict smoothly to ensure the smooth upload and issuance. Therefore, it is necessary to check whether they have the ability to know the system.
This method of investigation is not original to the Song Dynasty, and it has been implemented as early as the appointment system of the previous generation, but these practices did not become the norm at that time. This dispatch is what the ** are keen on, because this position is a close confidant of the Son of Heaven.
So, after serving as an intellectual system, what is the promotion path of **? According to scholars' research, after serving for a period of time, the external system** is usually promoted to the internal system.
The Tang Dynasty's internal system finally transitioned to the external system in the Song Dynasty, which was a significant change in history, and experienced the long historical period of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the Northern Song Dynasty.
3. The system of calling examinations in the Northern Song Dynasty was gradually finalized during the period of Taizong of the Song Dynasty, but it underwent some changes during the periods of Zhenzong, Renzong and Shenzong. During the Xining years, this change reached its peak.
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, he was an important reformer of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he enabled Wang Anshi to begin the reform of the law. As a result, many of the imperial court's systems changed during this time, including the system of summoning examinations.
The power of the edict was transferred from the Chinese scholar to the new institution, and the content of the investigation of the edict will also change with the changes of the times. Initially, the candidate's talent and agility were examined, but after the Southern Song Dynasty, the methods of examination became more diverse.
3. ConclusionAlthough the existence of the Five Dynasties period for more than 50 years complicated the relationship between the Tang and Song dynasties, the two dynasties still have many similarities.
The Tang Dynasty's system of edicts had a profound impact on the Song Dynasty. From the drafting of edicts in the province of Zhongshu in the Tang Dynasty to the gradual establishment of a fixed position in the Northern Song Dynasty, this is the result of the continuous adjustment of the ruler according to the actual situation.
The external system of the Northern Song Dynasty not only inherited some of the content of the previous generation, but also added innovative content to reflect the importance of the imperial court to this position, and derived a series of issues such as the transfer and assessment of the external system and the internal system.
After the Southern Song Dynasty established the country in the south, the system of making and calling examinations has been used to this day. References: 1, "Continuation of the Governance of Tongjian" 2, "Liu Yuxi's Complete Works Chronological Proofreading" 3, "Imperial Dynasty Chronicle Compendium" 4, "Famous Ministers' Tablet Biography Wanyan Collection Proof" 5, "Ouyang Xiu's Complete Works".