Among more than ten hundred thousands of Jinshi degree holders in the Song Dynasty, the Zhuangyuan(Number One Scholar)were of a small group but with huge influences. As the biggest beneficiaries of the imperial examination system, their backgrounds as well as their officialdom experiences could reflect the changes of the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty and politics of the time. The General Record of Imperial Examination Success in the Song Dynasty(Hereinafter as General Record)is a collection of a huge amount of historical data of the Zhuangyuan, providing a strong support for further more intensive researches on Zhuangyuan.It could be concluded that there were 118 Zhuangyuan in the Song Dynasty. Although there is no consensus in the academia of whether the Gongshi(the final test on military art practicers)held during the Reign of Huizong should be considered as an imperial examination, nor of the numbers of military examinations that had been held in the Song Dynasty. based on the data in the General Record, it is clear that a total of 72 military examinations were held, from which 72 military Zhuangyuan were selected;12 Gongshi were held during the Reign of Huizong on which the examinees rigorously were selected from various schools across the country. The qualified candidates in the finals were granted″Shangshe Jidi″or″Shangshe Chushen″(the conferring titles in the Song supreme colleges).Gongshi was a new attempt of the government to combine the imperial civil examination system with school education. The top ones in Gongshi enjoyed similar treatment with the Zhuangyuan, and hence were called Shihe Zhuangyuan. In light of this, the 12 top ones could also be grouped as Zhuangyuan. Based on the analysis of the 118 Zhuangyuan's family backgrounds, it is found that 50 Zhuangyuan had official family backgrounds, 70% of whom were from lower-ranking official families;17 from poor families;and the other 51's backgrounds were not known either because their official career was not distinguishing or because they intentionally hid their backgrounds. However, it could be certain that these 51 Zhuangyuan were not from dignitary families. It can be concluded that the selection of talents in the Song Dynasty was not influenced by their family backgrounds and the students from poor families had equal opportunities to succeed in imperial examinations. Imperial civil examinations in the Song Dynasty had promoted the down-up flowing of talents. The investigation of the Zhuangyuan's official career in the Song Dynasty is focused on two aspects:the starting point of their official career, or the first official rank being appointed and their highest official ranks. This research finds that their initially appointed ranks had undergone a changing process, from the lower ranks to the higher ones and then back to the lower ones. Nearly 60% of the Zhuangyuan had taken high-level official ranks such as chancellors. While for most military Zhuangyuan, their official careers were not prominent. This result indicates that the military officials in the Song Dynasty had been undervalued and that the imperial civil examination talent selection had great limitations.
祖慧 杨竹旺. 《宋代登科总录》与宋代状元研究[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2017, 3(1): 39-.
Zu Hui, Yang Zhuwang. General Record of Imperial Examination Success in the Song Dynasty and theSurvey of Zhuangyuan in the Song Dynasty. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2017, 3(1): 39-.