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| The Change of Meanings of “Origin” from the Perspective of Emphasizing Literati Policy in Song Dynasty |
| Zhou Jia |
| School of Humanities/Song Studies Research Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China |
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Abstract This paper investigates the influence of the prosperity of the Imperial Examinations system in the Song Dynasty on the bureaucratic selection system as well as on the concept of the times by examining the change of the meaning of “origin” (出身) in the Imperial Examinations in the Tang and Song Dynasties.The original meaning of “origin” was “dedication” in the historical documents. In the Tang Dynasty, “origin” was widely used as an official term. One who had “origin” meant “having the qualification to be an official”, but not a formal official. Official qualification could be obtained through different ways; therefore there were various origins. The debate on origin in the Tang Dynasty mainly focused on enyin (hereditary by grace) and keju (the Imperial Examinations). In the early Tang Dynasty, the “origin” status of enyin was much higher than that of the Imperial Examinations. In the Imperial Examinations, the status of Jinshi (presented scholar) was the lowest, above which there were xiucai (秀才) and mingjing (明经). In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the origin of status of jinshi had ascended. In the late Tang and Five Dynasties, the central government could not effectively implement the official selection system. The focus of the imperial court on “origin” was whether one had “origin” or not, as “having an origin” connoted having the official qualification recognized by the central government. Its purpose was mainly to control the appointment and removal of personnel and to prevent the cases of having no origin and forged origin. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the power of appointment and removal of personnel was retrieved by the central government, and “whether there was origin” was no longer a concern of the imperial court, resulting in a sharp competition between officials with different origins.The Song Dynasty was the key period for the change of the meaning of “origin”. In the early Song Dynasty following the Tang and Five Dynasties, “origin” generally referred to the qualification of being an official. In the Song Dynasty, the policy of emphasizing literati in ruling the country was established. Since the reign of Emperor Taizong, the Imperial Examinations became the main channel for selecting officials, and “origin” became the identity reference specifically referring to those who took the Imperial Examinations and gained official positions. After the reform of Imperial Examinations in the reign of Emperor Shenzong, the scope of “origin” had been limited to jinshi only from the reign of Huizong to the Southern Song Dynasty. In contrast to “having origin” in the Song Dynasty, there were “having no origin” and “miscellaneous origins”. The emphasis on “origin” in the Song Dynasty was to distinguish it from the enyin status.The aim of focusing on the issue of “origin” by the emperors of the Song Dynasty was to prevent the formation of new political regimes in officialdom from threatening the imperial power. Therefore, the imperial policy focused on suppressing enyin and supporting the Imperial Examinations. There were three major means: firstly, the number of origins was controlled, i.e. expanding the scale of Imperial Examinations and limiting the number of enyin; secondly, the officials who were appointed for the first time were controlled, enyin and jinshi having totally different treatment from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty; thirdly, the appointment and promotion of officialdom was controlled. In the early reign of Shenzong, it was a common phenomenon that the qualifications for senior positions in the central government required jinshi origin.In the Song Dynasty, “origin” became a qualification factor affecting the official career all of one’s life time. The concept behind it was that the official power could not be inherited, but must be held in the hands of moral and capable people. As far as civil servants are concerned, they could not change their “miscellaneous origins” while enyin origin had an opportunity to change into a better jinshi origin. There were two main ways to change the origin: firstly, the officials with enyin origin could participate in the Lock Hall Test (suoting shi,锁厅试) of the Imperial Examinations, and obtain the jinshi origin after passing the examinations; secondly, the emperor directly granted them with jinshi origin. These officials, who were promoted by the emperor personally, formed a closer personal relationship with the emperor so that the most important positions in the imperial court would never be out of the emperor’s control.
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Received: 19 April 2021
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2021, Vol. 51 
