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| The Reform of the Imperial Examinations in the Northern Song Dynasty under Civilian Politics |
| Zu Hui, Fei Xikuan |
| School of Humanities, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China |
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Abstract The selection of civil servants in the Northern Song Dynasty was mainly done through the Imperial Examinations (keju) system. In the early Song Dynasty, reforms of the Imperial Examinations that had been carried out since the Tang Dynasty could not adapt to the new political situations. New reforms mainly included three aspects as follows.The reforms started with Emperor Taizu, who established palace examinations and thus had talent selection controlled in his own hand. The examinees who passed palace examinations were regarded as the disciples of the emperor, the Son of Heaven, and that greatly aroused the enthusiasm of scholars. However, the number of admissions in the reign of Taizu had no significant change compared with that in the Five Dynasties because the national policy of emphasizing literati and restraining the military was still in the exploratory stage. In the reign of Emperor Taizong, upon the unification of the country, the establishment of a national government system with literati as the main body was put on the agenda. Based on the needs of civil politics, Emperor Taizong continuously expanded the number of admissions in the Imperial Examinations in order to supplement and update the bureaucratic team with new talents. As such, the proportion of officials selected through the Imperial Examinations was greatly increased in the bureaucratic system, which laid a solid foundation for promoting the formation of civil politics.In order to select talents for the government, the subjects and contents of the Imperial Examinations were gradually adjusted. In the reign of Emperor Renzong, the systems of shuoshuju (说书举) and mingjing ke (明经科) were set up, which changed the concept of talent selection from focusing on poetry and memorization in the Tang Dynasty to emphasizing interpretation of classics. In the fourth year of Xining, Wang Anshi reformed the Imperial Examinations system and officially abolished various subjects, mingjing ke and poetry and fu (赋) , tie jing (帖经) and mo yi (墨义) and turned to the focus on classics interpretation (yi, 义) , exposition (lun, 论) ,and policy response essays (ce, 策). The selection of talents shifted from emphasis on literary skills to the candidates' practical ability. Literary talents selected through poetry and fu had little to do with national governance while classics interpretation, exposition,and policy response essays focused on governance in ancient and modern times and current politics. The classics exegesis required the examinees to quote from classics to deal with ideological and theoretical issues related to the people's well-being, politics, economy, morality and self-cultivation and so forth. Creative answers were of positive significance for selecting talents who were proficient in Confucian Classics and practical abilities to participate in the country's government. This was the fundamental reason for the reform of the Imperial Examinations which had been established and carried out since the Tang and Five Dynasties.In order to improve the overall quality of civil servants and their ability to govern the country as well as unify their thinking, the state began to attach importance to education and official schools were encouraged. During the reign of Emperor Huizong, based on Wang Anshi's Three Hall System (sanshefa, 三舍法), the reform of sanshe gongshi (三舍贡士) combined the selection of talents through the Imperial Examinations with school education. Local government schools at various levels were established to match with the contents of the Imperial Examinations. Thus, a set of management system of talent training, selection and appointment was formed to better serve civil politics. From the third year of Chongning to the third year of Xuanhe, the gongshi examination had been carried out twelve times nationwide. It was a beneficial attempt to combine the selection of talents through the Imperial Examinations in alliance with school education, which had a far-reaching impact on future generations. In the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Examinations must be carried out through the school system.In short, the reform on the Imperial Examinations System in the Northern Song Dynasty has a positive historical significance in eradicating the dictatorship of the military officials, establishing civil politics and strengthening centralized rule.
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Received: 19 April 2021
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2021, Vol. 51 
