The Formation of Ancient Imperial Examination System

Before the Sui Dynasty, the system of selecting officials in ancient China was different from generation to generation, but the system of recommendation and appointment always occupied an important position. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties carried out the "Nine-grade Zheng Zhi System", and the aristocratic families dominated the rural elections and monopolized the official career. When judging scholars and selecting officials, they emphasized the distinction between scholars and ordinary people and the level of family background, forming a situation of "no poverty for the top grade and no home for the bottom grade". In addition, there are overlapping organizations and overstaffed personnel, such as "more officials and fewer people, ten sheep and nine shepherds" and "no one can handle affairs easily", which exposes the disadvantages of the recommendation system. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, it carried out decisive reforms, abolished the nine-product system and established the imperial examination.

The imperial examination in Sui Dynasty was in its infancy, which was a combination of local recommendation and central examination. In the seventh year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (587), every year, the states recommended three people from Gong Shi to take the Beijing exam, and those who achieved excellent results were called Jinshi. /kloc-there were only two subjects in 0/8 (598), namely discipline, honesty, fairness and dry economy. Candidates are recommended by more than five levels of Beijing officials, local managers and secretariats. After Yang Di acceded to the throne, it was expanded to include ten subjects such as literary talent, martial arts, moral character and political ability. Recommended by officials with more than five products, and it is stipulated that any works of art should be collected and recorded to keep pace with the times. At the same time, we set up a Jinshi department to take exams in poetry and literature. This is an important symbol of the establishment of the imperial examination system. Because the imperial examination is conducted in public, the prescribed knowledge structure is recognized as the main admission standard, which allows equal and open competition to some extent. Although the system was not complete at that time, it showed certain advantages in selecting talents. The emergence of the imperial examination system adapted to the needs of the political development of feudal society, and the power of selecting officials was recovered from aristocratic families to the imperial court, which was conducive to the consolidation of centralization of authority.