First, the establishment and improvement of the imperial examination system in Sui and Tang Dynasties. & lt 1 & gt； The rise of the Sui Dynasty: Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty abolished the Nine-grade Zhengzhi system and began to select officials by means of sub-subject examinations; When Yang Di was in Sui Dynasty, the imperial examination system had been formed. & lt2> Perfection of the Tang Dynasty: During the reign of Emperor Taizong, examination subjects were added, mainly Jinshi and Mingjing; During the reign of Wu Zetian, the number of candidates in imperial examinations increased greatly, and martial arts and palace examinations were also launched. Tang Xuanzong appointed senior officials to preside over the examination, which improved the status of the imperial examination.
The obvious difference between the imperial examination system and the nine-grade system is that the selection of officials is no longer based on family background but on examination results, and the power of selecting officials is not in the local but in the central government. The establishment of imperial examination system is a great progress of feudal official selection system: it suppressed the influence of aristocratic families, expanded the source of officials, and essentially reflected the changes of class relations in Sui and Tang Dynasties; It improves the cultural quality of officials and is conducive to political clarity; It greatly strengthens centralization and is conducive to political stability. It should be pointed out that although the imperial examination system expanded the sources of officials, it was still a system of selecting officials for and serving the landlord class.
Second, the development of the imperial examination system in Song Dynasty. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty has further developed and has its own characteristics, which are mainly manifested in: the court examination has been customized, and the "paste name method" has been implemented, and the number of places adopted has greatly increased compared with that in the Tang Dynasty. The development of the imperial examination system opened the way for all classes of the landlord class to enter the official career, further expanded the ruling foundation of the Northern Song Dynasty, and played a role in strengthening centralization.
Third, the changes of the imperial examination system in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, stereotyped writing was used to select scholars, and the interpretation was based on Zhu's Collection of Notes. The format of the article was stereotyped writing, which could not be used at will. The nature of stereotyped writing is a kind of cultural autocracy, which imprisons people's thoughts and seriously hinders the development of cultural science, which is an important reason why modern China lags behind the West in science and technology. The Reform Movement of 1898 in the late Qing Dynasty reformed the imperial examination system, abolished stereotyped writing and changed the theory of strategy. The imperial examination system existed in the history of selecting officials in ancient China for nearly 1300 years, and it was not abolished until 1905.
In the bureaucratic system, how to choose local officials, whether they live near the people or government officials, is related to the stability of the ruling foundation, which has been valued by rulers of past dynasties. Throughout the historical evolution of China's ancient political system, the selection of local officials has roughly gone through two stages.
In the first stage, from Qin and Han dynasties to Sui and Tang dynasties, the selection of local officials was mainly based on inspection and recommendation, with "meritocracy" as the standard, and local power was greater. From the selection point of view: in the pre-Qin period, the recommendation system in the village was implemented. In the case of combining blood and geopolitics, the recommendation at the grassroots level can't actually jump out of the box of "nepotism". The inspection and appraisal system was implemented in the Han Dynasty, which stipulated that a certain number of people were recommended by local governors every year, and the selection criteria were mainly virtue, Confucian classics and rural discussion. The tea house implements the system that referees and recommended people sit together. At first, the system was cautious. However, due to the general standard of tea gathering and many subjective evaluation components, it is easy to ask for help and make fraud. Most of the recommended people are "their close friends and students", and there is no real talent. With the corruption of official management, this system was destroyed at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the "Zhong Zheng" system was implemented, and the right of selection and recommendation was no longer given to local officials, but was appointed by the court to select talents. These officials are the "leaders" of their county. They divide local talents into nine grades, report them to the Central Committee and be appointed by the Central Committee. The criteria for the evaluation of talents by officials of Chiang Kai-shek include the contents stipulated in the inspection system, adding items such as "family background" and "ability", paying attention to both ability and political integrity, which is more perfect than that of the Han Dynasty, and has played a certain positive role for a time. But this system also has defects: first, the people who choose officials, that is, "Zhongzheng" officials, are mostly controlled by local tycoons; Second, the selection criteria are mostly based on family background, which leads to the result of "no poverty for the top grade and no home for the bottom grade" and prevents the entry of poor talents.
From the appointment point of view: since the Qin Dynasty, local officials with a long history have been appointed by the central government, which has been continued throughout the ages. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, local governments were divided into counties and counties, and local officials were all sent by the central government, so were county orders, and so were county orders. But at the same time, it also stipulates that local governors have the right to appoint their own subordinates, and county heads and county heads can select and appoint officials in their own areas.
In the second stage, from Sui and Tang Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties, the selection method was mainly imperial examination, with "examination" as the standard, and human rights were completely returned to the central government. From the selection point of view, the imperial examination system was implemented in Sui and Tang Dynasties, and Yang Di replaced the nine-grade system with the imperial examination system, which became the main way to select officials at all levels. Students from all over the country do not need to be recommended, so they can sign up for the exam directly. They were selected by the government after an open and step-by-step examination. Jinshi passed the written examination step by step by the government and the central government, and then interviewed by the official department. The content is to examine "body, character, calligraphy and judgment", that is, body appearance, speech response, calligraphy handwriting and judgment writing. The content of the imperial examination is mainly Confucianism, and it is also intellectual. Generally speaking, the imperial examination is based on the ability of the official department and the ability of the official department. Eight-part essay appeared in the mid-Ming Dynasty, which is a kind of literary style with strict arrangement of couples and division of shares. Candidates are easy to master the format and the marking standards are more objective. During the development of the imperial examination system, there was also a dispute over the retention or abolition of the imperial examination system. Zhu Yuanzhang once wrote a letter to stop the imperial examination, but he never found an effective way to choose officials outside the imperial examination, so he had to resume after nine years of suspension. The imperial examination system selected and recruited talents in a relatively fair, just and open way, which brought fresh blood to the whole political system and played a great role in political development.
From the appointment point of view: local officials are still appointed by the central government, which has not changed. What has changed is that the power of local officials to appoint their subordinates has been abolished, and local officials can no longer appoint their subordinates. All local officials who enter the market are appointed by the central government. According to the General Examination of Literature, the Sui Dynasty "died of an official at home, not from the imperial court, and there was no recovery in the county." Since the Sui Dynasty, the human rights of local officials have been taken back by the central authorities.
The Influence of the Selection System of Ancient Local Officials on Politics
The selection of local officials is not only a civil servant management system, it is related to