The Bagu Wenshu was the main feature of the imperial examination system in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which was reflected in both the content of the examination and the format of the article.

What is the content of the examination to select the officer? Since the establishment of the imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang dynasties, it has undergone complex changes, either by memorizing the Confucian classics (Thejing), or by providing solutions to the practical problems faced by the current state (countermeasures, current policies), or by the level of article writing.

The content of the test is the key to whether the test baton can play a positive role. After the Song Dynasty, society reached a new stage, and the knowledge level and political ability of the ruling class were greatly improved, and the importance of ideology in consolidating the rule of the dynasty became increasingly prominent.

Cheng Zhu Lixue, represented by the Four Books, is a ruling theory that has been explored by ancient politicians and thinkers for a long time.

Cheng Zhu Lixue emphasized

The main target of "tomorrow's reason, destroying people's desires" is aimed at the ruling group and the feudal scholars who are its reserve army, not for the purpose of poisoning the broad masses of the people.

Scholars through learning

"Cheng Zhuzhi said" is conducive to establishing loyalty to the dynasty and the public will to govern the world, which is a solution

A powerful means of "current evil". The basic content of the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty began with equal emphasis on the Five Classics and the Four Books, and then gradually developed into admission based mainly on the results of the Four Books, which was the change that occurred in the above context.

This change is in line with historical trends. Although the Bagu Wenshu mainly examines the "Five Classics", "Four Books", and even focuses on the "Four Books", it does not adopt the method of requiring candidates to memorize by rote, but stipulates that they must write articles to expound the meaning of the scriptures

"Speaking on behalf of the sages". An important background of this practice is that emphasizing the memorization of Confucian classics is prone to rote memorization, and emphasizing the understanding and play of Confucian classics is easy to fall into

The situation of "presumptuous claims". Pass

In the examination of expounding the meaning of the scriptures in the form of "speaking on behalf of the sages", it is necessary not only to read the scriptures carefully, but also to read the Dharma and strive to understand it after carefully reading the Five Classics, the Four Books and the authoritative commentaries

"The meaning of the sages", truly do

"Tomorrow's reason, extinguishing people's desires", mastering the experience of ancient rule. On the one hand, it prevents rote memorization, and on the other hand, it prevents the bunching of books without reading and indiscriminately linking history and reality, so it is a problem with novel and strange theories.

In terms of exam content, requirements

The examination of the exposition of scriptures and meanings on behalf of the sages seemed to be an ideal means in ancient society.

In other words, in the traditional political structure guided by Confucianism and aimed at consolidating dynastic rule, the Bagu Zhishi was the best way to find it.

Another aspect of the Eight Strands is the requirement for the format of the article, the so-called

"There is a fixed pattern for the ranking". The essays in the imperial examinations of the Ming and Qing dynasties generally require four sets of sentences, each with two paragraphs, to compete with each other.

Because there are eight paragraphs, that is, eight shares, it is called eight shares of literature (also known as Shiwen, Yiyi, Yiyi, etc.).

For the imperial examination, it has an advantage, that is, the standards are very specific for whether the work is stable or not, so that the examiner can easily judge the superiority of a number of examination papers whose content generally meets the requirements, and avoid causing disputes and disputes.

This is crucial under the condition that there are many candidates and few admission places. Historically, the imperial examination has always attached great importance to this kind of standard, and the eight-strand battle is an article format developed after the Northern Song Dynasty, which was officially used for the imperial examination in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

That is to say, in the face of the contradiction of a large number of applicants and a small number of admission places, in the design of the examination form, it is impossible to emphasize the objective criteria that are easy to distinguish between high and low, and prevent the subjective promotion and promotion of examiners and favoritism.

The eight-share system was finally determined by the Ming and Qing ruling groups in order to select talents, after a long period of exploration, summing up lessons and lessons.

In terms of the content of the examination, inheritance and development is a guiding ideology affirmed since the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, through the exposition of the meaning of the scriptures, it is most conducive to urging scholars to read the "Four Books" and the Five Classics, to experience the minds of the sages, and to cultivate and select talents who meet the standards of governance.

In terms of article format, what has been inherited and developed is the rules and standards in poetry writing, and it has evolved into an article format based on the rules of this literary field as a model and after a long period of exploration.

Judging from the initial guiding ideology, such a system is by no means intended to imprison the minds of scholars and trap them in ignorance.

However, objectively, the Eight Shares of Scholars gradually became a system of electing officials that imprisoned the mind. In particular, the format of the eight-strand battle, on the one hand, is difficult to fight in the whole section and restricts the scholars from freely expressing their thoughts; On the other hand, in order to take care of the platoon comparison battle, the content is easy to be perfunctory and empty, so there have always been people in the Ming and Qing dynasties who oppose the eight-share selection.

However, there could not be a more reasonable solution. This is the dilemma faced by the system of electing officials in the system of ancient Chinese absolutist state.

Today, there are also people who oppose the college entrance examination and oppose the standardization and stylization of objective questions, but we really cannot find a way to replace the college entrance examination for a better and fair selection of talents, because we must not retreat to it

The era of "escort". Web Digest

During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty (1495-1487), the method of the imperial examination was greatly changed, and the scriptures were interpreted in the style of pai couples, which was called "Bagu", also known as "Shiwen", "Zhiyi" or "Zhiyi". Later, it was inherited, the format became more and more strict, and the articles became more and more empty, until the 31st year of Guangxu (1905) at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The so-called eight-strand text, each of which is composed of eight parts: breaking the topic, undertaking the topic, starting the talk, starting, starting the stock, middle stock, back stock, and bundle stock. To break the topic, use two sentences at the beginning to set the meaning of the topic. Undertake the topic, and use three or four sentences or five or six sentences to explain the meaning of the problem. At the beginning of the speech, use a few sentences or tens as the beginning of the discussion, and only write the general idea of the topic, which should be false rather than real. Start with one or two sentences or three or four sentences, which is the place to start after speaking. The following starting shares to bundle shares are the formal discussion center. Among these four shares, each share must have two shares of the dual statement, generally one is one against one positive, one virtual and one real, one shallow and one deep, and there are also affiliates, a total of eight shares, hence the name eight shares. The total number of words in the whole article was set at 550 words in Shunzhi, increased to 650 words in Kangxi, and finally changed to 700 words. The test questions of the Eight Strands are from the Four Books, and the candidates must fill in the format according to the words of the sages of the Four Books and the Five Classics, so they have great limitations and are particularly disadvantageous. However, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examination was the main focus, and the imperial examination was mainly based on the Bagu Wen, so of course the focus of education was completely on how to teach the Bagu Wen and how to do the Bagu Wen, which seriously constrained the students' thinking and talent.

The Ming and Qing dynasties followed the imperial examination system in the selection of officials. The imperial examination is only allowed to be propositions within the scope of the Four Books and Five Classics, and the style is strictly limited

Candidates are not allowed to give full play to their personal opinions. The rulers of the Ming Dynasty used the "Eight Strands to Recruit Scholars" to imprison the minds of intellectuals. Those who are officials in the examination,

Many became loyal servants of the emperor.

The imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were conducted at three levels. The provincial examination is called the township examination, and those who pass are called lifters; Raise people to Beijing to participate in the examination, and those who pass will say

for the tributes; Gongshi then participated in the palace examination presided over by the emperor, and those who passed the examination were called Jinshi. The top three Jinshi are called Champion, Bangyan and Tanhua.

The intellectuals who were promoted in the middle of the year can enjoy some privileges, they can be exempted from errand and taxes and food, and the jinshi are all officials.

The first is that it corrupts the seed of reading. In order to earn fame, scholars are poor in the scriptures, pondering the words and deeds of sages and the Cheng Mo of the times.

Later, I didn't even read the scriptures, only

"Remember the articles that can be questioned, and the articles of these dozens of questions" (Gu Yanwu's "Rizhiling Proposed Questions").

Xu Dachun of the Qing Dynasty ridiculed the "Tao Qing" of the scholars, saying: "Scholars are the most uneven." Rotten texts, rotten as mud. The country was supposed to make a living, but who knew that it had become a deceptive skill. Three sentences to inherit the topic, two sentences to break the topic, swing the tail and shake the head, and then say that it is the senior brother of the Holy Gate. Do you know, what kind of articles are the "Three Links" and "Four History", and the Song Emperor and Han Zu were the emperors of that dynasty? Put a sermon on the desk, and buy a new sharp weapon in the store. I can read it on my shoulders and back, and I sigh at the corners of my mouth. Bagasse, chewed and chewed, what does it taste like? lived up to the time, and fell into a coma in vain. taught him to deceive high-ranking officials, which was also the bad luck of the people and the court. (According to Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Poems" volume 12) What kind of readers do they make up for in the world?

Gu Yanwu's "Daily Knowledge: Proposed Title" pointed out angrily: "Foolishly thinking that the harm of the eight shares is equivalent to burning books, and corrupting talents, there are more than those who are pitted in the suburbs of Xianyang, but there are more than 460 people. Some people even believe that the Ming Dynasty fell because of the use of eight tests.

"At the end of Chongzhen, someone proposed a ceremonial cloud: 'I would like to have a Daming country, Chongzhen and his wife, and I will pay respect. Late Shengwen Bagu paused. 'Sticking to the court, it is also a cynical advice. (See Lu Liuliang's "Dongzhuang Poetry Collection, Zhen Jinshi Song" self-note) Jiashen's change, Chongzhen hanged himself, this ritual really became a proverb for the fall of the Ming Society.

The second is that it lacks practical value. Baguwen is dedicated to speaking on behalf of the sages, far from reality, and can only be used as a way to win fame in the imperial examination

"Stepping stones", there is no other use. Like Gui Youguang, he is not only a master of the current literature, but also a giant of ancient literature. Although both were equally good, he was remembered only by people

"According to the chest, written by hand", "The Story of the Ancestors", "Hanhua Funeral Chronicles", "Xiang Zhixuan Zhi" and other lyrical memoirs, that is his

"The universe is like an excellent text" (Wang Shenzhong's "Answer to Maolumen Zhixian Book"). Because Baguwen lacks practical value, once it is ousted from the stage of history, it loses its place of standing.

Unlike poetry, when it is no longer used as an examination tool, it still has a vigorous vitality, so much so that it is still exhausted today.

It is true that there have been practical examples in Baguwen, such as some chapters of the late Ming Dynasty that touched on the shortcomings of current politics, such as You Dong's "How to Turn When He Goes to Qiubo" in the Qing Dynasty to express the feelings of Fengyue, like Yang Du's "

The "Yan Yuan Ji Lu Shi" chapter writes about the ideals of communists, which are just the occasional strokes of individual scholars, or the whims of individual talents, and finally become the absolute sound of history.

Third, it is seriously formalistic. There are many rules and precepts in the Bagu text, such as how to break the topic, how to inherit the topic, how to fall the ......, how to start, inherit, turn, and combine, all of which have strict regulations, and even the number of words is limited to 500 or 700 words.

The cumbersome format of the program drives people to follow the same step, and dare not take half a step beyond leisure. Gu Yanwu's "Daily Zhilu Cheng Wen" pointed out: "The article is not fixed; Establish a grid and then write the text, and the text is not enough to say. Later, some people ridiculed this kind of bad tone of Cheng Wen and imitated the ink scroll: "Heaven and earth are the universe, I am really embracing it in my heart, and it is not a day for thousands of years. After the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor of the Son of Heaven, the common people are the Li Yuan of the people, and there is no one among the hundreds of millions of people. Only seek the form, there is no content, the bed is stacked, and the inferior ones of the times are as follows!

Fourth, it has no new ideas. "Four Books" and "Five Classics" only have so many words and so many sentences, how many questions can they come up with?

In the past hundreds of years, every chapter, every section, and every sentence have been titled, and they have been rotten by countless scholars, so there are the so-called truncated up, truncated, rising, and up, and even long or short, affectionate or ruthless truncating, and so on.

Therefore, Gu Yanwu's "Daily Knowledge: Proposed Topic" sighed: "The disease of today's scientific field is no worse than the proposed topic." During the Xianfeng period, Yu Yue was a scholar and politician in Henan, and he split the "Analects"

"People from other countries are also called Mrs. Jun" and

"Yang goods want to see Confucius", out of the ruthless interception of the title "Mrs. Jun's Yang Desire", which involves light and light insults. and cut "Mencius"

"The king quickly issued an order, contrary to his cunning", and the final title of "Wang Su's Order" was completed, saying that he was rebellious and rebellious.

If it weren't for my own self-report, and the incident happened during the Xianfeng period, the literary network was no longer so strict, and I was afraid that everyone would have to land.