A Study On The Changes Of Records In The Records Of Jinshi And Dengke In The Ming Dynasty

The record of Jinshi entering the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty is the most comprehensive and authoritative original material recorded in all aspects of the imperial examination,including the list of Jinshi and "family" in the Ming Dynasty.It is of great value for the study of the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty and even the history of the Ming Dynasty;However,the contents of its records were not invariable in the Ming Dynasty,but showed different changes with the passage of time,mainly reflected in the following aspects: first,the order of official and rank of "reading officer" and "deacon officer" is generally "loose rank" before "official position",while the officials of Hanlin academy are different.In order to highlight the "Tsinghua value" of their official position,the "official position" is often before "loose rank",Only a few imperial officials are "scattered rank" in the front and "official position" in the back.According to the records of the origins of "reading officer" and "deacon officer",the proportion of scholars gradually increased with the passage of time,reflecting the reality of "paying special attention to scholars" in the selection of officials in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.In addition,the "Scholar" in the birth record actually refers to the status of scholar in the Imperial Academy,not a student.Second,on the basis of the original record of the native place of Jinshi,which only contained the "current place of origin" of Jinshi,there has been a phenomenon that "place of origin" and "current place of origin" have been recorded since the orthodox period,that is,there has been a "double place of origin" of Jinshi,which reflects the government and the public’s attention to the "current place of origin" and "place of origin" of Jinshi and the prevention of "counterfeiting",and also provides first-hand historical data for future generations to study the regional flow of Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty.Third,through the changes of the Chinese age records of Jinshi in Jinshi Dengke Lu,we can find that there is a phenomenon of false reporting of the "official year" contained in it,which has intensified with the passage of time,resulting in the illogical rejuvenation of the average Chinese age of Jinshi in the late Ming Dynasty.This is not only the limitation of Jinshi Dengke Lu,but also reflects the reality of the "scholar style" and even the "official style" at that time.Fourth,in the "family form" of Jinshi recorded in the "Dengke record" in the early Ming Dynasty,the identity of the first three generations of Jinshi is often rarely recorded.For example,there was no record of students before Chenghua.After the middle of the Ming Dynasty,the identity records of the first three generations of Jinshi increased significantly,and many honorary identities appeared,such as righteous people,righteous officials,longevity officials,Confucian officials,scattered officials,etc.provincial sacrificial officials also appeared in the "Dengke record" after Chenghua,but they were no longer recorded as separate identities after Chenghua.The above changes not only reflected the reality of the continuous increase of various honorary identities and the increasing number of people who obtained these honorary identities in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,but also reflected the various efforts of the imperial court to make use of the awarding of these honorary identities to enhance social cohesion,expand the ruling foundation,guide the social atmosphere and ease the pressure of civil service election,but also reflected a series of changes such as the rise of the social rich class and the donation system.The above changes in the contents of the records in various parts of the records of scholars entering the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty provide an important reference value for exploring the social mobility caused by the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty,the temporal and spatial changes of specific groups such as longevity officials and Confucian officials in the Ming Dynasty,and the development and evolution of the history of the imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty.