Imperial Examination System And The Tang And Song Disabilities Class

Tang & Song Dynasties are a vital changing era in Chinese history, which the dissertation takes as the background. The dissertation adopts the method of "double testimony", thoroughly going deep into the level of "bachelors" under the influence of the Imperial Examinations, getting a confirmed conclusion of the Tang & Song society from another profile.The dissertation consists of the preface, the body and the extension. The preface introduces the significance and basis of the chosen theme and some relevant ideas. The body consists of four chapters.The 1st chapter draws the outline of the change in the Imperial Examinations in Tang & Song Dynasties constitutionally. This contains a lot of aspects, so the dissertation rightly chooses a few of them which concerns the social change: the system; the contents; anonymous examinations and transcript; final imperial examinations presided over by the emperor and the inspecting examinations; special appointments; the enrollment and the geographical distribution of "Jinshi" .It aims to offer the constitutional basis for further arguments.The 2nd chapter discusses the occurrence and development of the Imperial Examinations, and its interchanging relation with the inner change in the level of "bachelors" under the theory of social strata. The conclusion is that the occurrence of the Imperial Examinations was the result of the inner change in the level of "bachelors" during the South & North Dynasties. The occurrence of the Imperial Examinations also met the need of this change. The development of the Imperial Examinations again pushes the accomplishment of this change. The decline of the Gentry and the gradual dispersion of the level of "bachelors" internally are just the major reflection of the the accomplishment of this change.The 3rd chapter goes into the gains and loss of the "bachelors" after they became officials through the Imperial Examinations. This had actually accelerated the combination of bachelors with the despotic constitution. Under the push of the Imperial Examinations, a polity with the emperor being the nucleus and the "bachelors" being the body was established. Meanwhile the "bachelors" forfeited a lot when the they shared the political rights and economic privileges. Their status had not risen, but gone down as a whole. The 4th chapter goes into the influence exerted by the Imperial Examinations on the "bachelors" from the profile of evaluation attitude. The principle of "fair chance" of the Imperial Examinations had not changed the strata of the traditional Chinese society, on the contrary ,it strengthened the idea of strata among the "bachelors". The aim of inducing research by the Examinations had not spurred the intellectual education, on the contrary, it swelled the utilitarianism of the "bachelors", making the morals be debased. With the improvement of the Imperial Examinations and the disappearance of the gap between the "Shi "(nobles) and the "Shu" (plebians) ,the attitude towards matrimony had changed from "looking up to the noble " to "looking up to the official ranks".The extension synthesizes the whole dissertation. It probes superficially into the interchange between the Imperial Examinations, the "bachelors" and the society. It also stresses and explains the key issues in each chapter.