Poor Scholars In Tang Dynasty Mentality Analysis

The candidates who failed in the imperial examinations were the outcome of the carry-out of the examination system itself in Sui and Tang Dynasty, they suffered a great lot. However, they are always neglected by researchers so far, neither are their contributions to the social development. The dissertation makes an investigation into the psychological status of the group under the historical background of the flourishing Tang Dynasty, hoping to detect certain features of that society.The dissertation consists of the preface, the body and the conclusion.In the preface, the author explains the choosing of the research objects, and explores the significance of this study. What's more, the author introduces the up-to-date research conditions concerning the present issue and the problems involved. Besides, the difficulties caused by the shortage of the historical data are also covered in this part.The body consists of four chapters. The first chapter makes overall and partial analyses into the group by way of detailed statistical data. It is stated that the main reason of the occurrence of this group is the need in designing the imperial examination system, and candidates' exceeding the occupations is also an important reason. The second chapter is the focus of the paper. The author investigates the psychological status of the candidates who failed in the imperial exams. Because of individual divergence, their status can be divided into four kinds: the up and coming, the down and ashamed, the frustrated and secluding and the sad and rage. The third chapter argues that the different psychological status decides the different social status. The author believes that the relation could be divided into 3 types: the first one was active cooperation by joining the bureaucracy; the second one was being neutral by living in seclusion; the third one was to rebel by resisting the contemporary government. All the three above reveals the panorama of the group's political life in Tang Dynasty. The fourth chapter deals with the group from the perspective of social culture. The candidates who failed were mostly people with fall of ideas for state policy, and still played a part in the propagation of the culture. But owing to different psychological status, they would bring different influences to the social culture objectively, which could be divided into positive and negative ones.In the concluding part, by synthesizing the main threads of the dissertation and disclosing some factors to the activeness and passiveness of the candidates with different psychological status who failed in the imperial exams, the author deduces that these people also made great contribution to the passing-down of traditional culture. It is suggested that the government should enhance its concern of the psychological status of all the people who fail in any kinds of exams including college-entrance examinations. Only in this way can all positive factors be aroused, so can the harmonious society be finally constructed.