The Study On The Symbol Of Imperial Examination (1905-1949)

In the book the modernization of China, Gilbert Rozman said that 1905 was a watershed between the old and the new China. If we regard the imperial examination before 1905 as an institution, then the imperial examination after 1905 can be seen as a symbol. In the post-imperial age, the institution examination fade away, the symbol examination still existed and not only restricted people’s thought but also constraint their lives.According to the differences in historical background and the emotional tendency of people between 1905 and 1949, the symbol examination presented as the symbol of conservatism, the nostalgic tendency and the old chooses.The symbol imperial at the lever of conservatism can be regarded as the people’s value judgments about the imperial examination. Under the historical background of the new and old China, people’s value judgment to the new and the old were almost same with the good and the evil. Imperial examination as the established old, there were no doubt about it to be regarded as the symbol of the feudalism, the stubbornness, and the conservatism, given all the negative word, such as poison, old, disease and so on; imperial relics, like Gongyuan, colleges, were being demolished or turned to others; the thought of imperial examination was dubbed with the title of “poison” and deep into every side of people’s live. The imperial symbol are obvious, like the imperial poison, diseases, antique, inventory and so on.The symbol imperial at the lever of nostalgia can be seen as an emotional sustenance. With the bad image of imperial symbol is deeply rooted in people’s hearts, the behaviors to look back on the imperial examination once appeared in open will be subject to heavy attack. So the nostalgic symbol imperial is more introverted. The memories of people look back on the imperial examination system,the imperial time and the imperial society,often reflected in the note, diary and some kind of literary works, such as Kuang Zhouyi’s mei lu cong hua and Liu Dapeng’s back to studio diary. However, the way to the present of introverted imperial symbol didn’t affect people’s exploration and discussion. Instead, it provides a different side and a richer connotation for the study of the symbol imperial.The symbol imperial at the lever of old almost appeared in 1930 s. The negative effects caused by the abolition of the imperial examinations were gradually revealed. In order to solve this problems, people’s imperial memory gradually turned into more rational imperial telling, such as the discussion on the imperial examination system and the civil service system, the imperial examination and rural education, imperial examination and representative system; academic study of imperial examination, such as the origin of the imperial examination, imperial examination and social mobility, imperial examination and education, enrich the connotation of the old imperial examination.Three aspects of the imperial examination symbol, which are relatively independent, intertwined. Respectively, from the value of judgment, emotional orientation, academic choice, three aspects constitute the multi-faced, multi-angled, complex connotation of symbol imperial examination.