| The preliminary examination of Northern Song Dynasty is the bottom system in the three-level system of the imperial civil service examinations,and it is the link between the local and the central government.This examination can be also called the regional examinaton,and the focus of this article is actually on the prefecture and county.The preliminary examination was based on Five Dynasties.In the face of the decadence of the school and the prevalence of the regional examination since the end of Tang Dynasty,the government began to take measures to stipulate that the people must be tested in the native government,and punish the cheatings in the examination and the indiscriminate behavior of local officials.Moerover,governmenst emphasized the qualifications of the candidates,and established a examiner system including the supervision system.Then the preliminary examination system was initially formed.Since the establishment of Song Dynasty,it inherited the system of Five Dynasties,and established a quota system in the period of Song Zhenzong,setting up relatively fixed recommended quota for each regions.At the same time,government increased the punishment measures for regional examination officials to recommend unqualified people.Later,the means of hiding candidates’ identification information and copying test paper was gradually carried out in the preliminary examination,which further ensured the fairness of the examination.All of these enabled the final establishment of Song Dynasty preliminary examination system.In the process of the forming of preliminary examination,the emperors also actively infiltrated their power into the local society through the imperial civil service examination system:whether it was the Song Taizong expanding imperial Examination or the dispute between the Song Zhenzong and the courtiers on the quota system.In addition,the examiner system of the preliminary examination with the distinctive features of the Song Dynasty was the result of this power penetration,but it also showed the reality that the central government cannot directly control the local society.The Transporting Department,the local officials,and the examiners had their own rights and responsibilities in the regional examinations.Such an institutional arrangement objectively was conducive to the fairness of the examination,so although it was a little complicated,it was still a good system.In the middle of Northern Song Dynasty,the shortcomings of the quota system being established in early Song Dynasty gradually appeared.In the process of the gradual decline of the northern culture,it could neither guarantee the rate of the northerners geting degree;at the same time,in the case of a large increase in the number of.southern students,even if the quota of the southern region increased,it did not limit the enthusiasm of the southerner.Being faced with the double dilemma,the government was firstly committed to solving the problems in the North.At one time,it gave a considerable quota to northern students in the national examination,but ultimately abandoned this measure under the opposition of the Southern intellctuals.With the deterioration of the economic situation,the northern culture was further declined.At the same time,the central government was initiative to set up a national school,which offset the lack of local quota in the southern rigions partly.A large number of southern students from the low quota of the prefecture succeeded in getting degrees in the national school.After government abandoning its special policy toward the north,it eventually increased the local quota of the southern region in the reign of Huizong,which adapted to the growth trend of its number of stuents,but at the same time broke the balance of interests in the north and the south.Finally,another feature of Northern Song Dynasty’s preliminary examination was the splendid content of local examinations.In the local questioning of the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty,we can see the free competition of various ideas.Different political opinions and different schools of thought competed for the right to speak and influence in the field of imperial examinations.Among them,Wang Anshi’s New School as an officially recognized scholarship undoubtedly dominated in the governments.However,the Su scholars group and the Neo-Confucianists were also competing for the recognition of intellctuals.In the reign of Huizong,despite the severe ban,Cheng I,Cheng Hao and their students tried their best to disseminate Neo-Confucianism thoughts through imperial examinations and schools.They repeatedly asked candidate why Yan Hui could be equal to the sages Yao and Shun.It was in this inquiry that the Neo-Confucianists began to gain more fellowship. |
