A Study On The Problem Of Officials Waiting For Official Position And Taking Office In Song Dynasty

The problem of redundant officials was serious in the Song Dynasty,and more and more people poured into officialdom.However,the positions that could be taken were limited.The number of more people and the lack of official position lead to the fact that officials could not take office immediately even if they were qualified to be officials.They needed to wait.Generally,there were mainly links such as,waiting for be selected,waiting for official position,and waiting for taking office.This article mainly studies the issue of officials waiting for official position and taking office.Waiting for official position,that is,when an official was granted an official position,there were so many people that they had to wait in line.Waiting for taking office,that is,after the official was annotated to plan the official position,he needed to wait for the predecessors to leave office then he could take office.Because the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the civilian,a large number of people were included into the officialdom through imperial competitive examination and some other ways,which caused the serious problem of redundant officials.The problem of redundant officials were mainly civil officials,so the middle and lower level officials in the civil officials were the main part.But with the aggravation of the contradiction between the officials and the official positions,some senior officials had also appeared the phenomenon of waiting for taking office.The phenomenon of waiting for official position and taking office became a problem that the rulers of Song Dynasty could not solve.The long time of officials waiting for official position and waiting for taking office not only affected their official career,but also had a profound impact on the political operation of the country.On the one hand,the Song Dynasty had the problem of redundant officials.These idle officials would be sent to the place where there was a serious shortage of officials which could alleviate the shortage of officials temporarily.However,there were also serious drawbacks in the dispatch of officials who had been sent out temporarily.Most of those who had been sent out temporarily only wanted to earn a good fortune,but were unwilling to fulfill their duties.Some officials even disrupted local governance.On the other hand,for the country,when the problem of redundant officials was difficult to solve,it was also a measure to temporarily alleviate the problem of redundant officials and to adapt to the growing ranks of bureaucrats.However,at the same time,in order to reduce the pressure on officials waiting for office position and waiting for taking office,the state had set up a large number of idle officers,such as adding officials and temple officials.Most of these officials were incompetent officials,which not only increased the financial burden of the country,but also lead to a more serious problem of redundant officials.Officials in the Song Dynasty generally stayed for a long time,and their activities during that period could indirectly reflect the living state of the whole bureaucratic class.First of all,there were various activities during the period of waiting for office position and waiting for taking office.There were also those who chose to do business or work in the fields.There were also those who chose to teach,not only to earn money,but also to spread cultural knowledge.Secondly,officials waiting for office position and waiting for taking office also easily lead to the corruption of the bureaucracy.In order to seek for officials,they would run around and bribe magnifico.Another reason is that the officials who were waiting for official position and waiting for taking office are mainly Junior officials who did not receive salary during the period of waiting for office position and waiting for taking office,which would lead them to amass wealth crazily after taking office.Finally,officials for a long period for waiting for official position and waiting for taking office can reflect the overall economic level of bureaucrats were not low.Apart from the officer of some poor indeed,most of the official’s own economic condition could support themselves without salary(Junior officials)or base pay(Senior officials)for a long time.