A Brief Overview of the Eight-legged Essay

Author: Wang Kaifu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-05-01
Features: "In my impression, the eight-legged essay is categorized with foot-binding, queues, and opium pipes, and it is enough to make one feel nauseous just thinking about it. However, if asked what the eight-legged essay actually is, I am not entirely clear." This is also how the world generally views the "eight-legged essay." Mr. Wang Kaifu traces the formation, application, evolution, and pros and cons of the eight-legged essay, giving us a glimpse into the true nature of this phenomenon that people understand but do not comprehend its underlying reasons. Excerpt: The Section on the Lofty-minded and Righteous People / Wang Shouren The，。（Breaking the Topic），，，？。（Following the Topic），：，。，；，，，。！（Beginning the Introduction），，，；，，，。（Beginning the Two Parallel Phrases），，，，。（Connecting to the Main Argument），，，，，；，，，，，。（Middle Two Parallel Phrases），，，，；，，，。（Last Two Parallel Phrases），，，，，，；，，，，，，。（Concluding Two Parallel Phrases），，，，。，，？，，，，，，，？，；，。（Main Conclusion） Excerpt: One, What Is the Eight-legged Essay? In 1902, the Qing government announced the abolition of the eight-legged essay examination, and it has been less than a hundred years since then. However, the eight-legged essay seems to have become a fossilized relic of a remote ancient era, with few people knowing its appearance. Occasionally, a newspaper will publish one, only to be by others, showing how rare it has become. But in its time, as a tool for intellectuals to establish themselves and advance in society, every scholar’s desk was adorned with high-level commentaries and selections of eight-legged essays, its influence spreading across cities and villages. So, what exactly was the eight-legged essay? The eight-legged essay was a literary form used in the imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties, named for its unique organizational structure. The form of the eight-legged essay was strictly regulated, typically consisting of parts such as breaking the topic, following the topic, beginning the introduction, entering the topic, beginning the parallel phrases, presenting the topic, middle parallel phrases, last parallel phrases, concluding parallel phrases, and concluding. Among these, the beginning, middle, last, and concluding parallel phrases each consisted of two paired parallel texts using parallelism and antithesis. The entire essay contained two sets of beginning parallel phrases, middle parallel phrases, last parallel phrases, and concluding parallel phrases, totaling eight pairs, hence the name "eight-legged essay." The eight-legged essay had many names. Because its topics came from the "Four Books" (the Analects, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Mencius), it was also called the "Four Books essay." Gu Yanwu believed that "" meant "compare," as the sentences used parallelism, so some also called it the "eight-comparison essay." Additionally, other names for the eight-legged essay included "timely essays," "institutional essays," "institutional arts," and "timely arts." The form of the eight-legged essay was strictly regulated, and the requirements for its content were even more stringent. When writing, the author could not express their own opinions freely; the essay had to "speak for the sages and worthies." This phrase had two main meanings. First, the content of the essay had to reflect the ideological spirit of Confucianism and explain the "principles" in the "Four Books" from a Confucian perspective. For example, if the topic was "，" (Parents are alive, do not travel far) from the Analects, the author had to explain Confucian concepts of "nurturing parents" and "diligent funeral rites," as deviations from Confucian teachings were not allowed, nor could theyly interpret Confucian filial piety. There were also certain standards for interpreting the "Four Books," with Zhu Xi’s Collected Annotations on the Four Books as the benchmark. For instance, Zhu Xi’s explanation of the aforementioned Confucian quote was: "Traveling far away would distance oneself from parents and prolong the time away, causing infrequent visits and communication, not only making one’s thoughts of parents constant but also worrying that parents might forget them." Writing an essay required sticking to the boundaries set by Zhu Xi; stepping outside them would violate the requirements. Second, the essay had to "emulate the tone" of the ancients, as if performing a play, making the ancients speak and act on stage. For example, in this book’s "Selected Readings in Eight-legged Essays," Han Tan’s essay "" (Confucius Says to Yan Yuan) uses the tone of Confucius speaking to Yan Yuan (a disciple of Confucius). Emulating the tone of the ancients was not easy; without a certain level of imagination and artistic cultivation, it was difficult to write well. Many old examiners and authors of the eight-legged essay were filled with Confucian doctrines, as Qu Qiubai remarked, "Their heads were mostly made of dark wood" (see Qu Qiubai’s essay "See Through Everything"). For them, "emulating the tone" was often just empty talk. The famous Ming Dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu, known as the "Shakespeare of the East," was also a master of the eight-legged essay. Due to his artistic talent, he excelled at imitating the tone of the ancients, earning him praise. Among the general authors of that time, few could do so well. In addition to content and form, the number of words in the eight-legged essay was also strictly regulated. In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial examinations were not limited to topics from the "Four Books"; they could also come from the "Five Classics" (Poetry, Book of Documents, Book of Changes, Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals). The "Five Classics" essays were slightly longer, with a maximum of five hundred words, while the "Four Books" essays were three hundred words. Later, the word count gradually increased. During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, "Four Books" essays had to be four hundred and fifty words, increased to six hundred during the Kangxi period, and to seven hundred after the Qianlong period. The word count could not be arbitrarily adjusted. All the above restrictions were statutory formats that examiners and candidates had to strictly follow. People called these regulations "institutional laws." Here, "institution" means "teaching," and "law" refers to laws. Institutional laws were the regulations for examining students, a common term used by the imperial court for selecting talent. Since the format of the eight-legged essay was a legal regulation, it could not be violated when writing. Violating it would lead to failure in the imperial examinations, with severe penalties in serious cases. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examinations included the eight-legged essay, but not as the only content. Besides the eight-legged essay, candidates were also tested on topical poetry and policy essays. However, the eight-legged essay was the most important part of the examination. For example, in the county-level examinations (for candidates who had not yet passed the xiaocaoyuan level), candidates had to write three to five eight-legged essays over several sessions, with the first session being the most important, requiring two essays. In provincial and imperial examinations, there were more subjects, but the eight-legged essay was still the most important, typically requiring three essays, hence the common saying that the Ming and Qing imperial examinations were "selecting officials through the eight-legged essay." For over five hundred years, the Ming and Qing dynasties implemented the system of selecting officials through the eight-legged essay. Over this long period, hundreds of millions of scholars, especially young people, spent their days and nights studying and writing eight-legged essays. This not only wasted people’s time but also restricted their thinking, having a significant negative impact on the development of Chinese culture. The eight-legged essay had no use beyond the imperial examinations, so the Ming and Qing people studied it only as a means to get ahead. Once the door was opened and they achieved fame or high positions through examinations, the stepping stone was discarded and never cared about again. As Qu Qiubai pointed out, "The eight-legged essay was originally a product of foolishness. What does speaking for the sages and worthies mean? What does the beginning, middle, transition, and conclusion mean? The artistic essence of the essay has no definite standards, making it difficult to grasp. Therefore, each phrase was fixed to fit the institutional format, and using this format to 'evaluate literature' made it immediately clear how much weight each part carried."（《》） In the late Qing Dynasty, a person named "" of "" compiled A Comprehensive Collection of Extended Essay Topics, with the "Initial Edition" alone containing over sixteen thousand eight-legged essays, a scale unmatched by anything before it, and their dedication far exceeding that of predecessors. The compiler wrote in the preface, "May readers of this collection purge themselves of their essence and veins, striving above to follow the lingering fragrance of the authors, and below to bestow blessings upon future generations." The compiler hoped it would last forever. But history is merciless. After the book was published, only a dozen years passed before the Qing court, under the impact of new thoughts, was forced to abolish the system of selecting officials through the eight-legged essay. With this system abolished, all the various eight-legged essay commentaries, collections, and selections that had once filled the world withdrew from the sight of scholars. A hundred years later, even today, it has become difficult for people to see its true form. This fact itself perfectly illustrates its status and value.