China NationalDinner

Author: Mao Peiqi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-06-01
Features: The compilers of this book evaluate the 1,300-year-old imperial examination system and the scholars (zhuangyuan) who excelled under it. An objective assessment of the imperial examination system has at least two merits: first, it provided an opportunity for those who could read to advance in society; second, it encouraged competition and ambition, with competition taking place under as equal conditions as possible. In fact, the imperial examination system played a significant role in the transmission of Chinese culture. The Great Dictionary of Chinese Zhuangyuan studies and elaborates on the imperial examination system as a cultural phenomenon. To a large extent, the imperial examination system not only regulated and constrained the behavior of Chinese intellectuals but also the government behavior and official selection practices of feudal dynasties. As a result, it had a profound impact not only on intellectuals but also on the social life and ways of thinking of the feudal society, becoming an important cultural component of the society. This cultural phenomenon also had a significant influence on Europe, as Europeans drew the model for the modern civil service examination system from the Chinese imperial examination system. The shortcomings of the imperial examination system, especially its later corruption, were linked to the decay and decline of the feudal system and should be examined from the perspective of historical development. The compilers of this book evaluate the 1,300-year-old imperial examination system and the scholars (zhuangyuan) who excelled under it. They point out that an objective assessment of the imperial examination system has at least two merits: first, it provided an opportunity for those who could read to advance in society; second, it encouraged competition and ambition, with competition taking place under as equal conditions as possible. In fact, the imperial examination system played a significant role in the transmission of Chinese culture. The Great Dictionary also studies and elaborates on the imperial examination system as a cultural phenomenon. To a large extent, the imperial examination system not only regulated and constrained the behavior of Chinese intellectuals but also the government behavior and official selection practices of feudal dynasties. As a result, it had a profound impact not only on intellectuals but also on the social life and ways of thinking of the feudal society, becoming an important cultural component of the society. This cultural phenomenon also had a significant influence on Europe, as Europeans drew the model for the modern civil service examination system from the Chinese imperial examination system. The shortcomings of the imperial examination system, especially its later corruption, were linked to the decay and decline of the feudal system and should be examined from the perspective of historical development.