"Learn and be excellent, then serve: The official career of Chinese literati"

Author: Zou Jimeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-01
Features: Diverse motivations for entering officialdom, unpredictable career paths, intertwined virtues and vices of officials, and ambiguous posthumous reputations.
Ancient officials: Confucius was a great literary figure in Chinese history, who entered the path of officialdom as a scholar. It was also Confucius who pioneered the way of "running for office" to pursue a career.
The transaction between talent and power: For scholars, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were truly a golden age, where they could use their eloquence to persuade rulers of various states and seek wealth and status. Agree with a word, and you stay; disagree, and you face punishment. Where there's milk, there's a mother; no milk, find another mother. The path to officialdom is more like the "Road to Shu": the path to officialdom is not a long, open highway like the Chang'an Avenue. No, it's more like the "Road to Shu" described by Li Bai. On this road, there are insurmountable mountain ranges, rapids and crashing against rocks, pitfalls strewn with flowers, and reefs hidden beneath the water.
Ever since Confucius' disciple Zixia proposed "If one learns well, one should seek officialdom," and Confucius and his disciples actively pursued the path of officialdom among the states, the path to officialdom became inseparable from ancient Chinese scholars. Why did scholars seek officialdom? Still using Confucius' words: "Learning, one finds a livelihood within it." Regarding this sentence, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Heng, wrote a poem titled "Encouraging Reading" to vividly illustrate it: "In wealthy families, there's no need to buy good farmland, for in books, there are a thousand measures of grain. Without a high hall, books provide a golden house. Marry not lamenting the lack of a good matchmaker, for in books, there are women like jade. When you go out, don't lament the lack of companions, for books provide carriages and horses in abundance. A man of ambition, to fulfill his life's aspirations, must diligently study the Five Classics by the window."
This pursuit has been realized by some, whether in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, where one could become a minister or prime minister with just a single conversation, or in the imperial examination era, where one could rise from a rural scholar in the morning to a court official by evening. There are indeed many lucky ones on the path to officialdom! The path to officialdom seems like a straight and smooth highway.