Chapter 2 The Examination System of the Western Zhou Dynasty as Recorded in the Second Section

School education in our country originated very early. There were schools in Xia and Shang Dynasties.By the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a relatively complete school education system.It is stipulated that boys enter primary school at "Mechen" (childhood). "Da Dai Li Bao Fu" said: "The ancients went out at the age of eight and went to the outer house, learning small skills and performing small duties; Going out at the age of eight" means entering elementary school; "learning small arts" means reading, writing and counting at the beginning;The so-called "bearded hair" means becoming a child, which generally refers to those over 15 years old; "Book of Rites Nei Ze" puts it in more detail: "The number and name of the square taught in six years", "The number of days taught in nine years", "Ten years of teaching, living outside, learning books and tricks", "Ten years of teaching". For three years, he studied music, recited poems, and danced spoons. When he became a child, he danced elephants and learned archery. At twenty, he became the crown and began to learn rituals."

To sum up, the education of aristocratic children in the Western Zhou Dynasty can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage, six to nine-year-olds study at home, learning simple numbers, middle-level names of southeast, northwest, and heavenly stems and earthly branches.In the second stage, at the age of 10, "go out and live outside", that is, enter elementary school, learning mainly writing, counting, music, and dancing.This is following the custom of clan communes training children to live outside.However, this is slightly different from the entry into elementary school at the age of eight described in "Da Dai Li Bao Fu".In the third stage, the 13-year-old is a child, mainly learning rites, music, archery, and imperialism. At this time, he should have entered the university, and rites, music, archery, and imperialism are the main courses of the university.After the "Crown Ceremony" is held at the age of 20, one becomes an "adult" and begins to learn rituals.That is to learn to master the etiquette, etiquette and moral code of conduct stipulated at that time.This is also developed from the method of training children in clan communes.As mentioned earlier, the purpose of the clan commune's training and assessment of adult children is to train full-fledged members of the commune so that they can obtain due clan rights and fulfill due obligations. Therefore, their training and assessment are closely related to the "Cheng Ding Li". Combined.The purpose of the Western Zhou nobles' education to become children was to cultivate members of the nobles, and their education and assessment were related to the "crown ceremony".

The university in the Western Zhou Dynasty was called "Piyong" or "Pan Palace". It was the place where the nobles held grand "crown ceremonies" and also the place where the nobles carried out important political and military activities. They often held sacrifices and banquets here, and had archery competitions. , Selection and assessment of warriors.The main content required by Western Zhou University is "Six Arts".The so-called "six arts" include six courses - "ritual", "music", "shooting", "imperial", "book" and "number".

"Li" is a political ethics class, and the content of its assessment is very extensive, including the hereditary system of patriarchal clan hierarchy, moral norms and etiquette in slave society. "Zhou Li Da Zong Bo" divides the rituals into five categories: auspicious rituals, fierce rituals, guest rituals, military rituals, and honorary rituals.Auspicious rites talk about sacrifices, respecting the ghosts and gods of the country; auspicious rites talk about funerals, disaster relief, disaster relief, and mourning for death; guest rites talk about court meetings, making princes follow each other; Wait for festive activities.

"Music" is a comprehensive art class, and the content of its assessment mainly includes music and dance of the Six Generations.The so-called six generations of music and dance include "Yunmen" in the age of the Yellow Emperor, "Dazhang" in the age of Yao, "Dashao" in the age of Shun, "Daxia" in the age of Xia, and "Dalu (huohuo)" in the age of Shang. In addition to the newly created "Da Wu" in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it is called "Liu Le" for short. "Yunmen", "Dazhang", "Dashao" and "Daxia" belong to Wenwu, and require hands to hold 龠〔yue〕 (instrument) Zhai (Toba); "Dalu" and "Dawu" belong to Wu To dance, it is required to hold a dry (shield) Qi (axe [yueyue]).There is also a kind of "elephant dance" among martial arts, which requires dancers to dance with poles.

According to "Zhou Li·Chunguan·Musician", there were six other small dances in the Zhou Dynasty: "帗〔fu Fu〕 dance", which is a dance for offering sacrifices to the country, requiring dancers to tie five-color silk ribbons on the handles [zeng Zeng]. Silk, to hold it and dance; "Yuwu" is a dance when offering sacrifices to the four directions, requiring dancers to dance with white bird feathers; Decorated with emerald feathers, dance with colorful bird feathers in hand; "Yan dance" is a dance when worshiping Piyong, requiring dancers to dance with yak tails; Dance with a shield; "Human dance" is a dance for sacrificing the stars. Dancers are required to wave their sleeves and dance with bare hands.

"Shooting" and "imperial" are military training courses.At that time, chariots were the main force in combat.Each chariot is composed of armored soldiers (including warriors, archers, shield players) and foot soldiers.Soldiers wear armor and are in the car; unarmed soldiers follow.The offensive weapons of chariot soldiers are mainly bows and arrows, so archery and driving are the most basic military technical training. According to "Zhou Li · Local Official · Bao Shi": There are five assessment criteria for archery: One is "Bai Shi", which requires the shooter's arrow to penetrate the target and expose the arrow, focusing on the assessment of the shooter's arm strength; the other is "Shen Lian", which requires the shooter to shoot three consecutive arrows The focus is on assessing the shooting speed of the shooter; the third is "Shan [yan Yan] Note", which requires the shooter to shoot into the target, the feather neck is high, and the arrow is low, and the focus is on the sharpness and ease of the arrow of the shooter; the fourth is "" "Xiangchi", "Xiang" means "give way", requiring the shooter to be courteous, like a king and his ministers shooting together, the ministers are not allowed to stand side by side with the king, but must step back one foot, so as to distinguish between superiors and inferiors, and the focus is on assessing the level of courtesy of the shooter; five said " "Well instrument" requires the archer to hit the target with four arrows, such as the shape of "well", and the emphasis is on the accuracy of the archer's arrow technique.

According to He Xiu's "Chunqiu Gongyang Zhuan Jiegu" in the fifteenth year of Xuangong's annotation, it said: "If you walk the same way, you can couple. If you don't shoot, then you will be honored." Under certain circumstances, the difference is based on the assessment of the level of archery skills, and a certain title is awarded to the winner.It can be seen that the technical assessment of archery was very important at that time. According to "Zhou Li·Tianguan·Bao Shi": There are also five assessment criteria for driving: One is "Ming and Luan", "He" and "Luan" are bells decorated on the car, and the driver is required to resonate and rhythmically when driving; The tortuous river runs without falling; the third is "passing the king's watch", "the king's watch" refers to the gate with flags inserted in the dangerous place, and a stone platform (deng Deng) is placed in the middle of the gate as an obstacle, requiring the emperor to drive in. The gate does not collide with the stone step from time to time (the gap between the two sides of the car and the stone step is only five inches); the fourth is called "Dancing Intersection (ququ)", requiring the driver to drive on the intersection, galloping back and forth, as light and melodic as a dance; The fifth is "chasing birds to the left", requiring the ruler to drive after the animals and make them flee to the left so that the monarch can shoot them (according to Zhou etiquette, the monarch shoots from the left when hunting in the field).In short, during the assessment, the rider is required to be calm, agile, proficient, and able to closely cooperate with the shooter at any time.

"Book" and "Number" are basic cultural courses. "Book" refers to commonly used characters for writing, such as Tiangan, Dizhi, Fang Ming, etc. "Number" refers to calculating addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, etc. "Zhou Li" also proposed assessment criteria such as "six books" and "nine numbers", but there is no detail.Later generations have made various guesses about the assessment standards of "book" and "number", so I won't go into details here. According to the "Book of Rites·Xue Ji", universities in the Western Zhou Dynasty have established a system of annual examinations.Students enter the university at the prescribed age, and the university examines the students' academic performance and conduct every other year. "One year's review of scriptures and aspirations", that is, in the first year of enrollment, students are tested on their ability to read scriptures, whether they can analyze sentences in chapters, and whether they can identify their interest in learning. "Three years of dedication and fun", that is, in the third year of enrollment, students are examined whether they are concentrating on their studies and whether they get along well with their fellow students. "Five-year observation of masters and teachers", that is, in the fifth year of enrollment, students are tested to see whether they have extensive knowledge and whether they respect teachers. "Seven years of study and friendship", that is, in the seventh year of admission, the students' opinions on knowledge and the choice of making friends are examined whether they are appropriate.At the end of seven years, those who pass the examination are called "small achievements", that is, they have reached the standard of "small achievements". "Nine years of knowledge and mastery, strong establishment but not rebellion." That is, the ninth year of admission examines whether students can understand by analogy in knowledge and whether they can be unwavering in their interests.At the end of nine years, those who pass the examination are called "Dacheng", which means they have reached the standard of "great achievement".

The examination system of this nine-year university has the following characteristics: it clarifies the requirements and sequence of learning, and deepens and improves it year by year; it emphasizes that at the beginning of admission, it is necessary to test and understand students' learning ability and learning interest in order to carry out targeted education. Education: Emphasizes the close combination of moral education and intellectual education, and assesses "discrimination", "lucky group", "parents and teachers", "making friends" and "strengthening without rebellion" in moral education, that is, focusing on the cultivation of will and belief, In terms of intellectual education, "leaving classics", "dedication", "broad learning", "learning", and "knowledge and mastery" are assessed, that is, to pay attention to the improvement of reading, reasoning and judgment ability; to pay attention to the educational influence of groups, and to establish intimate relationships. The relationship between teachers and students and the relationship between classmates are placed in a very important position.

This nine-year university was not really implemented in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was just an idea, because it was not possible to have a school year teaching system, a class teaching system, and a step-by-step teaching plan from low to high.However, this idea is very valuable, as a guiding ideology of university teaching, it has a profound impact on the development of educational practice and educational theory. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, in addition to the establishment of Guoxue in the royal city of the emperor and the kingdoms of the princes, Xiangxue was also established in accordance with the regional organization of local administration.The scale of rural schools is relatively small, with only one level, all of which are at the primary school level.However, due to the different sizes of local regional organizations, the names of rural schools are also different. For example, prefectures are set up in prefectures, parties are set up in Xiang, and villages are set up in schools or schools, etc., all belong to the local schools of the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to the "Book of Rites King System", the Western Zhou Dynasty stipulated that rural studies could select a small number of talented people to enter Guoxue for further study through examinations.The process and steps are as follows: First, the local official "Xiang Dafu" presides over the examination, selects outstanding students in the rural school, and reports to the "Situ" official of the Western Zhou royal family. The selected students are called "selected scholars". The official "Situ" presided over the examination, and the outstanding ones in the "Selected Scholars" were promoted to universities in the "Chinese Studies", and they were called "Junshi".All selected scholars who have been nominated as "Situ" officials can be exempted from hard labor in one township; all "junshi" who have entered the university can be exempted from hard labor in one country.These "selected scholars" and "junshi" are all called "Zaoshi", which means "students who have entered the university for further study". After the "Zaoshi" completed nine years of university studies, the "Da Lezheng" official presided over the examination again, and the outstanding "Zaoshi" were nominated to the "Sima" official, and they were called "Jinshi".After the "Sima" official presided over the examination, the "Jinshi" who selected the most capable people was reported to the Emperor Zhou, and he was appointed to an official position and given a title according to his talent.This is the four-step examination system for selecting outstanding talents from "Xiangxue".Of course, this kind of "national handsome" who has passed strict examinations and selections is very small, and the vast majority of students are still studying in the local prefectures, schools, schools, and schools. According to "Zhou Rites Local Officials Township Doctors", there was also a system of tributes recommending talents in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but this was limited to lower-level official positions, and there were two ways: The first is "village elections".In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the civil affairs official "Situ" was set up, responsible for the education of each township, and ordered the township officials to inspect and recommend outstanding talents with virtue and morality in the township. "Township elections" are held every three years, which is called "three-year competition", that is, an exam every three years.The main content of the examination is "virtue and morality".As it is said in "Zhou Li, Local Officials, Situ": "Three years, there will be a big competition to test their virtues and practice Taoism, and to promote those who are able. Jue [juejue] Ming Dynasty, the village elders and the township bureaucrats and officials presented the virtuous and capable books to the king, and the king worshiped and accepted them, and they were published in Tianfu. The first is harmony, the second is tolerance, the third is master skin, the fourth is harmony, and the fifth is dance. This is to make the people invigorate the virtuous, to lead them; to make the people invigorate, to make them govern." That is, three years A big exam is held to test their moral behavior and technical ability, and those who are virtuous and talented are recommended. Villagers and township officials lead their subordinate officials and kind villagers to receive the recommended people with village drinking ceremony.The next day, the villagers, the officials of the village and the officials at all levels presented the documents and materials of the recommended sages and capable people to the King of Zhou.Then the elders of the village and the doctors of the village hold the ceremony of shooting in the village with the villagers, inspect the people who practice archery according to the following five aspects, and ask everyone for their opinions, and pre-select the talents to be recommended by their subordinates. "The Ritual of Rural Shooting" is a key link in the competition.According to Ling Tingkan's "Five Objects of Xiangshe": Xiangshe is divided into three times, "harmony" and "rong" are the first shots, "but take their volume and body as compared to music"; "he" means Zhang Liule The rhythm of the sound of the instrument, the first shot of the etiquette and posture should be in harmony with the music. The "main skin" is the second shot, that is, the shot of "do not release the drum" and "take the cover" in "Si She Ming", and the skin is an arrow target made of animal skin. The shooting of "main skin" is the lowest level in the shooting rituals of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Zheng Xuan's annotation of "Zhou Li" said: "The one who is the main skin, Zhang Pi shoots without a prince." According to "Zhou Li · Tianguan · Si Qiu": the king When shooting big shots, Huhou (a target decorated with tiger skin), Xionghou and Baohou are supplied.Set up a target in the center of the Hou (target); when the princes shoot big, they supply Xiong Hou and Leopard Hou;Shi She took An [an An] as his marquis.The so-called "hou" is a symbol of noble rank, although it is a swan.However, the "main skin" of the Xiangshe ceremony has no princes, so it can be seen that the participants of the Xiangshe ceremony are common people below the scholar level, which shows that the selection of scholars in the township is aimed at the common people. "Harmoniousness" and "Xingwu" are the third shot, which is "no drums and no release" in "Si She Ming", "take its tolerance and body compared to festivals, and its festivals to music".That is to say, the assessment of the common people in the rural archery ceremony is mainly based on the restraint of rituals and music, while the archery of the main body is the assessment of skill.Therefore, the purpose of township elections is not only to select elders with a certain skill, but more importantly, to pay attention to the ideological and moral behavior norms of the candidates, and to emphasize the direction of social education, which reflects the general requirements of the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The above-mentioned village election system or the "Binxing" system was implemented within Wangji. The second is "princes and tributes".The vassal states other than Wang Ji also have the system of tribute. "Book of Rites Sheyi" says: "The princes offer tribute to the emperor every year." Zheng Xuan's note said: "Old year, offering books on state affairs and other things. Three years old and tribute. The old saying goes: three people in a big country There are two people in the second country, and one person in the small country." The emperor has regulations on the time and number of tributes from the princes, and the emperor has a system of rewards and punishments for the timely contributions of the princes and the quality of the tributes.Kong Yingda's "Book of Rites Justice · Sheyi" said: "One is called virtue, another is called virtuous, and three is called meritorious service. Those who have meritorious service will be given clothes and bows by the emperor. Sing] (the wine brewed with turmeric and millet used to irrigate the ground during sacrifices). Three times, hundreds of people were given tiger ben [ben Ben]. Time), no matter how uncomfortable it is, it is called Ao (note cloud: it is called six years), and the third time it is not suitable, it is called falsehood (note cloud: it is called nine years). One is poor, then it is land, and three times it is land Finished." The "suitability" mentioned here means timely tribute, and those who are timely will be rewarded; those who are timely repeatedly will be rewarded based on their merits.Otherwise, you will be punished.It can be seen that the emperor attaches great importance to the princes and tributes.The emperor will also personally assess the tributes of the princes, first order them to try shooting in Yuze Palace, and then compete again at the big shooting ceremony, which is held in the shooting palace. "Book of Rites · Sheyi" records: "The Son of Heaven tested it in the She Palace. Its capacity is compared to rituals, its integrity is compared to music, and those with more middles can be compared to sacrifices. Its capacity is not compared to rituals, and its integrity is not compared to music. , but the middle and the small ones are not allowed to be used for sacrifices. The number is used for sacrifices and the king celebrates, and the number is not used for sacrifices and the king has to give way. The number is celebrated to benefit the land, and the number is given away to cut the land.” As for the archery skills of school scholars, if their appearance and movements are in line with etiquette, and their manners are in line with joy, and they hit many targets, they can participate in the sacrifice of the emperor.If the appearance and movement are not in line with etiquette, the festival is not in line with music, and the number of times of hitting the target is small, then you are not allowed to participate in the sacrifice of the emperor.Those who participated in the sacrifice many times will be rewarded by the princes.Those who fail to participate in the sacrifice many times will be reprimanded by the princes.Most of the rewards can increase the fiefdom.Those who have been reprimanded many times will have to reduce their fiefdoms. Certain etiquette and music standards must be met during test shooting.Whether it is the selection of scholars in the village or the tribute scholars of the princes, they all attach great importance to test shooting.All other things being equal, the test results shall be the final decision.There is a system of rewards and punishments for the good or bad results of the assessment, which reflects the importance attached by the Western Zhou Dynasty to the tributes and the test shooting of the tributes.The so-called test shooting is not just a test of skill level, but a test method in which virtue is embedded in Taoism.Test shooting "advance and retreat weeks must also be in the middle of the ceremony", and shooting the ceremony directly reflects the requirements of morality and ethics.As the "Book of Rites · She Yi" said: "In the ancient times, the princes of the princes must first practice the Yan Li; Also; the etiquette of drinking wine in the countryside, so it is clear about the order of seniors and young." Those who test shooting must follow the etiquette in advancing, retreating, and turning left and right. Gongshi test shooting, "the festival is more than music", the music used in the shooting ceremony of the Western Zhou Dynasty strictly marked the difference in level.The festivals of archery are: the son of heaven uses the poem "驺〔zou 苏〕禹" as the festival; the princes use the poem "Beaver Head" as the festival; the doctor uses the poem "Caiping" as the festival; The poem "Cai Fan [fan] Fan" is Jiedu. "Zouyu" praises all the officials; "Beaver Head" praises the princes who meet the emperor on time; "Caiping" praises the ministers for following the law;Therefore, the Son of Heaven is judged by having a hundred officials ready; princes are judged by seeing the Son of Heaven on time; high officials are judged by following the law; scholars are judged by fulfilling their duties.Archery and archery contain many aspects of human ethics and morality. Even the skill of archery also includes human moral cultivation, which is the so-called "archer, so he observes virtue." "The inner mind is upright, the outer body is straight, and then hold the bow and arrow to judge it. Hold the bow and arrow to judge it, and then you can speak. This can be seen as a virtue." Archers have a firm will in their hearts and a straight body on the outside. Aim at the target, with a steady arm.That's how we talk about hitting the target.From these actions, we can see a person's virtue.Therefore, shooting salute can be used to observe Sidley.This is why the Western Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to test shooting, adhered to the principle of selecting scholars combining virtue and Taoism, and thus promoted its social education and social stability. commit crimes", in order to strengthen the royal family's control over the vassal states and even the common people. In short, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, no matter whether it was school promotion, township election, or tribute to the princes, scholars were strictly assessed according to certain standards. "The Book of Songs · Daya · King Wen" said: "Thinking toasts, born in this kingdom, Wang Kesheng, Wei Zhou Zhizhen. Helping toasts, King Wen Yining." It means that the heroic and intelligent people born in the kingdom of Zhou Wen, It is the pillar on which the country depends for its survival. Relying on many outstanding Zhou scholars, it opened up the situation of "Wen Wang Yining".Therefore, in addition to the hereditary system of selecting officials in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was still able to "select the virtuous and capable" eclecticly, as the "Book of Songs Daya King Wen" said: "All the scholars of the Zhou Dynasty are not prominent but also the world", although they are not prominent , meritorious and capable people can also inherit the title. The combination of cultivating talents and selecting scholars, and selecting scholars and officials as one process, is a distinctive feature of the examination system in the Western Zhou Dynasty.The school education in the Western Zhou Dynasty was quite developed. There were national studies in the central government and rural studies in the local areas. The schools also had a relatively systematic and rigorous system of teaching, assessment, rewards and punishments, and inspections.Whether a student is recommended after graduation is closely related to his or her academic performance, test scores, and rewards and punishments at the school. This can motivate students, especially ordinary students, to study hard and make progress.Although the schools of the Western Zhou Dynasty were mainly set up for the children of the nobles, and only a very small number of upper-class members of the common people had the opportunity to study with the children of the nobles through strict selection, the examination system of the Western Zhou Dynasty gave hope and encouragement to these common people students. This is also a historical fact. . The selection of scholars and the selection of officials are the same way. The selection of scholars is the selection of officials. It is not the same as raising an official. During the three generations, although the legal system was simple, the assessment was clear; the reputation was public, and the virtuous and the foolish judged themselves. Often the people at that time were promoted, and there were no one who did not become an official. "Here said "Time of the Three Dynasties" mainly refers to the Western Zhou Dynasty. The selection system of the Western Zhou Dynasty "recommended scholars" and "elevated officials" were the same way, which must have greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of scholars to study and study, and pointed out to the majority of scholars that reading and learning This also promoted the great development of school education, and in turn, promoted the expansion of the scale of literati training. The examination system of the Western Zhou Dynasty had a great influence on the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.In the Spring and Autumn Period, "rituals collapsed and music was destroyed", "the emperor lost his official position, and his studies were in Siyi", academics moved down, and scholars were displaced.A new class of taxis has gradually formed in the society, and they play a role in promoting the development of academic culture and education in the new historical period.And this class of scholars mainly came from the "scholars" cultivated by the school education system of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the "scholars" selected by the examinations of the selection system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The examination system of the Western Zhou Dynasty was not only beneficial to the development of culture and education in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but also conducive to the political stability of the Western Zhou Dynasty society, and also laid the foundation for the ancient Chinese examination system.Throughout the development of the examination system in ancient China, whether it is the school system and the examination system of the Han Dynasty, the Jiupin Zhongzheng system of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, or the imperial examination system after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they all inherited and developed the Western Zhou Dynasty in different degrees and in different aspects. Features of the examination system.The system of selecting scholars in ancient China is a unique system of selecting officials and talents in China, which is closely related to the examination system.The so-called "scholar" is the class that creates, interprets and inherits cultural knowledge, that is, what is called intellectuals today.The selection system and the examination system are bridges connecting talents, intellectuals and bureaucrats. They combine the two social roles of talents, intellectuals and bureaucrats into one, forming a special political class in ancient China - scholar-bureaucrats.The Chinese examination system originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty. If we want to investigate the examination system in ancient China, we must first conduct the above-mentioned historical investigation on the Western Zhou examination system.