Chapter 29 Examination System in Chinese History-6

six In the eighteenth century, Westerners valued the Chinese examination system.But they have their own historical origins, and it is impossible to completely copy the Chinese system.The United Kingdom was the first to imitate the Chinese examination system, but only the clerical officers had to pass the examination, and the executive heads of various departments were still nominated by political parties.Theoretically, the use of naval personnel by the navy and the use of diplomatic expertise by diplomacy should all be recruited through objective examinations by the government.However, the West has only adopted the lower half of the Chinese examination system. The affairs officers of the naval foreign affairs departments must pass the examination, and the chief executives of the naval foreign affairs departments do not need to take the examination. .This is exactly party politics, something that grew spontaneously in the origins of Western history. If this is even abolished, there will inevitably be major political shake-ups.This is political vitality, which cannot be stopped.Any foreign system, even if its laws are well-meaning, can only be used with discretion in its own system.Westerners understand this level, and adopted a half of the Chinese examination system, which has become their civil service system today.Why can't China also adopt a half of the Western system, abolishing the emperor, and adding that the National Assembly represents public opinion, while the examination system is still retained.All the government's employment should still rely on examinations, and only improve the content and methods as appropriate.

But at that time the Chinese had different opinions, and it was easy to learn from the West.In fact, like Japan, how could it have learned everything from the West?They still have an emperor who will be unified and dignified forever. On the contrary, Japan's reformation has already achieved prosperity and strength.China can't catch up, and I want to look back and advocate that not only the political system must be completely reformed, but also the culture and academics should be completely reformed, and even the best writing should be completely reformed.Japan has not yet abolished Sinology, while China advocates switching to Roman Pinyin.On the one hand, they praise the West, such as Britain, which makes good use of customary law, but does not allow itself to respect its own customary law.Only the customs, postal services, and telegraph agencies still use the examination system because they are presided over by foreigners, so that there will be no major disturbances.All other modern Chinese institutions employ people, not even the nine-rank Zhongzheng system like Cao Cao and Chen Qunshi. Can politics be on track?Instead, he wantonly criticizes the authoritarian darkness of traditional Chinese politics.In all past systems, carelessly.There is no way out for politics, and we will come back and attack historical academic culture.It is believed that the whole society has to be completely reformed from the ground up.As a result, today's arrogance of obliterating history and culture and overthrowing the integration of social ethics and education has resulted.

Here we have to respect Mr. Sun Yat-sen, only he can see far-sighted, his constitution of five powers is exactly in line with the half-way of Westerners adopting the Chinese system, and he also wants to adopt modern Western democratic politics under China's own traditional system. A branch and a half.However, the profoundness and broadness of his theories have not been noticed or understood by the people of the country so far.This layer is not limited to one item of the examination system.If you don't understand the essence of Mr. Sun's five-power constitution, just adding an examination system will still be in name only, and it will be difficult to achieve great results.

There is one important difference between the Chinese and Western examination systems in terms of methods.Western examinations only focus on experts, just like the example of summoning strange talents and supernatural abilities in the Han Dynasty.As for political talents, general knowledge is more valuable than expertise.Such talents are cultivated in the West in Congress.Traditional Chinese examinations focus on general knowledge, not specialties.China's science is underdeveloped, and the examination system is also pre-existing.For example, during the Jin and Yuan reigns, foreign kings came, the regime was not open, the examination system was loose, and it was in name only.However, other specialized academic skills in Chinese society, such as medicine, astronomical calculation, water conservancy, engineering, art, and manufacturing, have improved instead.Since then, China's examination system should actively pay attention to the admission of expertise.However, how to cultivate political generalists is still important.That is to say, the Hanlin Academy system in the Ming and Qing dynasties was quite effective in this respect.It can be seen that there must be a period of spiritual concentration behind every system, and there must be extremely deep intentions. Where can it be effective without plagiarism?

There is another important key here.I often say that Western democracies emphasize elections, which is biased towards the spirit of the rule of man. All political systems can be shifted according to public opinion, and the government must always be supervised by the people. Why is this not the spirit of the rule of man?In traditional Chinese politics, the examination system is biased towards the spirit of the rule of law. All the government employs people based on objective standards, open elections, and then based on objective standards, according to the civil service. The Chinese want to bring the entire government into a legal norm , if so, the weight of the rule of man can be reduced.Mr. Sun Yat-sen's five-power constitution and his theory of separation of powers and functions have just inadvertently embarked on the old path of traditional Chinese political spirit.In fact, the rule of man and the rule of law have their own strengths and weaknesses, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.In general, a small country should be governed by people, and a large country should be ruled by law.That is to say, in terms of Britain and the United States, the British system is more ambiguous about the rule of the people, while the American system is more ambiguous about the rule of law.Today, when discussing the political system, Chinese people only shout slogans about the rule of law, and they finally feel that the exam is a Chinese product and the election is a new product. Therefore, they inevitably underestimate the exam and pay too much attention to the election.Although the government has an examination institute, it has not been able to fully develop the inherent spirit of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's five-power constitution, which emphasizes the examination and one power.These issues are by no means a single branch, which can be solved by discussing only one system without penetrating the overall spirit of the entire political system.

In creating legislation, we should look at the overall situation. Today, we really need to explore and discuss political theory in detail.Otherwise, we will always adopt a few rules and regulations from various aspects, put them together and whitewash them temporarily, and we will never be able to build a scale or create a system.China's examination system has been in history for a thousand years.If we talk about its earliest origin, it has evolved for two thousand years, which naturally deserves the greatest attention of those who study and discuss the development trend of China's new political system in the future.

The purpose and effectiveness of the examination system have been described above.But there are those who are not all, and every system is all the same.The examination system is a special case.There is an ancient Chinese saying: "Scholars first know their tools, and then their talents." When choosing a scholar in a field, it is easier to recognize talents, but it is very difficult to judge tools and knowledge. This is one of them.Moreover, exams are very different from education and career.If Confucius was reborn in the later generations and presided over an examination, how could he win the seventy sages of virtue, speech, political affairs, and literature?And how can I get the virtuous husband who is only me and you, and return to him?These are all the results of Confucius' lifelong education, but how can they be obtained in the house exam?Moreover, Liu Xianzhu paid three visits to Zhuge in the thatched hut. Compared with picking scholars from the farmhouse, it is thousands of times better than that.However, Liu Xianzhu was not able to use Zhuge for life.The 830,000 army marched eastward along the river, but Zhuge Moer did not dare to say a word, which eventually led to the tragedy of Baidi City Tuogu.From the perspective of these three cases, the application of the examination system in politics should and can be limited to its usefulness.

The examination system is an important item in Chinese traditional politics, and its effect is the same, and others can be deduced by analogy.So what is the importance of politics?Said: "Government with virtue", how can the external system be exhausted.Western politics only knows to pay attention to several external systems, so it is called "rule of law".This is very different from traditional Chinese politics. (A speech by the Examination Institute in the winter of 1951, published in the first issue of "Kao Quan Monthly")