Local Literati during the Jin Period in Relation to Reforms of the Civil Service Examination and School Systems

Abstract

This article is mainly a study of reforms made to the Chinese civil service examination and school system during the Jin金period and how examination degree holder (jinshi進士) reacted to them. To begin with, the author reports on his survey of 981 cases of jinshi degree holders collected from anthologies, local gazetteers and stelae, concluding that over half of the Jinshi hailed from the four districts (lu路) of Zhongdu中部, Hebei-xi河北西, Hedong-bei河東北and Hedong-nan河東南, while 30% came from Henan河南, Jingzhao京兆, Shandong-dong山東東and Shandon-xi 山東西, thus forming a geographical core and periphery configuration in the supply of jinshi. The author then turns to the examination and educational systems to analyze Jin period jinshi more closely, dividing the period into three sub-periods. The first sub-period (1115-1160s) was characterized by almost no intervention on the part of the Jin Dynasty in jinshi affairs, as shown by the fact that education, school construction and examinations were all left to local society. This period, being one of recovery from the wars of the early 12th century, was also characterized by the majority of jinshi coming from less damaged areas. Then during the second sub-period (1170s-1211), the Jin Dynasty decided to reform its education system, establishing stipends for public school students and special employment opportunities for those who passed the civil service examinations. It was a time that jinshi enthusiastically supported and participated in the education system, resulting in a complete recovery and homogenization of the examination and school system throughout Jin territory. However, the third period (1211-1234), which saw the beginning of the Mongol invasion, changed drastically. By the mid-1220s, the Mongols had taken control of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and most of the Northeast, stripping jinshi of their former privileged status and forcing them to work as secretaries, engineers and even soldiers. In the areas that the Jin Dynasty managed to hold, the examination system deterionated, was further burdened by an influx of refugees, and consequently suffered unprecedented damage from both civil disturbances and bribery. The Jin Dynasty could do nothing about the situation in the face of the Mongol onslaught and collapsed in 1234.