漢代賢良方正科考

Abstract

Centering around the degree of Xianliang fangzheng, this article deals with the system of officials' appointment of the Han Dynasty. First one must pay attention to the fact that all those eligible capable of recommending persons for appointment as officials for official examination were called "nobles" (gongqing 公卿), whereas those who had taken the examination were named 'officials" (shidafu 士大夫), and try to understand the difference between these two groups properly. As a result we may state that the examination system of the Han was structured according to income : those above 2, 000 shi 石 were the "nobles", those below to 400 shi were mere "gentlemen" (shi 士), and those between equivalent to 600 and 1, 000 shi were "officers" (dafu 大夫). Its aim was to promote people from the position of the gentlemen to that of officers. Looking therefore at the Han Dynasty system of official selection from this angle, the Zhou hierarchy of nobles, officers, and gentlemen is strongly noticeable. However, if we scrutinize the historical data very carefully, we realize that one must not overlook the existence of a particular Han element arising as a reaction to the imperial despotic government. That is, the examination system can on the one hand be seen on the ideological background of the Zhou system, on the other hand, one must consider the possibility that it developed in the wake of a centralized administration which began at that time, and as such represents a new method of recruiting men of talent. Holding the two elements of tradition and realism in a subtle balance and preserving them through ingenious managing, the selection of Xianliang fangzheng under the Han dynasty grew gradually into a fixated examination system. This, I think, was the most important cause for the examination system.