蔡京の科擧・學校政策

Abstract

In 1102 the new prime minister Cai Jing extended the national university's three hall system 太學三舎法 in the capital to the prefectural schools. This nationwide three hall system placed the provincial, prefectural, and county schools together with the national university under a single schools system. The result was that students who progressed successfully through this three-tiered educational system were selected as officials. This new policy was a pathbreaking initiative that drew heavily on the reforms of the examination system instituted during the Qing-li 慶暦 period. It also realized what Wang Anshi 王安石 had considered to be a necessary reform in Song government--the fusion of the formerly distinct activities of teaching students and selecting them as officials. This new system was discontinued in 1121 due to fiscal problems and to the confusion it caused at the lowest level of the administrative hierarchy in the provinces. The institution of the new system had dramatically increased the number of students exempted from corvee labor from 110, 000 in 1107 to 168, 000 in 1109 and to 200, 000 in 1116. This large concentration of corvee-exempt students was a significant factor in Southern Song local society. In this aspect lies the significance of Cai Jing's educational policy.