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Life in the Schools of Sung China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Thomas H. C. Lee
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Extract

The profound impact of the civil service examinations upon students' lives marks one of the most important developments in Sung education. During the Sung, the whole process of education gradually became geared to the purpose and demands of the examinations; the new important role of the examinations in the recruitment of government officials in turn resulted in the transformation of Chinese society.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , November 1977 , pp. 45 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1977

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References

1 The discussion above is a very condensed summary of a number of works on the nature of the Chinese civil service examinations and rural control. I treat ideological control as an integral part of educational process. This is an area that has been studied extensively by educational theorists, anthropologists, and political scientists; but historians can also make significant contributions.

2 Te-en, Yang, Wen T'ien-hsiang nien-p'u (Ch'ang-sha: Commercial Press, 1939), p. 11Google Scholar.

3 Mao-hung, Wang, Chu-tzu nien-p'u (Ch'ang-sha: Commercial Press, 1941), I, p. 2Google Scholar.

4 See later in this article.

5 Po-wen, Shao, Shao-shih wen-chien ch'ien-lu (Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng ed., 1935 [hereafter TSCC]), ch. 8, p. 51Google Scholar.

6 Shih, Su, Tung-p'o chi (in San-Su ch'üan-chi, 1832 blockprinted ed.), 12/26abGoogle Scholar.

7 K'o-yung, Feng & I-shan, Yeh (eds.), “Tz'u-hu hsien-sheng nien-p'u” in Chien, Yang, Tz'u-hu i-shu (Ssu-ming ts'ung-shu ed., 1932), 1/3aGoogle Scholar.

8 Yu, Lu, Chien-nan shih-kao (in Lu Fang-weng ch'üan-chi, Ssu-pu pei-yao ed., Shanghai, 1936), 70/11aGoogle Scholar. The “Pamphlet of Rabbit Garden” is a primer widely used during the Five Dynasty and Sung periods. A late T'ang version of it has been found in Tun-huang.

9 Pei-shan, Yü, Lu Yu nien-p'u (Shanghai: Chung-hua, 1961), p. 17Google Scholar.

10 Meng-te, Yeh, Pi-shu lu-hua (Hsüeh-chin t'ao-yüan ed., 1805), 2/52abGoogle Scholar.

11 Note 8 above, 1/17b–18a.

12 Tung-yüan, Ch'en, Chung-kuo chiao-yü shih (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1936), pp. 311–15Google Scholar.

13 Sung, Hsü (ed.), Sung hui-yao chi-kao (Yung-lota-tien ed.; reprint Pei-p'ing t'u-shu kuan, 1936), “Ch'ung-ju” section, 2/1aGoogle Scholar.

14 See note 12 above.

15 Note 10 above, 2/6ia-62a.

16 Fang-kang, Wang, Mi Hai-yüeh nien-p'u (Yüeh-ya t'ang ts'ung-shu ed., 1855), 1aGoogle Scholar.

17 Yen-chen, Weng, “Ku-tai erh-t'ung tu-wu k'ai-lun,” T'u-shu-kuan hsüeh chi-k'an, X, 1 (1936), pp.91–146, esp. p. 69Google Scholar.

18 Yü-chao hsin-chih (TSCC), ch. 5, p. 69.

19 Note 17 above, pp. 120–21.

20 Note 12 above, pp. 318–26.

21 Shang-hsiang, Ts'ai, Wang Ching-kung nien-p'uk'ao-lüeh (Shanghai: Jen-min, 1973 [reprint of 1959 Chung-hua ed.]), ch. 1, p. 41Google Scholar. Wang was then about fifteen years old.

22 Hsi-min, Yang, Tseng Wen-ting kung nien-p'u (Shih-wu chia nien-p'u ed., 1857–1907), pp. 2abGoogle Scholar.

23 Ta-ch'ang, Chang, “Wang Shen-ning nien-p'u” in Ying-lin, Wang, Ssu-ming wen-hsien chi (Ssu-ming ts'ung-shu ed., 1932), 3b–4aGoogle Scholar.

24 Yüan-ch'uan, (Feng Shu-lan), “Ch'ao-ch'uannien-p'u ni-kao,” Pei-ta kuo-hsüeh chi-k'an, I, 3 (1926), pp. 259–61Google Scholar.

25 Fang, Yang, Tzu-hsi chi (Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shuchen-pen ed., 1st series, 1934–35), 1/38–48Google Scholar.

26 Tao-ching, Hu, Hsin chiao-cheng Meng-hsi pi-t'an (Peking: Chung-hua, 1957), p. 346Google Scholar.

27 Chien-k'ang chi (Shih-lin i-shu ed., 1911), 4/6a–7aGoogle Scholar; trans, by Goodrich, L. C. in “The Revolving Bookcase in China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, VII (1942), pp. 130–61, esp. p. 137CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 On Su Sung's youth, see Yeh Meng-te, Shih-lin yen-yü (TSCC), ch. 3, pp. 20–30; ch. 9, pp. 84–85. A combined trans. is in Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1965), IV, pt. 3, pp. 447–48Google Scholar.

29 Kuang, Ssu-ma, “Hsün chien shih K'ang” (in Ssu-ma Wen-kung wen-chi; Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an, shuyin ed., 1936 [hereafter SPTK]), ch. 69, pp. 505–06Google Scholar.

30 E.g., Chia-fan, Su-shui chia-i, and Shu-i. LuYu, Yeh Meng-te, and Chen Te-hsiu, among others, also wrote “family instructions.”

31 T'ung-li, Yüan, “Sung-tai ts'ang-shu-chia k'ao-lüeh,” T'u-shu-kuan hsüeh chi-k'an, II, 2 (1928), pp. 179–87Google Scholar.

32 Te-i, Wang, “Fan Shih-hu hsien-sheng nien-p'u,” Wen-shih-che hsüeh-pao, 18 (1969), p. 275Google Scholar.

33 Hsü-hsin, Yen, Ch'en Lung-ch'uan nien-p'u (Ch'ang-sha: Commercial Press, 1940), pp. 14–20Google Scholar.

34 Ch'eng-t'ao, Hsia, “Yen T'ung-shu nien-p'u,” Tz'u-hsüeh chi-k'an, II (1934): 1, pp. 27–67; 2, pp. 33–70Google Scholar.

35 Ch'eng-t'ao, Hsia, “Pai-shih tao-jen hsing-shih k'ao,” Yen-ching hsüeh-pao, XXIV (1938), pp. 55–125, esp. pp. 105–21Google Scholar.

36 Note 25 above, 12/4a.

37 Note 2 above, pp. 15–17.

38 Note 9 above, p. 20.

38 Note 6 above, 11/4a–5a.

40 “Recently wealthy merchants also try to get successful candidates in the departmental examinations to marry their daughters's family may come back often to demand more.” Chu Yü, P'ing-chou k'o-t'an (TSCC), ch. 2, p. 16.

41 A statistical study of T'ung-wen, Weng's Répertoire des dates des hommes célèbres des Song (Paris: Mouton, 1962)Google Scholar shows that the average ageof entrance to civil service during the Northern Sung was 28.52 years; during the Southern Sung, 31.54. The average throughout the Sung was 29.96. A study by Kracke, Edward A. Jr. (Civil Service in Early Sung China, 960–1067, Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1953, p. 60)Google Scholar of the two existing lists of successful candidates of 1148 and 1256 shows the average age in the Southern Sung as around 35.64–35.66. These figures are considerably larger than mine; the difference may be that my average comes from a more selective group. In any case, it can be reasonably argued that, at least during the Southern Sung, on average, successful candidates were generally well over thirty, and that their Northern Sung counterparts were usually younger.

42 See my “Sung-ch'ao chiao-yü chi k'o-chü san-lun,” Ssu yü yen, XII, 6 (1975), pp. 15–27Google Scholar.

43 Hsien-min, Li, Yün-chai kuang-lu (in Shuo-futsa-chu, Lung-wei pi-shu ed., 1974), 24/1aGoogle Scholar.

44 See my Ph.D. diss., “Education in Northern Sung China” (Yale, 1974), pp. 103–13Google Scholar.

45 Note 7 above, 1/4a–4b.

46 T'o-t'o, et al., Sung-shih (Palace ed., 1739). 444/17abGoogle Scholar.

47 On the relationship between the Imperial University (T'ai-hsüeh) and the Directorate of National Youth (Kuo-tzu chien), see my article cited in n. 42 above.

48 Ch'ien, Cheng: “Ch'en Chien-chai nien-p'u,” Yu-shih hsüeh-pao, II, 2 (1960), pp. 1–64Google Scholar.

49 Sheng-chang, Huang (ed.), Li Ch'ing-chao chi (Shanghai: Chung-hua, 1962), pp. 162–67Google Scholar.

50 Note 33 above, p. 49.

51 Ch'iang-ming, Sun, Ch'en Wen-chieh kung nien-p'u (Ching-hsiang lou ts'ung-shu ed., 1929), 6abGoogle Scholar.

52 Hsiu, Ou-yang, Ou-yang Yung-shu chi (Kuo-hsüeh chi-pen ts'ung-shu ed.; Shanghai reprint, 1958), “nien-p'u,” pp. 1–25Google Scholar.

53 Note 13 above, 2/4ab.

54 T'ao, Li, Hsü tzu-chih t'ung-chien ch'ang-pien (Chekiang shu-chü ed., 1881; reprint [with add. materials, Yang Chia-lo (comp.)] Taipei: Shihchieh, 1961), 153/1abGoogle Scholar.

55 Note 22 above, 2b–5b. Tseng Kung went to the University in 1038, at age nineteen, and failed in that year's examination. In 1041, he went back to the University and stayed for a few months, but still could not pass the examination. He eventually made it in 1057.

56 Hsiao-hsüan, Chao, Li Kang nien-p'u ch'ang-pien (Hong Kong: New Asia College, 1968), p. 12Google Scholar.

57 Note 23 above, 4a.

58 I-hsüeh, Chiang, Lu Hsiu-fu nien-p'u (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1936), pp. 3–4Google Scholar.

59 See note 51 above.

60 For more detailed writing on the life in Sung University: Ichisada, Miyazaki, “Sōdai no dai-gakusei seikatsu” in his Ajia shi kenkyū (Kyoto: Nakamura, 1957), I, pp. 365–401Google Scholar.

61 Wu-lin chiu-shih (Shanghai: Ku-tien wen-hsüeh, 1957), ch. 3, pp. 375–76Google Scholar.

62 For more information about extracurricularactivities, see Chien-ch'iu, Wang, Sung-tai t'ai-hsüeh yü t'ai-hsüeh-sheng (Taipei: Chung-kuo hsüeh-shu chu-tso chiang-chu wei-yüan hui, 1965), pp. 232–42Google Scholar. See also note 60 above; and Gernet, Jacques (Hope Wright, trans.), Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1965Google Scholar.

63 Ch'eng I, I-ch'uan wen-chi (in Erh-Ch'eng ch'üan-shu), whole of ch. 3. Also note 54 above, 378/1a.

64 Wen-pao, Yü, Ch'oi-chien lu (Taipei: Shih-chieh, 1968), p. 92Google Scholar.

65 For examples, see Yeh Shao-weng, Ssu-ch'ao wen-chien lu (TSCC), pp. 31–33. Also n. 53 above, 2/18a.

66 Mi, Chou, Kuei-hsin tsa-chih, pieh-chi, shang (Hsüeh-chin t'ao-yüan ed., 1805), 26bGoogle Scholar.

67 Note 54 above, 295/4a.

68 Ts'ao Yüeh-chih, Chi-pei Ts'ao hsien-sheng chi-chin chi (SPTK), ch. 30, pp. 198–99.

69 Tseng Min-hsing, Tu-hsing tsa-chih (TSCC), P. 57.

70 Yang Wan-li, Ch'eng-chai chi (SPTK), 64/9b–10a.

71 Note 53 above, 2/39b.

72 Ibid., 2/28a.

73 Ta-ya, P'eng, Hei-ta shih-lüeh (Shanghai: Tung-fang hsüeh-hui, 1926), 5aGoogle Scholar.

74 Ch'en Shan, Men-seng hsin-hua (TSCC), ch. 1, p. 6.

75 Note 5 above, ch. 11, p. 79.

78 See Appendix for four representative cases. For a discussion of the careers of financial officials, see Hartwell, Robert, “Financial Expertise, Examinations, and the Formulation of Economic Policy in Northern Sung China,” Journal of Asian Studies, XXX (1971), pp. 281–314CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

77 Note 46 above, 328/8b–9a.

78 Chiu-yüan, Lu, Hsiang-shan chi (Ssu-pu pei-yao ed., 1927–36), 36/6aGoogle Scholar.