Degrees, which were to serve as
passports to Government positions, were awarded the best writers.
To say that the training afforded by the time required to make a
man efficient in the art of such writing, would at the same time
qualify him to hold the various offices under the Government, was
absurd. But absurd as the whole system was, it was handed down to
recent times from the third year of the reign of Hung Wu, and was
not abolished until a few years ago. No system was more perfect
or effective in retarding the intellectual and literary
development of a nation. With her "Eight Legs," China long ago
reached the lowest point on her downhill journey. It is largely
on account of the long lease of life that was granted to this
rotten system that the teachings of the Sung philosophers have
been so long venerated.
These are the words of a Chinese patriot of the present day, and no
doubt, as a modern system, the "Eight Legs" deserve all the hard things
that he says about them. But in the fourteenth century, when one
considers the practicable alternatives, one can see that there was
probably much to be said for such a plan. At any rate, for good or evil,
the examination system profoundly affected the civilization of China.
Among its good effects were: A widely-diffused respect for learning; the
possibility of doing without a hereditary aristocracy; the selection of
administrators who must at least have been capable of industry; and the
preservation of Chinese civilization in spite of barbarian conquest.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57