Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2018

 

“Selection of the Finest of the Literati”: A Study of the Tang Boxue Hongci Examination (Abstract)

 

Jin Yingkun

 

In the Tang dynasty, the Board of Personnel (Li Bu) held the boxue hongci (“breadth in learning and vastness in letters”) examination, comprising the three subjects of shi (poetry), fu (rhapsody), and yilun (argumentation). The content and criteria of this examination were so similar to those of the jinshi examination, which comprised shi, fu and celun (political discourse), that almost all of those who passed the boxue hongci were already jinshi (presented scholars).The examiners for the boxue hongci were mainly officials with the Board of Personnel, but the emperor also temporarily appointed viceministers (shilang), directors (langzhong) and vice-directors (yuanwailang) from the other five boards of the Department of State Affairs to assist with the examination, as well as viceministers with the Board of Personnel. Most of these also held the jinshi degree. The boxue hongci examination had been established in the early Tang to solve the problem of the selection or transfer of candidates with “unfulfilled qualifications”; later, it became the main gateway to officialdom for jinshi who ranked high in the palace examination. By the late Tang dynasty, it was a way to select “the cream of the literati.” This “selection of the best of the best” identified graduates for the more important of the base-level positions of compilers (jiaoshu), proofreaders (zhengzi), heads of security department of the counties in the vicinity of capital cities(jiwangxianwei), and advisers to the prime minister or to the supervision minister, or entered the secretariat of officials. Their training focused on preparing them for “becoming generals and ministers.” The majority took positions as compilers, with those entering secretariats coming next. The most distinguished post was that of jiwangxianwei. Those who became advisers of the prime minister or the supervision minister were the fewest, but they were the most likely to become ministers, followed by those who had taken the position of jiwangxianwei. In the late Tang dynasty, whether a jinshi who had ranked high in the palace examination and passed the boxue hongci could ascend to high office, and whether he could make minister, were largely decided by the level and status of his initial destination after passing the boxue hongci.