北宋舉官制度研究（上）

A STUDY ON THE SYSTEM OF SELECTION OF THE CIVIL SERVANTS IN THE NORTHERN SUNG PERIOD (PART I)

金中樞(Chin Chung-Shu)

《新亞學報》 9卷1期 (1969/06) Pp. 243-298+ap15-16

並列摘要

Before dealing with the main subject, three remarks should be made: 1. At the beginning of the Sung period, it was a common practice to confer officials titles upon scholars who did not have assumed official duties. The actual functions were performed by ＂temporary＂ officials. This practice led to extreme confusion among the various titles and categories of officials. In the Yuan-feng era (1078-1085) began a gradual reform of the system--reform which restored the original status of ＂ranked officials＂ for officials not invested with active duties. As a consequence, the central government included only active officials, while at the level of the local administration, officials who had formerly been on a temporary assignment were given formal appointments on a permanent basis. In this article, for the of clarity, each official appointment and assignment is explained with a note. 2. This article provides a short definition on the nature of each type of office. 3. The basic principle of the selection of civil servants is rooted in the Confucian traditional axioms concerning the universal character of the ＂res publica＂ and the duty to promote the worthy and the talented, but as those questions do not fall into the scope of the present paper, they have been omitted. The system of selection of civil servants may be analyzed under two different aspects: 1. The selection of various categories of officials 2. The methods of selection. This article deals only with the first aspect. According to historical records sixteen different categories of officials were selected: 1. clerical staff for commandants' headquarters, prefectures and county governments, 2. officials and officers for promotion and transfer, 3. officials for appointment as prefects and commandants, 4. officials for appointment as officials of the ministerial or a lower rank, serving in the capital, 5. civil officials and military officers of good learning and character and meritorious service, for further advancement, 6. clerks for the Revenue Department, 7. officials for appointment as provincial inspectors, 8. officials for appointment in the department in charge of animal husbandry, and their clerical staff. 9. officials for appointment in the Censor Department, 10. officials for replacing the nominators themselves, 11. officials to serve as judges and to serve in other judiciary officials, 12. officials for academical posts, 13. officials to serve as education inspectors, 14. officials and officers for military posts, 15. officials for appointment as the Sovereign's counsellors. 16. candidates possessing ＂ten qualifications＂.