Official Recruitment, Imperial Authority, and Bureaucratic Power: Political Intrigue in the Case of Yu Fan

Historians generally agreed that middle period China, roughly referring to the time of Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties, is a time of changes. One of the most prominent changes was the transition from aristocracy to autocracy,¹ the latter of which I would define as a system of government by a single ruler or other pragmatic institution(s) that derive authority from the ruler.² This autocratic system of government is neither checked effectively by nongovernmental nor intragovernmental forces. Deriving authority from the single ruler, the functioning of institutions or individuals such as Empresses regencies, Secretariat-Chancellery or Councilors, termed by Wittfogel as "single autocratic center of organization and decision making,"³ realizes the power of the emperor. Although this autocratic system symbolically and even theoretically elevates the power of the emperor, it does not necessarily mean that the ruler was a despot who exercises absolute power in a cruel or oppressive manner. It is interesting to note that the ascendance of autocracy and the fading influence of aristocrats was not a matter of a few years; instead it took a longer time, from decades to even centuries and developed in a nonlinear fashion. During this long period of transition, subtle power struggles between emperors and his subjects, better known as the scholar-officials (shidafu 士大 夫), were underway. The case of Yu Fan 虞蕃 is both eventful and revealing in this respect.

In 1078 (the first year of Yuanfeng), Yu Fan, a fairly insignificant student in the Imperial University (taixue 太學), launched a direct complaint to Emperor Shenzong 神宗 (1048–1085, r. 1067–1085), regarding the misconduct of the University's teaching staff. After thorough investigations, most University personnel met with punishment.⁴ The official Song shi 宋史 (History of the Song Dynasty), which was compiled in the Yuan period (1271–1370), in more than one place presented the punishments as undeserved and unjust. In the biography of Cai Que 蔡確 (1037–1093) who was categorized as an "evil minister," the investigation of Yu Fan's complaint was even portrayed as a scheme of Cai's to achieve career advancement.⁵ It is not my intention to establish whether or not the official history represents historical reality, but rather how the narratives on the Yu Fan episode evolved over time and ultimately became part of the official historical record. Contextualizing the case of Yu Fan within the political sphere of factional disputes in the late Northern Song, what are the motives behind the accounts of the episode? What was the political agenda of their composition? A closer examination of the narratives and the various political groups involved in them uncovers that ordinary exchanges between teachers and students were interpreted as posing a threat to the emperor's power. This widely perceived case of "injustice," I would argue, is the emperor's scheme to eliminate potential challenge(r)s and the residual influence of the former Chief Councilor Wang Anshi 王安 石 (1021–1086). By removing teaching officials who held both the political power of recommending prospective officials and ideological power in making authoritative interpretations on the Confucian Classics, the emperor managed to reclaim the power of official recruitment, a sign of intensifying autocracy.

I will first highlight the efforts of the Song founder to exert his control over and the rising importance of the Imperial University in the official recruitment process, which set the stage for the complaint of Yu Fan. A textual archaeological study of the surviving accounts of the Yu Fan episode then reveals the abundance of anti-reformist rhetoric in most of the narratives. The final section of this article discusses the hidden agenda of Shenzong to reassert imperial authority in the realm of official recruitment through an analysis of his responses to the episode.

Rising Importance of the Imperial University over Official Recruitment

Before 973, the Departmental examination was the final test in the examination process, whereby the official designated as chief examiner had final say on candidate selection. This allowed some officials to recommend to the chief examiner candidates with whom they were...