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Personnel Administration 241 not equal to Meng Changjun in talent and wisdom, why should you not be my Feng Huan?” The people in the yamen could not dare to complain any further. CHAPTER : RECOMMENDING VIRTUOUS MEN Recommending Virtuous Men Is the Duty of the Magistrate. Although the Current System Is Different from That of the Old Days, the Magistrate Must Not Forget This. Emperors Yao and Shun and three sage kings instituted the law that requires the National University [Taixue] to educate the nobility to make them ministers, and the minister of education [situ] to teach the common people and prepare for the process of finding talented men [binxing]. Securing men of ability mainly depended on these two activities. Since the Han dynasty, however, these two laws have completely collapsed, and what is left is the system in which local magistrates recommend wise men with ability to the government. The number of talented men thus acquired during the Han dynasty equaled that of three dynasties. After the Sui and Tang dynasties men were selected through the civil service examination based on literature. Nevertheless, the way of the world kept deteriorating , and subsequently counties and districts were ordered to recommend men of talent and learning every year, who were called “provincial nominees” [hyanggong ]. Therefore, recommending men of virtue is the duty of the magistrate. In our country it was also the law that counties and districts recommend men of talent, but this law has been observed in name only. This should not indicate that the magistrate can ignore the law and neglect his duty. In modern times Nam Kuman recommended men of ability in his reports to the court whenever he returned from his inspection tours of border regions. Since this was the original purpose of high officials who served their sovereign by recommending men of virtue, how can scholar-officials who become magistrates to serve the country ignore that original purpose for recommending men of virtue? 42. A grand councilor during the Warring States period. He was famous for keeping thousands of guests in his house for advice and ideas. 43. One of the many guests of Meng Changjun. The latter asked the former to collect the unpaid loans from the people. However, Feng Huan burned the loan documents of the people who were unable to pay their loans in order to elicit favorable popular feeling for Meng Changjun, which saved Meng’s career from later political calamities. 44. King Yu of the Xia dynasty, King Tang of the Shang dynasty, and King Wen of the Zhou dynasty. 45. This was a way of recruiting talented people during the time of the Zhou dynasty. It indicates recommending an outstanding individual as a chief guest during the local drinking rite or selecting officials through the provincial examination. 46. “Literature” here indicates essays and poems. 242 book V Since There Is a Code of Law for Recommending Those Distinguished in Classical Learning and Conduct and Those Excellent in Administrative Skill, Not One Person throughout the Whole District Should Be Neglected. Following ancient customs, our country has maintained a system in which counties and districts recommend men of virtue every three years. However, since factionalism has become increasingly intense since the middle age, those recommended by local districts have been ignored unless they have belonged to the faction in power. As a result, the law of recommendation has become only nominal . However, since neglecting men of virtue is not auspicious, how can we allow them to remain unacknowledged permanently even if we cannot employ them? The recommendations submitted by the counties and districts of our days always state, “No one to recommend.” This is wrong. The Supplement to the National Code stipulates as follows: “Recommendations should be made of those who previously served in the government [chŏnham] or those who passed licentiate examinations both in classics and literature [saengjin] or scholars who have never had a chance to serve in the government [yuhak]. Among these groups of men, the ones most distinguished in talent and conduct should be chosen, and in early January of the triennial year [singnyŏn] the residents recommend them to their magistrate (this is called pogŏ), and the magistrate in turn submits their recommendations to the governor . (The number of recommendations cannot exceed three in the case of hasamdo and two in the case of sang’odo.) If the recommendee turns out to be different from what is in his record by falsifying his age (saengjin should be...

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