In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Rites and Ceremonies 541 high and low status has deteriorated, and instructions and commands have been unable to be carried out. Hence, once a disturbance breaks out, it will be like the collapse of clay hills or the roof tiles falling and breaking in pieces, and no one will be able to stop them. Since the king is far away from the spot of trouble, and the magistrate is like a traveler passing by, how can one solve the crisis unless there is a way to control the ignorant populace in the villages? Therefore, I firmly believe that the slave law should be restored to its original state; otherwise the state cannot be saved from disorder. CHAPTER : SELECTION AND EXAMINATION Although the Civil Service Examination Makes a Man’s Heart Weary There Is No Choice but to Recommend It until a Better Civil Service Recruitment System Is Introduced. This Preparatory Civil Service Examination Is Called Kwaye. The third among the seven duties of the magistrate is developing school education [hakgyohŭng]. Not knowing what this means, vulgar officials substitute the civil service examination for the development of schools. To engage in the process of recruitment through the civil service examination at home is called sunje, and to go out to participate in literary competitions is called paegiljang. The total number of candidates for the sunje process is not more than twenty or thirty in the case of districts that are famed for producing literary talent [munŭp], and it does not exceed five or six in the case of districts that have a poor record of producing such talent [chilŭp]. The number of examination papers that are gathered amounts to a thousand pages at the most, and five hundred at the least. Even illiterate people, who are engaged in making firewood and feeding cows and thus are incapable of reading and writing, present their examination papers, which were prepared by someone else. Often occupied with his official duties, the magistrate fails to pay close attention to this trickery, and the examiners whom he invited, sitting next to him, recklessly mark the sentences that they like or dislike , while his attendants and favorite entertaining women conspire to tamper with the examination. Furthermore, his office is busy to a degree of utter disorder with matters like providing a banquet for successful candidates or presenting them with awards. As a result, people who feel resentful revile the magistrate, throwing dirt and stones at his office. The magistrate immediately orders military officers to arrest those disorderly rebels who failed to pass the examination, and their wailing shakes the air. The prison is soon filled with people with cangues on their necks, and the street is filled with sticks and cudgels for punishment. How easy it is to create disturbance in an otherwise peaceful world. Those who are served a lavish banquet and take away the awards are mostly a gang of yamen clerks, and the rest are woodcutters and cowherds. The civil service 542 book VII examination, which originated from Zuo Xiong, continues to be handed down today, making numerous people demonstrate vulgar petty talents like entertaining clowns. Even if there had been strict control over this age-old practice, it would still have been insufficient to regulate all the potential problems, which appear to be more serious than at any time in the past. So the situation is like dreaming in a dream. How lamentable this is! The local literary competition related to the civil service examination [paegiljang ] is also a burden on the people. Since those who live 20 or 30 li from the district capital where the examination is held should arrive before the designated day, it costs them travel expenses, including drinks, meals, tobacco, shoes, examination papers, brushes, and ink sticks, which alone exceed 100 maces for two persons. If it happens that five or six in a family decide to take the examination, the total cost amounts to 300 maces , which is enough to buy a calf. If thoughtless youths in the family are excited and anxious to try their luck in the examination, there is no way to stop them. Whenever a public notice of the competition is posted, the heads of poor families cannot help making faces because of the financial burden they have to bear. This is clearly an extra problem to be concerned with. Since there are no rules and regulations on properly carrying out the civil service examination on the national level, the...

Share