Transforming History: The Making of a Modern Academic Discipline in Twentieth-Century China

3. Historical Lessons and the History of Knowledge in the Late Qing Examination System

Chapter 3 Historical Lessons and the History of Knowledge in the Late Qing Examination System Liu Long-hsin Following reforms introduced by the Qing government, in 1902 the eightlegged essay (bagu wen 八股文) examination format that had been employed for almost six hundred years was officially abolished. The government had announced in 1901 that, from the following year, examinations would use a new format, called “policy and discourse” (celun 策 論).1 Although the celun was not an invention of the Qing dynasty, this was a significant victory for reformers who had been calling for changes to the examination system over the previous decades. The examination system had long been a target of reformers, as it was the key means of official recruitment and indeed formed the basis of the elite educational system. The change from the eight-legged essay to the celun exam format marked a significant break with the long-established standardized examination system based on questions taken from The Four Books, The Five Classics, and Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) Collected Commentaries on the Four Books. The reform altered the traditional study habits of candidates, which previously focused on memorizing the canonical texts and commentaries that were required for the civil service examination. Reformers argued that the change allowed scholars to shift their attention to a diverse range of topics that were more closely related to the real world, and to make good use of their knowledge to focus on global changes and on the crisis China was facing at the time. The most important transformation brought about by the celun examination was the addition of two new sections, titled Discourses on Chinese History and Politics (Zhongguo zhengzhi shishi lun 中國政治史事論) and Policy Questions on World Politics and Technology (Geguo zhengzhi yixue ce 各國政治藝學策). These now came before what had previously 76 · Liu Long-hsin been the most important part of the examination, the section devoted to the Four Books and Five Classics, thereby reducing their significance. From the perspective of institutional history, the 1902 reform of the examination system can be interpreted as the result of the calls for reform that had been persistently raised by late Qing scholars. From the perspective of history of knowledge, it can also be seen as a reflection of modern knowledge patterns and changes in the perception of knowledge. Generally speaking, examinations are merely a means of evaluating learning, and their content and structure scarcely represent the entirety of modern knowledge in all its complex relationships; however, the cultural significance of the Chinese examination system meant that the reform significantly altered the way candidates understood the world. The inclusion of new branches of knowledge into the examinations, still virtually the sole means of selecting candidates for government service, reflected changing official valuations of that knowledge at the time, as well as its importance within social networks. When the civil service examinations began to include subjects like history, dynastic historical records, agricultural and industrial administration, military affairs, acoustics, optics, chemistry, and electrical engineering in the first and second sessions of the exam, it indicated that late Qing academic circles considered these fields of knowledge to be central. Indeed, the large number of translated books compiled and published during the late Qing period, along with various anthologies of Western learning, writings on statecraft, reference books, and collections devoted to “policy and discourse” essays, as well as the examination questions themselves, indicates the great emphasis placed on contemporary knowledge.2 This new knowledge had diffused throughout Chinese society after the opening of treaty ports in the mid-nineteenth century, and in this sense the celun reform was simply official recognition and systematization of knowledge that was already spreading through China.3 As a consequence, if we analyze the questions posed in the celun civil examination, we can appraise shifts in the perceptions about what constituted knowledge. In addition, the examination questions themselves indicate the social conditions and cultural patterns that lay behind the construction of this knowledge. In this chapter, I discuss how scholars dealt with the celun examination and the transformation and reorientation of knowledge during the late Qing period. I utilize collections of “policy and discourse” Historical Lessons and the History of Knowledge · 77 examinations that circulated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the Records of Provincial Examinations (Xianshi lu 鄉 試錄), the Records of Metropolitan Examinations (Huishi lu 會試錄), and the Lists of Successful Candidates in the Provincial Examinations (Xiangshi timing...