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3 Director of Studies: Shandong, 1793–5; Zhejiang, 1795–7; and Expectant Official in Beijing, 1797–9 The Job The system of selecting government officials by examination made the position of the director of studies (xuezheng 學政) in each province an extremely important one. Although this office carried no rank of its own, for the holder it could be a stepping stone to higher appointments. During the mid-Qing the director of studies was usually a Hanlin graduate holding the title and rank of another concurrent appointment. Ruan Yuan was holding two titles during his tenure in Shandong and Zhejiang, Senior Supervisor of Instruction 3A and Sub-Chancellor of Grand Secretariat on duty at Wenyuan Pavilion 2B.1 He was, therefore, a capital official with an out-of-town assignment, that usually lasted three years. At different times during the dynasty the director of studies was known by different titles. The full title was Director of Studies by Imperial Appointment (Qinming Tidu Xueyuan 欽命提督學院). The military aspect of the title, Provincial Military Commander (tidu 提督), was included because he was also responsible for the examination of candidates for the military degrees. More commonly, however, during the mid-Qing, the official was known simply as Director of Studies.2 In order for the system of selecting officials by examination to work, the director of studies had to be excellent in scholarship and impeccable in personal integrity. It was the responsibility of the director of studies to send the best candidates in the province to Beijing. To produce such candidates, he had to ascertain that the curricula and the teaching upheld the established standards — and, incidentally, if he so chose, exercised censorship through selection of books to be included or excluded in instructing the young. As he also supervised the ‘annual’ and prefectural examinations, including ranking the candidates, 1. For all practical purposes, he carried the rank of 2B. 2. I have opted to use this translation to distinguish the title from that of a commissioner (shi 使) as in Financial Commissioner and Judicial Commissioner. 60 Ruan Yuan, 1764–1849 Ruan Yuan was in a position to influence the content as well as the standard of learning. It was the practice of the Director of Studies to compile a list of required and recommended books for young students on various levels in the province. There is extant such a list entitled Catalogue of Books for Young Students in Shandong compiled by Ruan Yuan (Ruan Yuntai Shishengtong Shumu 阮芸臺示生童書目). In this volume he introduced to a generation of students in Shandong works by contemporary scholars of the School of Han Learning, in addition to the standard Tang and Song texts.3 The job carried a great deal of independence and prestige, but the official had to work with the governor of the province where he was situated. In protocol, the director of studies normally occupied a position slightly higher than that of the provincial financial commissioner (buzhengshi 布政使) or judicial commissioner (ancha shi 侒察使). When meeting face to face with the governorgeneral or the governor, his position was their equal.4 In the case where a governor was interested in education of the young, the two men worked closely together. While Ruan Yuan was Governor and Wen Ning (文寧) Director of Studies in Zhejiang, they submitted a joint memorial proposing a change in the eligibility regulations to permit members of an ethnic minority resident in counties of Chuzhou (處州) and Qingtian (青田) to take civil service examinations.5 The governor was accountable for the misdeeds, if any, of the 3. A required item all students needed to learn by heart from the outset was the Kangxi Dictionary. Also on the list were books in the Four Treasuries, works by Dai Zhen, Shao Jinhan, and books on astronomy, mathematics, and geography. 4. Chen Jinling (陳金陵), ‘Cong Jiaqing Chao Xuezheng Mizou Kan Qingdai Xuezheng’ (從嘉 慶朝學政密奏看清代學政) (1982), p. 246. 5. See Shang Yanliu, Qingdai Keju Kaoshi, p. 45. Wenning was a Manchu of the Red Banner, metropolitan graduate of the class of 1784 and a Hanlin. I am grateful to the late S. T. Leong for pointing out that these people were not Hakka. Dr Leong wrote in 1978: ‘Turning to yours of the 15th regarding Hakka in Zhejiang, my skepticism proved to be correct. You are quite right to suspect that the She (畬) were not Hakka at all. The present Hakka homeland in eastern Guangdong, southern Fujian and Jiangxi was in fact the original home of the She until they were pushed out brutally by the Hakka...

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