Do ancient officials need assessment?

Assessment, called "learning from the classics", "performance appraisal" and "taking merit" in ancient times, is an inspection of officials' performance of their duties, mainly the performance appraisal.

Performance appraisal sprouted from Yao and Shun, followed by generations, and recorded in many historical books. During Shun Di's reign, officials were assessed for their achievements every three years, and rewards and punishments were implemented according to the three assessments. This is the so-called "three-year performance appraisal, three exams, quiet and bright, and average results"; Every five years, I personally inspect the political achievements of the governors, which is the so-called "five-year patrol, four dynasties after the group, giving words, trying my best to make contributions, and being a servant." In the Yu era, there was also the practice of "counting" the merits and demerits of governors. Xia dynasty "three years of examination, five years of political decision." In Shang Dynasty, Shang Tang created the "Miyake Appraisal Method". The Western Zhou Dynasty's "ruling politics with eight" and "counting classes with six" roughly assessed the morality, ability, diligence, performance and honesty of today's civil servants. Zhou Wang also has a set of methods to assess the political achievements of governors: first, the governor, "the emperor is governor every five years", "those who have meritorious deeds for the people, add land to the law." Second, the debriefing, "the vassal told the emperor to debriefing-the debriefing person described his position. That's all. " The third is to send personnel to supervise. "The son of heaven ordered his doctor to be supervised by Fang Boguo and the Three Kingdoms." Fourthly, we can know the achievements of local officials in time through the court's irregular visits to the localities. This shows that with the continuous development of society, performance appraisal is also constantly standardized.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the rulers took meritocracy as the main principle of employing people, and the practice of selecting and appointing officials based on political achievements became more prominent. Every vassal state practiced a military service system, and those who made meritorious deeds in battle were promoted in rank and knighted according to their merits. So that later dynasties followed suit, and most of the officials used in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic were heroes. After Jiang Shang, the founding hero of the Western Zhou Dynasty, was named the founding monarch of Qi State, one of the strategies of governing the country was to "commend the virtuous and reward the meritorious". Qi can be the first of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period and the first of the seven heroes in the Warring States Period. In the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to understand the official achievements, various vassal states established an assessment system suitable for their own characteristics, and set up functions and officials to assess the official achievements. During the Warring States period, the performance appraisal was generally carried out at the end of the year, and every vassal state had a system of "calculation". It is recorded in Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Slips that the State of Qin should assess all departments, which is called "class", and the year-end assessment is called "big class". After the examination, it is necessary to classify the superior and eliminate the inferior. According to their political achievements, Qi is usually divided into three classes: upper, middle and lower.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the performance appraisal system was more perfect and the content was more detailed. Qin implements a certain degree of post responsibility system for officials, requiring county heads to report the local population, land reclamation, taxation, food and public security to the central authorities for verification at the end of each year. Before reporting to the central government, all counties require county heads to report and verify according to the same procedures. Petty officials at all levels are also assessed according to their positions. The early Han Dynasty not only attached great importance to the supervision and examination of officials, but also punished Qin's shortcomings. With the development of Qin Dynasty, the examination system was further improved. There are two kinds of examination systems in Han dynasty: one is central county, the other is county, and it is a system from central to local; First, it is the superior-subordinate system of the central organ, which is composed of Qing orders or heads of various departments. There are two main ways to assess officials: "attending classes" and "taking exams". The assessment results serve as the basis for rewards and punishments.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the examination system developed again. Especially with the establishment of the imperial examination system for electing officials, the examination system for officials was further improved, which played a very positive role in improving the management of officials at that time. Judging from the examination methods formulated in the early Tang Dynasty, the scope of the examination is very wide, including all civil and military officials in various departments and regions and foreign officials above grade 9, and they have to go through certain examination procedures every year, which is called quiz. The final exam is held once every four years (or once every three or five years). The Tang government has formulated specific assessment standards to comprehensively assess officials at all levels. As far as the ranking officials are concerned, there are "four good" and "twenty-seven good", which shows that their assessment is meticulous. "Four Kindness" is the requirement for officials' political accomplishment and quality, while "Twenty-seven Kindness" is actually the basis and standard for evaluating officials in 27 different positions. At the same time, foreign officials other than Jiupin are also divided into four grades to examine their merits and demerits. The purpose of grading examinations is to select talents, reward the good and punish the evil, and reward the diligent and punish the lazy. Those who pass the examination above the average level can be promoted politically and increased economically; Those below average will be demoted and fined.

The type of performance appraisal in Song Dynasty is grinding. The imperial court appointed special officials or yamen to check the merits and demerits of hundreds of officials, similar to the school examination in Tang Dynasty. The second is the calendar paper, which is the exam form, similar to the political achievements file. Usually, it is recorded by the chief white secretary, and the results of subordinates are used as the basis for measuring the assessment, similar to the examination in the Tang Dynasty. North Korean officials in Beijing are assessed by the Examination Institute, and officials of local governments at all levels are assessed by the Examination Institute. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, following the "four virtues" of the Tang system, the examination standards were divided into three levels: those with excellent political achievements were the best, those with rough positions were the middle, and those who were slow to respond to things were the lowest. The assessment of officials in Ming Dynasty was divided into two types: comprehensive assessment and investigation. Once every three years. Two years is called initial examination, six years is called second examination, and nine years is called general examination. Evaluate promotion and demotion according to responsibilities. The assessment is divided into three categories, namely, competent, general and incompetent. Pass two exams in nine years, and one exam is usually considered qualified; It is normal for two tests to pass and one test to fail, or two tests are usually passed and one test is passed, normal and unqualified; There are two general exams, and those who fail in one exam are considered incompetent. The investigation can be divided into eight methods: greedy, impetuous, backward, old, sick, soft and indifferent. Beijing officials are called "Jingcha" and foreign officials are called "big plans". Beijing officials with more than four products will identify themselves and be ruled by the emperor; The old, the weak, the sick and the disabled under five grades are officials (retired), and when they are dry, they will fall in tune, and they will be soft and unwilling to be idle. Those who are greedy for coolness will be demoted to officials for the people. For foreign officials, state and county officials report to the magistrate according to the statistical results, and the government inspects them once a year and reports to the Chief Secretary. In the third year, the governor inspected official business, made records and submitted them. Finally, the senior high school entrance examination department makes a conclusion. This is a "big plan". The Qing dynasty followed the examination and supervision system of the Ming dynasty. The evaluation criteria of the heads of various departments (rooms) will be decided to leave or stay according to whether the person is competent or not, as a reward and punishment. One exam a year, three exams are full, and the exam is full. Examiners evaluate every three years, and all officials in the world should participate in the implementation of national laws and regulations.

Therefore, in ancient China society, no matter what dynasty or social form, the rulers assessed the merits and demerits of incumbent officials according to certain standards, and rewarded and punished them accordingly. This shows that attaching importance to performance appraisal and employing people based on performance is an important measure to reward diligence and punish laziness, select talents to use energy, improve social order and improve the management level of officials, and also shows the important role of performance in the promotion and management of officials. It should be said that this is the fine tradition of the Chinese nation, the essence of Chinese civilization, and also has reference significance for today's selection of officials and personnel.