What is the "literati class"?

In China, when a boy is born at home, almost every father wants his son to become a learned man in the future. This strong desire began to ignite in the father's heart as soon as the child landed, and the child brought light and hope to the whole family. The poorest people can be as addicted to this hope as the richest people, because in China, the acquisition of wealth and honor is not limited to a specific class. Anyone with status and position can become a scholar, but the law also shuts some people out. The sons of prostitutes, actors, hairdressers and some people engaged in other occupations can't get any degrees. Moreover, anyone can get the highest honor awarded by the state. Because theoretically-at least theoretically-the most appropriate way of honor is education.

The country's administrative officials must be elected from the literati. If we realize how many administrative officials are needed to manage this vast country, it is not difficult to imagine how powerful and influential this class is in the country. In fact, quite a few scholars have failed any exams. Although he didn't get an official position, he still has considerable influence in his hometown. These people are teachers of the school and leaders of their villages and towns. Their academic qualifications make them far above ordinary people. People always seek their opinions when solving contradictions with the government, long-term discord between villages and class struggles, and they will naturally take the lead. If they form an alliance to support each other, it will be very dangerous to clash with them, because everyone not only has the support of his allies, but also the villagers of his same clan will support him at all costs, good or bad. Generally speaking, these literati are shameless. Their wisdom has been improved through study, but at the same time, their moral sense seems to have become numb. They are a stumbling block to social progress, and their hatred for foreigners is the strongest and deepest, no matter which country the foreigner comes from.

Scholar who successfully passed the exam has four different degrees: (1) Scholar-"smart and capable person"; 2 juren-"noble"; (3) Jinshi-"senior literati"; (4) Hanlin-Bachelor of Beijing Hanlin. To get the first degree, you must pass the exam in the countryside, to get the second degree, you must pass the exam in the province, and to get the last two degrees, you must pass the exam held in Beijing. Among them, the examination for promotion to Hanlin was presided over by the emperor himself.

In the eyes of westerners, the knowledge needed to obtain the above degree is limited, which is ridiculous for us British students. All the knowledge that China students need is a profound and thorough understanding of Confucian classics. They know little about the basic courses that British students study in middle schools, let alone the advanced courses in universities. Mathematics, astronomy, geometry, geology, etc. These terms are almost completely unfamiliar to students in China, and the pure science courses that some young people in Britain must take are unheard of by scholars in China.

But all this doesn't mean that the courses for China students are easy. In many ways, it is much stricter than the courses studied by British students. Students must remember all the classic and accepted explanations. These courses are often obscure and uninteresting. They never touch people's lives and only talk about abstract moral and philosophical issues. There is no course about realistic thinking, and there is no course about creativity through the study of nature. The whole learning process is very boring. A student must first master thousands of seemingly mysterious hieroglyphs-because all books are written in such words, and then remember their arrangement in the book, so that he is very familiar with every word and phrase in the whole book until he can quote them accurately at any time. In view of these two aspects, no British student can endure this terrible physical and mental torture and pressure. How many China literati were finally crushed by this terrible fatigue? I'm afraid this figure can only be imagined by people who specialize in this problem. These sad people have to sleep on the hillside with dreams that can never be achieved.

To become a scholar, you must pass four exams: five-character poems or seven-character poems, the total number of words should not exceed 60; There is no limit to the length of metrical texts describing famous ancient buildings or other ancient antiquities; The composition written for classic sentences can be discussed in both positive and negative aspects; There is also a commentary on a major event, which can be ancient or modern, as long as the examiner thinks it is appropriate.

Poetry describes things with great charm, which can stimulate people's potential imagination and show it in the form of poetry. The following are some questions used in past exams. They are almost perfect and have a real poetic quality. These poems were printed into books for later scholars to learn as examples. "There is no road in the ancient forest, but now the bells are heard in the heights" describes the melodious bells coming from the temples in the lonely mountain and reaching the ears of people in the lonely mountain. Farewell, Friend describes a famous official leaving his area and returning to his distant hometown. "Jade bracelet spring water" describes a stream winding down a mountain stream after the spring rain. The stream gurgled down and flowed to the plain below the mountain. The sun's brilliance gave the stream a jade-like luster. There are "Bird Song Creek" and "Pomegranate Tree in Spring".

Many poems are full of charm and catchy to read. They show the poet's amazing insight into nature, contain the poet's rich imagination, inspire some famous western poets and bring them honor. Based on the first impression, it seems impossible to ignite the spark of poetry in the hearts of China people. Based on this, their profound insight into nature and rich imagination are even more valuable. Even in the face of an old cow or rhinoceros, these seemingly dull, indifferent, vulgar and poetic China people can quickly grasp the loveliness endowed by nature and give elegant and delicate descriptions.

China people have many talents. From their dull appearance and lack of artistic accomplishment, you would never imagine that they have so many talents and talents. Moreover, they love nature from the bottom of their hearts and can observe her charming side at a glance. They seem to have a special talent for finding beauty in nature, and they can show beauty in front of people in the language of real poetry. Those who have no artistic vision will never see these beauties that are shyly hidden by nature.

What the metrical text chooses to describe is not poetry in essence, but Martin? After Martin Tapper's style, such articles must follow strict prosodic rules, which makes them no longer like prose, but more like articles written by a person who is very accomplished in prosodic aspects and is about to become a great poet. The following are some questions given by examiners in previous exams: Epang Palace and Copper Quetai. During the Three Kingdoms period, China was divided into three hostile countries. At that time, a usurper built this bronze pagoda. Standing on the bronze pagoda, you can see far away, and you can get news in advance when the enemy attacks. Another topic is "palace flowers". According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, this pomegranate tree drooped its leaves three times a day, as if it were asleep. After taking a nap, it opened its leaves again and was refreshed.

The composition discusses quoted sentences, and candidates can criticize or extend their own views. The following are some examples of previous exam questions: "Hunger and thirst", "It's a pleasure to have friends coming from afar", "Virtue is not alone, there must be neighbors", "Honesty is spiritual" and "repay evil with virtue".

Comment is a general form, with a wide range of subjects, from ancient times to contemporary society. In previous exams, there was such a topic: "Qin Shihuang burned books." This is the purpose of commenting on Qin Shihuang's burning books. Burning books means that Qin Shihuang burned all the classic books in the country at that time, so that people could no longer study and became ignorant. But Qin Shihuang also paid a price for it-in the process of his series of reforms to the newborn empire, those literati who were deeply influenced by various books became his most troublesome opponents. Another topic is "Describe the Great Wall of Wan Li, Comment on Railways and Iron Warships", which reflects the reform tendency of Emperor Guangxu, the ruler at that time-he began to implement a series of reform measures in 1898, and also shows that the emperor is leading examiners on a road to update the examination contents.

If you want to write these essays and comments well, you must have a thorough understanding of every word and every word in the classic books, and at the same time understand the accepted explanations of these words. Not to mention writing articles, this is a huge project in itself, and anyone who wants to complete this project except China people will have a nervous breakdown. Each classic must be studied separately, because they have different contents and characteristics, and scholars must concentrate on learning and mastering it as if it were the only classic. Errors are not allowed when quoting classics. As long as there is a citation error or a writing error, the article will be thrown aside and candidates will never pass the exam.

Imagine: there are five or six thousand small squares in front of us. They are as old as the ark, the new ancestor of mankind after the flood in the Bible. -the era of translator's note. They are as boring as numbers, but there is a story behind the complicated strokes of each word. Students must understand the meaning of these words and remember their structures. On this basis, they can be combined into various stories, or about love and hate, or about love and murder, or about human fragile will and lofty ideals. From this point of view, how arduous this work is to implement.

But just completing these tasks is not enough. The whole classic must be kept in mind, and the meaning of every word and phrase written about 3000 years ago must be mastered. Only in this way can we cater to those examiners who are conservative, because they are the ones who have the right to confer degrees.

A first-class China scholar is a huge monument, which proves that their brains and wisdom can survive all these pressures. Those books are more boring than anything else. Ancient philosophers and thinkers tried not to add the color of life to it, and they themselves seemed to have a low evaluation of universal and popular human nature. The language in the book is concise and lively. Maybe those writers have never learned to write at all, or maybe they are too busy to describe all this. The content of this book is neither romantic nor exciting. It's just a lengthy description of noble sentiments and noble morality. Unfortunately, it is far from real life. When reading, we hope to hear the conversation of adults, the laughter of children and other human voices, but we have never heard them. How different all this is from the Bible! The language in the Bible is so vivid that it seems that groups of lifelike characters are walking in front of us. Describe the joys and sorrows of human beings in very simple and easy-to-understand language, giving people an immersive feeling.

The examination subjects of the provincial examination are the same as those of the rural examination. The only difference is that it requires articles to be more concise, simple and orthodox, and candidates also need to have more profound knowledge. The exam was held in the provincial capital. Due to the vast territory and traffic congestion in many provinces, many candidates have to walk two or three hundred miles and it takes nearly a month to reach the provincial capital. Aside from the fatigue on the road, there is a more important question-where does the toll come from? Most of the candidates are as poor as Job: the characters in the Book of Job. Therefore, for most candidates, how to make up for the accommodation expenses on the way has become a big problem in front of them.

There are many stories about these students who went through hardships to win honors and finally left their mark on history. There is a steep mountain somewhere in the south of China, and an important post road passes through it. There is such a widely circulated story about this mountain. A long time ago, a poor scholar went to the provincial capital to test people. It is more than 200 miles from the small village where he lives to the city that determines his fate. With his brave spirit, strong physique and indomitable efforts, he climbed mountains, waded over dangerous beaches, crossed densely populated plains and finally reached his destination.

By this time, he didn't have much money left, just enough for him to barely survive the nine-day exam. By the end of the exam, he was penniless and had to stay in this big city without friends. No one will help him. Being kind to strangers is a virtue widely praised in China's classics, but it can't be found in real life. But if he has courage and independence, he won't despair. Although he is very talented, he doesn't think it is shameful to do some manual work honestly. Based on this idea, he found a job to carry people home in a sedan chair. The status of bearers in China is very low. All this just reflects the scholar's bold and independent thought. He is willing to give up his scholar status for a while and be a discriminated sedan chair bearer.

Walking, he has been carrying a sedan chair for a whole 150 miles-climbing mountains, walking cliffs and crossing densely populated plains, but his mind is always anxiously speculating about the results of the exam: have the exam results been announced? Did I get in? He doesn't have enough money to stay in town until the exam results are announced. Because of sitting in the sedan chair for too long, his shoulders were swollen by the car bars, and a gloomy life hung over him. On this day, he came to this high and steep mountain, looked up at the top of the high mountain, and almost choked at the thought of climbing it with a heavy sedan chair. Just then, he heard the gong of the "good news officer" behind him. They shouted the names of the lucky ones in the exam as they ran. These "good journalists" make a living by taking exams. As soon as the test results were announced, they immediately went on their way to give good news to their relatives and friends who were far away from home. They are easy to recognize, because they are usually four people, carrying gongs, knocking a few times from time to time and shouting the names of candidates.

They were getting closer and closer, and the scholar listened nervously, his heart pounding and he heard his name. Not only did he pass the exam, but he was also among the best, that is to say, he is now a first-class scholar in the province! He was completely immersed in excitement. Now that money and honor are at your fingertips, poverty and pain will disappear from his life. He put down the sedan chair and said, "I will never lift it again!" " "But the guest reminded him to take the guest back to his hometown as agreed. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to continue, but on one condition: he must get more pay for climbing the steep mountain in front of him. This requirement has been met. So the sedan chair pole was put on the blistered shoulder again, and the scholar walked briskly with honor, singing happily in his heart and climbing up the mountain. His fame will soon spread all over the province, and his name will soon appear in every school in the province, even in every scholar's home in the whole country, but now he looks like an ordinary coolie! In order to commemorate this event, from now on, whenever the bearers pass this mountain, they will stop at the foot of the mountain, and the guests will have to pay more to move on.

The third and fourth degree examinations were held in Beijing. Anyone who can be admitted, especially in Hanlin, has a bright future and can get a pretty good position in this country. No matter what their status and position were, as long as they entered the list, they immediately became the top figures in China's upper class. The person who wins the first place in Hanlin may become the governor of two provinces, governing these two provinces and ruling a population of 40 to 50 million, with absolute power.

However, a new idea is spreading in this country, and the blood flowing in the blood vessels no longer repeats the slow tone that has lasted for hundreds of years. Just like Rip? Fan? Wickell, Rip? Fan? Li Bo Dream: American writer Watson? The story in Owen's Miscellanies and the name of its protagonist. As the translator's note says, "The sleeping days are gone forever." The ancient stage no longer exists, and the young people opened their eyes curiously. The scene before them will never allow them to shrink back and play the role of the past.

Books and topics that were once talked about by parents have lost their appeal in front of young people today. Many western ideas came in like a fresh and exciting piece of music, and their voices crossed the plains, mountains and canyons, awakening people's sleeping hearts with brand-new life concepts never mentioned in those great poems. The prelude to a new era has been played, and those dreams that seem to have disappeared forever in people's hearts are now revived and once again become the main theme of their extraordinary imagination.

Ethnic schools have been established all over the country, and the schools are crowded with young people studying. They came into contact with the mysteries of western thought, and at the same time, the mainland that China people had never known before began to appear in front of them, which surprised them.

In China, a new historical era has begun. The huge hall, which used to hold 10 thousand candidates, has now been abandoned and nobody cares. Their glory has passed, the doors are open and closed in the wind, and giant spiders have made homes on the beams and made webs. Listen carefully and you can hear the groans of ghosts. This is the sigh of those who won the honor here, and also the sigh of those who are sad for the loss of imperial glory!