REMOLDING THE RULING CLASS 127stration of the crucial relationship between education, the recruitment of offi-
cials, and the formation of the ruling class. The criteria of merit were "worth"
(hyon) and "ability" (ni"ing): worth was defined as one's understanding of moral
principles and overt behavior, and ability was measured by one's mastery of the
six fine arts.20
In short, what Yu admired in education and training was the classical empha-
sis on moral principles and behavior, neither efficiency and practical utility, nor
any attempt to find new ethical principles not firmly grounded in the classics,
nor any Cartesian separation of fact from value, nor any rejection of inherited
wisdom accompanied by Cartesian rational certitude, nor any measure of
knowledge subject to verification either by experience, scientific observation,
or testing.
Recofl1l11el1dationj(;r Office and School Based on Morality
According to the Rites of' Chou the entire population of the Chou dynasty was
organized hierarchically into units of administration beginning with the basic
five-family unit (pi) and ascending to the hyang, which consisted of 12,500 fam-
ilies. The taelm (officials) of the hyang were responsible for recommending the
worthy and able, who would then be afforded honorary treatment as guests in
the hyang or local wine-drinking rite. The taebu were also responsible for instruct-
ing the officials of lower level units of organization in the principles of educa-
tion and governance and for recommending outstanding individuals (whether
officials or commoners) for appointment or promotion. When they presented
their list of recommendees to the king, he would kowtow twice in receiving it,
a formal mark of the king's respect for men of moral worth and his acknowl-
edgment of the autonomous nature of the recommendation system itself. This
ceremony was followed by the hyang or local archery rite in order to judge the
deportment of the recommended individuals.^21
The same process would be followed for recommendation at each lower level
of administration. The chief of each unit would read out the laws of government
to the people, encourage virtuous behavior and the development of the liberal
arts, maintain surveillance over wrongdoing, conduct sacrificial rites at the shrine,
and hold archery contests at the spring and autumn rites at the local school to
"rectify the position of the people according to age and teach the people filial
piety and brotherly respect."22
At the capital selected scholars (sollsa) were recommended from the hyang
for promotion to the National Academy, and the best were dubbed "accomplished
scholars" (chosa). They would then be appointed to various bureaus in the cap-
ital as "advanced scholars" (chinsa) and placed under the charge of the minis-
ter of bureaucratic personnel (Sama, Ssu-ma), who would evaluate their capacities
and recommend them to the king.23 Fu-sheng's commentary on The Book of His-
tory (Shll-ching), the Shang-shu ta-chiian, also mentioned that the feudal lords
recommended tribute scholars (kong sa) to the Son of Heaven (the king) on an