Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions. Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty - James B. Palais

144 SOCIAL REFORM

Chang Tsai (1020-77), for example, but for very good reason: Chang praised

hereditary principles in the selection of men and felt that the truly moral route

to government was by the kin-based privilege of protection (yin).8^4 He did, how-

ever, consider the remedies proposed for the examination system by the lead-

ing figures of the era, Wang An-shih, Chu Hsi, and Ch'eng I (see below).

Ming: Routine and Conformity in the Examinations

Yu noted, probably with regret, that Emperor T'ai-tsu of the Ming dynasty had
made an abortive effort to abolish the examinations in the late fourteenth cen-
tury, and that his favorite Ming writer, Ch'iu Chlin, was also concerned about
the way in which the original purpose of the examinations had been distorted
over time. 8S Ch'iu believed that the examinations in the early Ming period were
an improvement over previous dynasties because they tested candidates on the
fundamental issues contained in the classics and had adopted the Ylian dynasty
incorporation of Chu Hsi's commentaries on the Four Books as part of the
required curriculum for the examinations - a policy that the Choson dynasty
had continued from its inception in 1392. Ch'iu thought that this stress on fun-
damentals left the scholar with plenty of time to study minor classics, the philoso-
phers, and the histories.
Later on, however, examiners began to favor mastery of more obscure and
arcane knowledge, and the authorities began to edit the classical texts and select
phrases at random for the examinations to make things harder for the students

• an obvious reference to the infamous eight-legged essay. Students had little
  time for questions on ancient institutions or policy matters, and examiners favored
  particular interpretations or commentaries to the exclusion of others. The result
  was to create a breed of student interested only in parroting acceptable opin-
  ions, an unfortunate tradition that soon became endemic and created a "narrow
  orthodoxy of mistaken beliefs."86 While Ch'iu Chlin's criticisms added nothing
  new to the repertoire of criticism, it added ammunition to Yu's arsenal of nega-
  tive opinion that condemned the examination system as a failure in China almost
  since its inception.

Korea: Adverse Effects of the Examinations

From Putative Ancient Sagehood to Barbarism. Yu's discussion of the history

of recruitment procedures in general in Korean history was confined to a brief,

cursory addendum placed at the end of this section of his book. Part of the rea-

son for his relative neglect was the paucity of sources on early Korean history,

but a more important factor was Yu's identification with a universal, cos-

mopolitan Confucian culture transcending any narrow national identity, and an

unashamed acknowledgment of the superiority of ancient China. His treatment

of education and recruitment in Chinese history demonstrates that he was not a

blind admirer of everything that had been done after the age of classical per-