184 SOCIA L REFORMthe importance of archery. In both the classical and postclassical literature on
archery, there seem to have been three uses or goals of archery training. Archery
was used to distinguish between scholars of equal merit, and Yu adopted this
for use in promoting students to the capital and provincial schools. Archery con-
tests were also important rituals in ancient times, and the conduct and deport-
ment of the contestants in acting out the required procedures were judged as
well. Bowmanship was also an important military skill, which Wang An-shih
had stressed as a desirable weapon in the arsenal of talents of the well-rounded
man. Yu was disturbed because scholars of his own time thought that archery
was a skill appropriate to military officials alone. They held soldiers in low esteem
and regarded archery as a baser art, but Yu insisted that skill in archery was proper
for scholars as well as soldiers. It was only because "rites have been destroyed
and teachings lost" that it had disappeared from the curriculum of the educated
gentleman. He therefore required that all schools carry out ritual archery con-
tests four times a year, that students use their spare time to practice, and that
magistrates and school administrators conduct contests on rest daysY
Yu admired Ch'iu Chiln of the Ming, who praised the ancient archery con-
tests as described in the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial (I-Ii) and deplored
their abandonment after the fall of the Chou dynasty, except for a brief restora-
tion during the Chin dynasty (third century A.D.). He praised Emperor T'ai-tsu
of the Ming for restoring archery meets as a means of selecting scholars and
establishing a detailed set of regulations governing procedure in conformity with
commentaries on ceremonial practiceY
Yu also agreed with Wang An-shih on the need to eliminate the contempo-
rary prejudice against military officials. He wanted to allow guard officers (chang-
gwan) to participate in school examinations, contrary to the current prohibition:
Originally civil and military officials could not be divided, but they were divided
in two only becausc of the fact that when in charge of civil affairs [a man] would
wear his Icivilianl cap, and when in charge of military affairs, he would don his
military uniform, and that was thc only reason, In the later age this was lost and
therefore men were not allowed to perform both civil and military functions.
This kind of thing represents the worst evil of a declining age. In recent years if
people regarded in name as scholars once pick LIp a bow or arrow, they are not
allowed to enter school again. This is indeed the worst of evils)3This position was close to Wang's point of view, but Yu was not advocating
the greater importance of useful military skills over scholarly training in the clas-
sics and moral principles; he was merely advocating the need for eliminating
the stigma against military officials and the military arts and incorporating the
latter into the education of the well-rounded generalist who would eventually
be entrusted with the right to govern the people for the king.
Knowledge, Skills for the Well-rounded Generalist: Law and Mathematics.
Yu also felt that legal and mathematical training should be required of students