Imperial China: Lesson 15 Section 3

Imperial China: Lesson 15 Section 3

Meritocracy: The Song Dynasty

• Song emperors relied on civil service exam to choose people to rule the bureaucracy.

• The Song dynasty created a meritocracy of scholar-officials who successfully completed civil service exams.

• Neo-Confucianism influenced the exams and combined Confucianism with elements of traditional Chinese religions of Buddhism and Daoism.

Multiple Choice

Meritocracy is

• a ruling class of noble families

• a test given to qualify candidates for government positions.

• rule by officials of proven merit

• None of the above.

Multiple Choice

Neo-Confucianism blended Confucian teachings with

• Buddhism and Daoism

• Christianity and Aristocracy

• Democracy and Republicanism

• All the above

Meritocracy: The Song Dynasty

• Confucian scholar Zhu Xi published The Four Books as the basis of study for civil service exams.

• The five basic relationships of Confucius are

• ruler and subject

• father and son

• older sibling and younger sibling

• husband and wife

• friend and friend (the only one where one is not above the other.

Multiple Choice

Zhu Xi was the author of

• The Confucian Way

• Four Books

• Mulan

• How to become a Scholar-Official

Multiple Choice

In which of Confucius five relationships is one person NOT above the other?

• father and son

• friend and friend

• ruler and subject

• husband and wife

Confucian Teachings

• In the five relationships....

• Those ABOVE should be kind to those BELOW.

• Those BELOW should respect and obey those ABOVE.

• Subjects must be loyal to their rulers

• Song emperors believed that scholar-officials who had studied Confucius would be rational, moral, and able to maintain order.

Multiple Choice

In the five relationships of Confucius those above should be kind to those below.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

In the five relationships of Confucius it is not necessary for those below to respect those above.

• True

• False

The Exams

• Under the Song, people from the lower classes could attend state-sponsored schools and become eligible to take the exams.

• Exams required essays and poetry about political and social problems in China.

• To prevent cheating, Candidates were locked in small rooms for several days.

Multiple Choice

It would have been easy to cheat on civil service exams.

• Yes, it would.

• No, it would not.

Passing the Exam

• Only a small portion of candidates passed the difficult exams.

• Candidates had to wait a few years for their first appointments.

• The job was far from their hometown so that they would not give unfair advantage to friends and family.

• Officials could move up in rank after 3 years.

• People were happy to receive such respected positions because the officials were excused from taxes and military service.

Multiple Choice

It would have been easy to cheat on civil service exams.

• Yes, it would.

• No, it would not.

Multiple Choice

Everyone who tried passed the civil service exams.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Civil servants who passed their exams were immediately posted to their hometown so that they would understand the local politics and culture.

• True

• False

Multiple Select

Benefits of being a civil servant included (choose all that apply)

• no taxes

• no military service

• respect from others

• a large home