Editing Ming dynasty (section)

=== Personnel ===
==== Scholar-officials ====
The Hongwu emperor from 1373 to 1384 staffed his bureaus with officials gathered through recommendations only. After that the scholar-officials who populated the many ranks of bureaucracy were recruited through a rigorous [[Imperial examinations|examination system]] that was initially established by the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618).{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|p=12}}{{sfnp|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|p=96}}{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|pp=145–146}} Theoretically the system of exams allowed anyone to join the ranks of imperial officials (although it was frowned upon for merchants to join); in reality the time and funding needed to support the study in preparation for the exam generally limited participants to those already coming from the landholding class. However, the government did exact provincial quotas while drafting officials. This was an effort to curb monopolization of power by landholding gentry who came from the most prosperous regions, where education was the most advanced. The expansion of the [[Technology of the Song dynasty#Movable type printing|printing industry since Song times]] enhanced the spread of knowledge and number of potential exam candidates throughout the provinces. For young schoolchildren there were printed multiplication tables and primers for elementary vocabulary; for adult examination candidates there were mass-produced, inexpensive volumes of Confucian classics and successful examination answers.{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|pp=198–202}}

[[File:Ming-Beamtenprüfungen1.jpg|thumb|left|Candidates who had taken the civil service examinations would crowd around the wall where the results were posted; detail from a handscroll in ink and color on silk, by [[Qiu Ying]] (1494–1552).{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|p=200}}]]
As in earlier periods, the focus of the examination was classical Confucian texts, while the bulk of test material centered on the [[Four Books]] outlined by [[Zhu Xi]] in the 12th century.{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|p=198}} Ming era examinations were perhaps more difficult to pass since the 1487 requirement of completing the "[[eight-legged essay]]", a departure from basing essays off progressing literary trends. The exams increased in difficulty as the student progressed from the local level, and appropriate titles were accordingly awarded successful applicants. Officials were classified in nine hierarchic grades, each grade divided into two degrees, with ranging salaries (nominally paid in piculs of rice) according to their rank. While provincial graduates who were appointed to office were immediately assigned to low-ranking posts like the county graduates, those who passed the palace examination were awarded a ''jinshi'' ('presented scholar') degree and assured a high-level position.{{sfnp|Brook|1998|p=xxv}} In 276 years of Ming rule and ninety palace examinations, the number of doctoral degrees granted by passing the palace examinations was 24,874.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|pp=11–14}} Ebrey states that "there were only two to four thousand of these ''jinshi'' at any given time, on the order of one out of 10,000 adult males." This was in comparison to the 100,000 ''shengyuan'' ('government students'), the lowest tier of graduates, by the 16th century.{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|p=199}}

[[File:PanYongzheng-ProcessionalTombFigurines-ShanghaiMuseum-May27-08.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Processional figurines from the [[Shanghai]] tomb of Pan Yongzheng, a Ming dynasty official who lived during the 16th century]]
The maximum tenure in office was nine years, but every three years officials were graded on their performance by senior officials. If they were graded as superior then they were promoted, if graded adequate then they retained their ranks, and if graded inadequate they were demoted one rank. In extreme cases, officials would be dismissed or punished. Only capital officials of grade 4 and above were exempt from the scrutiny of recorded evaluation, although they were expected to confess any of their faults. There were over 4,000 school instructors in county and prefectural schools who were subject to evaluations every nine years. The Chief Instructor on the prefectural level was classified as equal to a second-grade county graduate. The Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction oversaw the education of the heir apparent to the throne; this office was headed by a Grand Supervisor of Instruction, who was ranked as first class of grade three.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|pp=15–17, 26}}

Historians debate whether the examination system expanded or contracted upward social mobility. On the one hand, the exams were graded without regard to a candidate's social background, and were theoretically open to everyone.{{efn|For the argument that they increased social mobility see {{harvp|Ho|1962}}.}} In actual practice, the successful candidates had years of a very expensive, sophisticated tutoring of the sort that wealthy gentry families specialized in providing their talented sons. In practice, 90 percent of the population was ineligible due to lack of education, but the upper 10 percent had equal chances for moving to the top. To be successful young men had to have extensive, expensive training in classical Chinese, the use of Mandarin in spoken conversation, calligraphy, and had to master the intricate poetic requirements of the eight-legged essay. Not only did the traditional gentry dominate the system, they also learned that conservatism and resistance to new ideas was the path to success. For centuries critics had pointed out these problems, but the examination system only became more abstract and less relevant to the needs of China.{{sfnp|Elman|1991|pp=7–28}} The consensus of scholars is that the eight-legged essay can be blamed as a major cause of "China's cultural stagnation and economic backwardness." However Benjamin Ellman argues there were some positive features, since the essay form was capable of fostering "abstract thinking, persuasiveness, and prosodic form"  and that its elaborate structure discouraged a wandering, unfocused narrative".{{sfnp|Elman|2000|pp=380, 394, 392}}

==== Lesser functionaries ====
[[File:Ming Emperor Xuande playing Golf.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The Xuande Emperor playing [[chuiwan]] with his eunuchs, a game similar to golf, by an anonymous court painter of the Xuande period (1425–1435)]]
Scholar-officials who entered civil service through examinations acted as executive officials to a much larger body of non-ranked personnel called lesser functionaries. They outnumbered officials by four to one; Charles Hucker estimates that they were perhaps as many as 100,000 throughout the empire. These lesser functionaries performed clerical and technical tasks for government agencies. Yet they should not be confused with lowly lictors, runners, and bearers; lesser functionaries were given periodic merit evaluations like officials and after nine years of service might be accepted into a low civil service rank.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|p=18}} The one great advantage of the lesser functionaries over officials was that officials were periodically rotated and assigned to different regional posts and had to rely on the good service and cooperation of the local lesser functionaries.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|pp=18–19}}

==== Eunuchs, princes, and generals ====
[[File:Detail of The Emperor's Approach, Xuande period.jpg|thumb|Detail of ''The Emperor's Approach'' showing the [[Wanli Emperor]]'s royal carriage being pulled by elephants and escorted by cavalry]]

Eunuchs gained unprecedented power over state affairs during the Ming dynasty. One of the most effective means of control was the secret service stationed in what was called the Eastern Depot at the beginning of the dynasty, later the Western Depot. This secret service was overseen by the Directorate of Ceremonial, hence this state organ's often totalitarian affiliation. Eunuchs had ranks that were equivalent to civil service ranks, only theirs had four grades instead of nine.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|pp=24–25}}{{sfnp|Mote|2003|pp=602–606}}

Descendants of the first Ming emperor were made princes and given (typically nominal) military commands, annual stipends, and large estates. The title used was "king" ({{lang|zh|王}}, ''wáng'') but—unlike the princes in the Han and Jin dynasties—these estates were not [[feudatories]], the princes did not serve any administrative function, and they partook in military affairs only during the reigns of the first two emperors.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|p=8}} The [[Jingnan Campaign|rebellion of the Prince of Yan]] was justified in part as upholding the rights of the princes, but once the [[Yongle Emperor]] was enthroned, he continued his nephew's policy of disarming his brothers and moved their fiefs away from the militarized northern border. Although princes served no organ of state administration, the princes, consorts of the imperial princesses, and ennobled relatives did staff the [[Imperial Clan Court]], which supervised the imperial genealogy.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|p=26}}

Like scholar-officials, military generals were ranked in a hierarchic grading system and were given merit evaluations every five years (as opposed to three years for officials).{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|p=19}} However, military officers had less prestige than officials. This was due to their hereditary service (instead of solely merit-based) and Confucian values that dictated those who chose the profession of violence (wu) over the cultured pursuits of knowledge (wen).{{sfnp|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|pp=109–112}} Although seen as less prestigious, military officers were not excluded from taking civil service examinations, and after 1478 the military even held their own examinations to test military skills.{{sfnp|Hucker|1958|pp=19–20}} In addition to taking over the established bureaucratic structure from the Yuan period, the Ming emperors established the new post of the travelling military inspector. In the early half of the dynasty, men of noble lineage dominated the higher ranks of military office; this trend was reversed during the latter half of the dynasty as men from more humble origins eventually displaced them.{{sfnp|Robinson|1999|pp=116–117}}