Editing Song dynasty (section)

=== Civil service examinations and the gentry ===
{{Main|Society of the Song dynasty}}
{{multiple image
| perrow = 2
| total_width = 400
| align = left
| image1 = Zhou Wenju's A Literary Garden.jpg
| image2 = Zhou Wenjiu. Go players.National Palace Museum, Beijing..jpg
| image3 = Four Generals of Song.jpg
| footer = Clockwise from upper left: ''A Literary Garden'', by [[Zhou Wenju]], 10th century; Zhou Wenju, ''Go players'', Palace Museum, Beijing; "Four Generals of Zhongxing" by Southern Song dynasty artist [[Liu Songnian]] (1174–1224); the renowned general [[Yue Fei]] (1103–1142) is the second person from the left in the latter painting.
}}

During this period greater emphasis was laid upon the [[civil service]] system of recruiting officials; this was based upon degrees acquired through competitive [[Imperial examination|examinations]], in an effort to select the most capable individuals for governance. Selecting men for office through proven merit [[Xiaolian|was an ancient idea in China]]. The civil service system became institutionalized on a small scale during the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and Tang dynasties, but by the Song period, it became virtually the only means for drafting officials into the government.{{sfn|Ebrey|1999|pp=145–146}} The advent of widespread [[printing]] helped to widely circulate Confucian teachings and to educate more and more eligible candidates for the exams.{{sfn|Ebrey|1999|p=147}} This can be seen in the number of exam takers for the low-level prefectural exams rising from 30,000 annual candidates in the early 11th century to 400,000 candidates by the late 13th century.{{sfn|Ebrey|1999|p=147}} The civil service and examination system allowed for greater [[meritocracy]], [[social mobility]], and equality in competition for those wishing to attain an official seat in government.{{sfn|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|p=162}} Using statistics gathered by the Song state, Edward A. Kracke, Sudō Yoshiyuki, and Ho Ping-ti supported the hypothesis that simply having a father, grandfather, or great-grandfather who had served as an official of state did not guarantee one would obtain the same level of authority.{{sfn|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|p=162}}{{sfn|Hartwell|1982|pp=417–418}}{{sfn|Hymes|1986|pp=35–36}} [[Robert Hartwell]] and [[Robert P. Hymes]] criticized this model, stating that it places too much emphasis on the role of the [[nuclear family]] and considers only three paternal ascendants of exam candidates while ignoring the demographic reality of Song China, the significant proportion of males in each generation that had no surviving sons, and the role of the [[extended family]].{{sfn|Hartwell|1982|pp=417–418}}{{sfn|Hymes|1986|pp=35–36}} Many felt disenfranchised by what they saw as a bureaucratic system that favored the land-holding class able to afford the best education.{{sfn|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|p=162}} One of the greatest literary critics of this was the official and famous poet [[Su Shi]]. Yet Su was a product of his times, as the identity, habits, and attitudes of the [[Scholar-bureaucrats|scholar-official]] had become less [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrat]]ic and more [[bureaucrat]]ic with the transition of the periods from Tang to Song.{{sfn|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|p=159}} At the beginning of the dynasty, government posts were disproportionately held by two elite social groups: a founding elite who had ties with the founding emperor and a semi-hereditary professional elite who used long-held clan status, [[Chinese kinship|family connections]], and marriage alliances to secure appointments.{{sfn|Hartwell|1982|pp=405–413}} By the late 11th century, the founding elite became obsolete, while political partisanship and factionalism at court undermined the marriage strategies of the professional elite, which dissolved as a distinguishable social group and was replaced by a multitude of gentry families.{{sfn|Hartwell|1982|pp=416–420}}

[[File:Wuxi Donglin Shuyuan 2015.04.24 16-10-51.jpg|thumb|The [[Donglin Academy]], an educational institution equivalent to modern-day college. It was originally built in 1111 during the Northern Song dynasty.]]
Due to Song's enormous population growth and the body of its appointed scholar-officials being accepted in limited numbers (about 20,000 active officials during the Song period), the larger scholarly [[Gentry (China)|gentry class]] would now take over grassroots affairs on the vast local level.{{sfn|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=106}} Excluding the scholar-officials in office, this elite social class consisted of exam candidates, examination degree-holders not yet assigned to an official post, local tutors, and retired officials.{{sfn|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|pp=101–106}} These learned men, degree-holders, and local elites supervised local affairs and sponsored necessary facilities of local communities; any local magistrate appointed to his office by the government relied upon the cooperation of the few or many local gentry in the area.{{sfn|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=106}} For example, the Song government—excluding the educational-reformist government under Emperor Huizong—spared little amount of state revenue to maintain [[Zhou (country subdivision)|prefectural]] and [[County (People's Republic of China)|county]] schools; instead, the bulk of the funds for schools was drawn from private financing.{{sfn|Yuan|1994|pp=196–199}} This limited role of government officials was a departure from the earlier Tang dynasty (618–907), when the government strictly regulated commercial markets and local affairs; now the government withdrew heavily from regulating commerce and relied upon a mass of local gentry to perform necessary duties in their communities.{{sfn|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=106}}

The gentry distinguished themselves in society through their intellectual and antiquarian pursuits,{{sfn|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|pp=162–163}}{{sfn|Ebrey|1999|p=148}}{{sfn|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=104}} while the homes of prominent landholders attracted a variety of [[courtier]]s, including artisans, artists, educational tutors, and entertainers.{{sfn|Gernet|1962|pp=92–93}} Despite the disdain for trade, commerce, and the merchant class exhibited by the highly cultured and elite exam-drafted scholar-officials, [[commercialism]] played a prominent role in Song culture and society.<ref name="China" /> A scholar-official would be frowned upon by his peers if he pursued means of profiteering outside of his official salary; however, this did not stop many scholar-officials from managing business relations through the use of intermediary agents.{{sfn|Gernet|1962|pp=60–61, 68–69}}