On The System Of Liable Recommendation In Ancient China

The system of liable recommendation was one of the important ways to elect the competent officials in ancient China and also one of the fundamental approaches to hunt for the excellent talents before and after the establishment of the system of exam-oriented recommendation,during which the system tended to be exercised and enacted gradually for quite a long time.The system of hunting for the elites through recommendation was established to meet the need of arbitrary dictatorship while the system of liability was invented as a kind of procedurial gurantee to serve the ruling class to find the gifted,both of which was incorporated as the masterpiece of Confucian thought of highlighting the talents and L egislative thoughts of emphasis on serious punishment.Before Sui and Tang dynasty,the system of liable recommendation had become the habitual and basic way to hunt for the officials,which originated from Waning State,patterned in Qin and Han dynasty,perfected Sui and Tang dynasty,overpread in the dynasty of Northem Song and Southem Song,completed in Ming and Qing dynasty and withered in the late Qing dynasty as the Western laws were transplanted.Counting from the period of the Warring State to the Criminal reform in the late Qing dynasty,the system existed in feudal China for over two thousand years,whose strong dynamics arose our deep thought.The system of liable recommendation is anylysed overally and elaborated detailedly from its derivation,development and evolution in the paper,which provides us with more complete recognition.Besides,its historical value and legal enlightment can be found by means of the legal articles and case anylysis,which did not play an important role in the history of official administration but help us with the organic reform under way and electing cadres.Except the prelude and concluding words,this paper are composed of five parts.The first part chronologically covers the whole process such as its beginning,patteming,copying,completion,ripeness and disappearance.The characteristics will be anylyzed in the second part from the four aspects and afterwards,it will be anylysed dialectically in the third part.In the following,its positive value are evaluated from six angles.The following part indicates its enlightment to our present-day functionary system.