Late Qing Dynasty Imperial Examination Emphasis On Investigation And Study Of The Trend Of Calligraphy

This thesis tries to find out the reason why the trend of attaching too much importance to calligraphy happened in the Middle and Late Qing Dynasty's Keju tests, and the influence of it, through the deep studying on that trend. There are about 35,000 words in this thesis, divided into mainly four parts.The first part is a specific description of the trend of attaching too much importance to calligraphy in Keju tests in the Middle and Late Qing Dynasty. The trend could be find in Tong tests. In Xiang-tests and Hui-tests, the copier's calligraphy, instead of the examinee's calligraphy, possess great significance. The trend was particularly apparent in the tests after the Hui-test. The trend can be found in Qianlong period, and became more and more serious since then.The second part is planed to find out the reason why attaching too much importance to calligraphy in Keju tests became a general trend in the Middle and Late Qing Dynasty. The chaos in the Keju system, as a resort of the corruption of the government in the end of the feudal society, is regarded as the main reason of that trend.The third part studies the influence of the trend. The trend, although had some positive influence on calligraphy itself, brought much harm to the whole society. It, with Baguwen and Shitieshi together, not only made the Keju tests cannot select real talents for the society, but also cause almost every literati waste a lot of time on it, and thus caused a situation shorting of useful officials in the Late Qing Dynasty.The fourth part of the thesis is to inspect the process of the prohibition of the trend. Because of such harms it did to the society, the trend of attaching too much importance to calligraphy in the Middle and Late Qing Dynasty was criticized by many scholars at that time, and finally prohibited by the Imperial Court before the end of the Qing Dynasty.