Successful Candidates In The Highest Examinations Research In The Second Year Of Jianwen Emperor

The officer-selecting system in ancient China constantly changed and developed throughout history, and it went through the hereditary system from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Qin dynasty, the recommendatory system from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, nine-grade controller system in Cao Wei period, the imperial examination system in Sui dynasty; the successive dynasties adopted the imperial examination system as the basis of officer-selecting, but it was not the sole basis; Taizu of Ming standardized the imperial examination system, and linked it with learning, examination and official position, so that the imperial examination system became the only basis of official career. What is called the inside and outside civilian officials must come from the imperial competitive examination, and those who did not take the imperial competitive examination could not be awarded the official position.《Successful Candidates in the Highest Examinations》was the original record of the imperial examination system, and the most direct, the most authoritative and the most convincing evidence of the research on imperial examination system. Now, the academic world does not fully use it; most scholars just quote it as literature, lack the thorough analysis and research, fail to find the hidden historical law through the summary and conclusion; on the other hand, some scholars study the general history of it, but lack the study of an independent part.Based on the background of the evolution and development of the imperial examination system, this paper analyzes the highest imperial examination in the second year of Jianwen Emperor. A total of 110 scholars were admitted, and all of them were the social elites. This paper consisting of six chapters will conduct detailed study from six aspects, namely those scholars’ status and characteristics, age issue, official situation, household registration and enrollment situation, works and outstanding figures. In order to make the argument more true and reliable, this paper also conducts comparative study by the successful candidates in the tenth year of Yongle Emperor, drawing the persuasive conclusion in the comparison.This paper analyzes the scholars in the times of Jianwen Emperor comprehensively, and studies the politics, economy, culture and social life from the microcosmic perspective of the "imperial examinations", in order to have a new understanding of Jianwen Period in the transverse and longitudinal direction.