Being A Military Official By Rendering Meritorious Service And Social Mobility In Tang Dynasty

Being a military official by rendering meritorious service(called Jun-gong)was a very important part of the appointment system of military officers in ancient China.lt began with the system of granting noble by military merit in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.After continuous reform and evolution,it was inherited and used by the Tang Dynasty and continued to develop.There are two ways for being a Military Official.One way was to be Xun-guan and indirectly enter the bureaucracy.Another way was to enter the bureaucracy directly through special military merits.Being a military official directly by rendering meritorious service was dangerous but easy to be promoted,which was a shortcut for military officers to enter the ruling class.The number of Xun-guan was relatively large,and the rising road was constantly influenced by the social atmosphere and the state system.In the early Tang Dynasty,there was a strong atmosphere of military worship,and the ruling class attached great importance to military merit.Xun-guan was of high status and well-paid,so it became an important channel for the bottom of society to move upwards.With the stability of the rule and the prosperity of the literary affairs,the officials lost their value because of the excessive number.So the road from Xun-guan to official career was becoming more and more difficult.In the middle and late Tang Dynasty,the government actively reformed the military meritorious service system to adapt to the social situation.Such measures could recruit soldiers,encouraged warfare and maintained rule.Politically,more noble official position titles were used to reward military merit and honour And economically,the government spent a lot of money rewarding soldiers.The change of military meritorious policy resulted in upward mobility of different strata.In the late Sui and early Tang Dynasty,the government selected talents from different strata to consolidate the rule.This allowed bankrupt farmers and slaves to move upwards through military merit.In Zhenguan period,the government has established conscription.Therefore,only peasants above middle class could be qualified to join the army.Many of them have entered the bureaucracy through Xun-guan.After Zhenguan period,the government changed conscription to recruitment.This means that the professional soldiers had replaced the original compulsory soldiers.Many poor peasants received material rewards for meritorious service to achieve upward economic mobility.Businessmen gained power through meritorious service and realize upward political mobility.Different strata were affected by military merit policy in different intensity and scope.Among them,this system had a long,wide and powerful impact on the poor.Jun-gong was one of the election systems in the Tang Dynasty.In times of war or coup,it could adjust the government's policy on talent selection.It has made up for the shortcomings of other official selection systems and has become an important channel to import civilian talents into the bureaucracy.Jun-gong was an indispensable part of the social stratum changes and composition of the bureaucracy in the Tang Dynasty.