Works related 1. Wei Jin style and nine-grade official ranking system
"Wind style" was originally a term used in the Wei and Jin dynasties to evaluate people.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, people's evaluation of figures shifted from moral integrity to physical appearance, and further developed into spiritual temperament. The celebrities of the Wei and Jin dynasties had a way of speaking and behaving that was different from the common people, and even different from any other historical period. Wind (style) is not only a reaction of personal cultural quality and mental state in speech and etiquette, but also a concentrated expression of their outlook on life and worldview for a certain social class, shaping their social image. It is not only a political and cultural phenomenon, but also deeply influences people's psychology and behavior, thus forming a unique social phenomenon of this era. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, the celebrities of Zhengshi, and others, perfectly reflect the spirit of the Wei and Jin dynasties.
The Wei-Jin style is a charming and influential personality pursued by the scholars of the Wei and Jin dynasties, or it can be said that they are pursuing an artistic life. This emerged under the background of Wei-Jin Xuanxue, which changed the pursuit of life and fashion, values of the literati. The conditions for forming the Wei-Jin style are: profound heart, insight, appreciation, deep emotions, its external characteristics are: cleverness, broad-mindedness, sincerity, representative figures include: Tao Yuanming, Wang Xizhi, and the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
A Lost Generation
The Three Kingdoms and the Two Jins were an era of disappearance of a unified dynasty. From the late Han to the Wei and Jin dynasties, class contradictions and social contradictions continued to deteriorate, with infighting within the ruling class leading to social unrest and unstable politics. The political corruption of the Eastern Han led to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, followed by warlordism and the emergence of the Three Kingdoms. During the Western Jin, although unity was achieved, the "Eight Kings' Rebellion" soon broke out, and the northern nomadic tribes took advantage of the situation to invade, ending the Western Jin's rule, with the Central Plains becoming a battleground for various ethnic groups. After the Jin court moved south, the Eastern Jin dynasty was established, but due to ongoing infighting within the ruling group, peasant uprisings surged, and Liu Yu eventually replaced the Sima regime, establishing the Liu Song dynasty.
These chaotic and painful historical facts made the celebrities of the time think about governance but could not, and in order to preserve their lives in a chaotic world, they had a huge impact on culture, thought, and social atmosphere. Those who followed the rules, those who were hypocritical, seemed to have become a joke, the power of tradition disappeared invisibly, and more and more celebrities chose to rebel in the face of a hopeless tomorrow. Some people pretended to be crazy and avoided the world, indulging in clarity and intoxication, getting lost in pain and madness. Thus, there was the so-called "Wei Jin style". Reading "A New Account of the Tales of the World", one feels the boldness and unbridled spirit that does not fit with the entire feudal ruling period. The book records: Liu Ling often indulged in drinking and being unrestrained, sometimes stripping naked at home, people saw him and ridiculed him, Ling said: "I take the sky and earth as my house, the room as my clothes, why do you enter my clothes?" Such a carefree and unbridled spirit gradually became a kind of atmosphere, "so they took off their hats and clothes, exposed their ugliness, and were like beasts". In the celebrity circle, there was even a deformed social phenomenon where men pursued feminization in appearance, applying lipstick and powder, "wearing women's clothes".
If the Wei and Jin dynasties' romanticism is an untouchable ancient myth, then the creative movement that took place on the West Coast of the United States 40 years ago still resonates deeply with the term "America" today. It's as if a party had just dispersed, its failure and continuation seemingly not contradictory, still permeating Western society's thought and culture. The anti-war movement, student radical movement, and civil rights movement accompanied the idealistic wine brewed by 400,000 people at Woodstock, accompanied by the hippie communes, accompanied by feminist "personal is political" slogans, accompanied by the smoke of marijuana, accompanied by the slogan "love and peace", they can pierce the moral model, economic machine, and political lies of the entire system. Accompanied by a certain birth peak, what was produced was not only those "long-haired youths wandering in the streets", but also the discovery of self, awareness of society, and suspicion towards national military and political leaders.
In today's view, these two turbulent and perplexed histories are filled with deep helplessness, but these stories, whether they occurred a thousand years ago or in a foreign land, always bring us a sense of nostalgia.
Peach Blossom Spring
What supported the spiritual world of "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" who indulged in drinking and talking, Tao Yuanming's pastoral life and that Peach Blossom Spring in his dream? What led them on a journey like moths flying into fire?
The famous scholars of the Wei and Jin dynasties all emphasized the purity of the spiritual world, disregarding fame, wealth, and nobility, with a broad-minded heart and a carefree appearance. This reflects the entire era's challenge to traditional etiquette and dissatisfaction with corrupt culture. The thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi were the sharpest weapons.
The most special ideological form of Wei and Jin is indeed Xuanxue. The thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi can make people get rid of the disputes in reality and return to nature, return to themselves. While Confucianism fell into a contradiction: it was really impossible to become the norm and mainstream of society in this turbulent era, but it also couldn't completely disappear from people's minds, so there was "aiding Dao with Confucianism, merging Confucianism and Dao" Xuanxue.
"Wei and Jin famous scholars liked Lao Zhuang, He Yan had "Wu Wei Lun", Wang Bi had "Lao Zhuang Annotation", Ruan Ji had "Da Zhuang Lun", Guo Xiang had "Zhuangzi Annotation", and Xi Kang claimed 'Laozi and Zhuang Zhou are my masters'" (A Brief History of China)
What truly reflects the spiritual quality of "Wei Jin Fengliu" is being unencumbered by external things and acting naturally: Wang Ziyuan lived in Shanyin, on a night with heavy snow, he woke up from sleep, opened his room, ordered wine to be poured. He looked around and saw that everything was clear, so he got up and wandered around, reciting the "Invitation to Seclusion" poem by Zuo Si. Suddenly he remembered Dai Andao, who was then in Shanyin, so he immediately took a small boat to visit him at night. After staying overnight, he arrived at Dai's place but didn't go forward to meet him and returned instead. When asked for the reason, Wang said: "I originally went because of my inspiration, when the inspiration ended, I returned, why must I see Dai?" (from "A New Account of the Tales of the World")
Zhuangzi's natural and simple aesthetic view presents a tranquil and unadorned natural atmosphere, requiring people to abandon artificiality and advocate for returning to nature, adhering to their own simple nature. In his opinion, what conforms to the natural essence is beautiful, and being natural is beauty itself.
Tao Yuanming describes his tranquil and simple life, writing about the detachment from worldly affairs, which resonates with the artistic realm of Taoism:
"With little loss of rustic charm,
My nature has always loved hills and mountains.
Mistakenly fallen into the dusty net,
I spent thirty years in it.
A bird in a cage longs for its old forest,
A fish in a pool thinks of its former deep waters.
Opening up the wasteland at the southern edge of the wild,
Guarding simplicity, I returned to my farm.
My thatched cottage has over ten mu of land,
Eight or nine rooms with earthen walls.
Elm and willow trees shade the back eaves,
Peach and plum blossoms spread in front of the hall.
Distant villages are hazy,
Smoke from the kitchen rises high.
A dog barks deep in the alley,
A chicken chirps on top of a mulberry tree.
The courtyard is free from worldly noise,
The empty room has spare space.
Having been in a cage for a long time,
I finally returned to nature."
"A hut stands among people, yet no carriage or horse can be heard.
Someone asked me how I could do this,
My heart is far away, and the earth is biased towards me.
Picking chrysanthemums by the east hedge,
I see the southern mountain at ease.
The mountain air is refreshing in the evening,
Flying birds return together.
There is a true meaning here,
But it's hard to put into words."
This way of escaping reality is the choice and pursuit of many celebrities, which is their best way to keep themselves clean: it not only shows their dissatisfaction with those in power but also relatively safe and in line with the Lao Zhuang idea of opposing utilitarian values. They also yearn for a utopian "Peach Blossom Spring": no monarchs or ministers, self-cultivation and self-weaving, no worries or troubles.
Reality brutally pierced the dreams: Cao Cao killed Kong Rong, Yang Xiu and other famous scholars to eliminate dissent; when the Wei and Jin dynasties changed hands, the Cao and Sima families engaged in a fierce struggle to the death, resulting in the deaths of He Yan, Ji Kang, Xiahou Xuan and others. By the time of the Two Jins, the political environment had deteriorated to the point where "few famous scholars survived" (Jin Shu · Ruan Ji's biography). Commenting on politics was not dared, and to fill the spiritual void, the fashion of discussing abstruse theories prevailed, with the content mainly focusing on the "Three Mysteries" - the Book of Changes, Laozi, and Zhuangzi. This broke through the "sole reverence for Confucianism", combining Confucian thought with Buddhist thought, reaching a philosophical peak.
Pursuing a life beyond the mundane, with intense cultural skepticism and the helplessness of avoiding the world, maintaining the desire for spiritual purity and the idea of returning to nature, this is the Wei Jin scholar...
Three, Beauty of Personality
The Wei and Jin style, in the eyes of many people, is a truly elegant demeanor, which is said to be the true elegance of the literati, from the beginning of the Zhengshi era with talented scholars such as He Yan and Wang Bi, to the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Ji Kang and Ruan Ji, to the prominent figures of the Jin dynasty, Wang Yuan and Yue Guang, and later to the leaders of the Eastern Jin, Wang Dao and Xie An. They all possessed a refined and elegant air, with an otherworldly quality that seemed to rival the gods, earning them the admiration of later generations.
The Wei and Jin Dynasties' style, as a manifestation of the personality of the aristocratic class consciousness at that time, became the aesthetic ideal of that era. The elegant scholars advocated for nature, transcended worldly things, and were true to themselves while appreciating their own elegance. During the Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi was repeatedly asked by the imperial court to take office, but he refused every time. I think it's precisely because of his spiritual transcendence, "holding a cup and singing in praise of the mysterious victory", "taking clarity and simplicity as the economy", enjoying drinking, not meddling in worldly affairs, and taking reclusion as the highest pursuit - this kind of philosophical view on human affairs - that he was able to create the legendary "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion".
However, why the Wei and Jin style is often criticized throughout history. The main reasons are that these scholars drank excessively, were reckless and unreasonable, and indulged in empty talk that misled the country. According to legend, Liu Ling, one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", was known for his excessive drinking and eccentric behavior, often getting drunk and stripping naked at home, which made people laugh at him. He would retort: "I take the sky and earth as my house, and my clothes as my trousers. Why do you want to peek into my pants?" These scholars sought immortality by taking elixirs and wearing loose-fitting clothes with large sleeves that they rarely washed, resulting in many lice. As a result, "scratching lice while talking" became a very elegant gesture at the time.
In fact, the Confucian-Daoist complementary spirit of the literati, which originated from the Wei and Jin dynasties' style, fundamentally established the personality foundation of Chinese intellectuals, with a profound impact. However, the influence of the Wei and Jin style also brought about drawbacks, as many people followed the trend, but their emotions were not as heavy as those of Ji Kang or Ruan Ji, yet they still learned from their carefree attitude. In fact, young people today, in their love for life, self-discovery, and affirmation, share a common thread with the values of the Wei and Jin style that originated from the Eastern Han dynasty. Moreover, young people's pursuit of elegant demeanor and beautiful appearance is also complementary to the aesthetic concerns of the Wei and Jin style.
Nine Ranks System
Basic Concept
The Nine Ranks System was an important official selection system during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods. Also known as the Nine Ranks Official Selection Law, it was divided into nine grades, serving as the basis for government official appointments. The Central Rectifier: a prestigious recommender official, who evaluated the level of talent. This was adopted by Emperor Cao Pi of Wei to win over the aristocracy, based on Chen Qun's suggestion. It was established in 220 AD, the eve of Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han dynasty, by Chen Qun, the Minister of Personnel of the Wei government. The system gradually matured during the Western Jin dynasty and underwent changes during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period. This institution originated in the Cao Wei dynasty, developed to maturity during the Two Jin dynasties, declined during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, and was abolished during the Sui dynasty, followed by the establishment of the Imperial Examination System.
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Taking the Wei and Jin dynasties as an example, its main content is:
They were first established in each commandery, and later also in each state. The zhongzheng of the states and commanderies could only be held by locals, and often by incumbent central officials concurrently holding the position. Those who held the position of zhongzheng generally ranked 2nd within the 9th grade, i.e., upper-grade. Initially, the county zhongzheng were nominated by the head officials of each county, but during the Jin dynasty this was changed to nomination by the provincial zhongzheng, with the power of appointment held by the Ministry of Revenue. Both the provincial and county zhongzheng had subordinate staff, known as "investigators". Ordinary individuals could be evaluated by these subordinates, while important figures were personally evaluated by the zhongzheng themselves.
The main power of Zhongzheng is to evaluate the character of individuals, with three standards: family background, morality, and talent. Family background is also known as "family status" or "hereditary status", referring to the individual's family reputation and their ancestors' official positions. Zhongzheng only provides a general evaluation of an individual's morality and talent, known as "status". For example, during the Cao Wei period, Zhongzheng Wang Jia evaluated Ji Miao as "virtuous but lacking in ability". During the Western Jin period, Zhongzheng Wang Ji evaluated Sun Chu as "heavenly talented, refined and outstanding, standing out from the crowd". Based on evaluations of family background, talent, and morality, Zhongzheng assigns a ranking to individuals, known as "pin". The rankings are divided into nine grades: upper-upper, upper-middle, upper-lower, middle-upper, middle-middle, middle-lower, lower-upper, lower-middle, and lower-lower. However, there are only two categories: upper-pin and lower-pin. No one can attain the first grade, making it nominal, so the second grade is actually the highest. The third grade was considered high (upper-pin) during the early Western Jin period but later became a low grade (lower-pin).
The results of the Zhongzheng evaluation were submitted to the Situ Fu for review and approval, and then sent to the Ministry of Officials as a basis for selecting officials. The grade of the Zhongzheng evaluation was also called "xiangpin", which was closely related to the official career of the evaluated person. The official rank of the appointed official must match his xiangpin, those with high xiangpin often started their official career as "qingguan" (also known as "starting official"), and were promoted quickly, respected by others; those with low xiangpin often started their official career as "zhuanguan", and were promoted slowly, looked down upon.
The Zhongzheng evaluation of personnel is adjusted once every three years, but the Zhongzheng can also upgrade or downgrade the evaluated personnel at any time. After a person's rural rank is upgraded or downgraded, their official rank and the clarity of their office often change accordingly. Since the Zhongzheng grades are written on yellow paper and stored in the Ministry of Justice, known as the "Yellow Register", demotion or restoration all require going to the Ministry of Justice to correct the yellow paper. To enhance the authority of the Zhongzheng, the government also prohibits those being evaluated from filing lawsuits for injustice. However, if the Zhongzheng evaluation is illegal, the government will investigate its responsibility.
[Edit this paragraph] [Reason for establishment]
The nine-rank system of the Three Kingdoms was a result of inheriting and reforming the Eastern Han dynasty's official selection system. The Eastern Han dynasty selected officials mainly based on Confucian moral standards, with clan and local evaluations becoming the primary basis for government selections (the main or only basis being the "察举" and "征辟" systems). However, the great chaos at the end of the Han dynasty caused people to flee, making it difficult for local evaluations to be conducted, and it was impossible to verify each person's qualifications. During Cao Cao's over 20 years in power, the situation where personnel decisions were made based on personal opinions ("决于胸臆") and "each recommending their own kind" was widespread. Nevertheless, local evaluations were not completely abolished. According to historical records, when Cao Cao pacified Jingzhou, he entrusted the local notable Han Song with "evaluating the good and bad of the people in the province, and promoting those who were worthy". Additionally, Cui Yan and Mao Jie, who were in charge of selections under Cao Cao, "controlled the public opinion for over a decade", which referred to grasping and balancing the opinions from various regions. Cao Cao did not entirely negate local evaluations but opposed the abuses that arose during the late Han dynasty's local evaluations. His methods for correcting these abuses included promoting "only talent is considered" to oppose hypocritical morality and mismatched names and reality, and suppressing cliques and private manipulation of selections, striving to control the power of selection within the government. For example, Han Song's evaluation of the people in Jingzhou was different from the local evaluations manipulated by private individuals during the late Han dynasty, and was more similar to the later "中正" system where officials were appointed by the government and responsible to it. Many characteristics of the nine-rank system had already begun to take shape during Cao Cao's time in power, and Cao Pi and Chen Qun further institutionalized them.
[Edit this paragraph] [Development History]
The Nine Ranks System was initially established with the evaluation of personnel based on three criteria: family background, moral character, and talent. The historian Shen Yue of the Liang Dynasty even said that it was "to evaluate the pros and cons of talents, not to say that the nobility is high or low." However, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, those who held the position of Zhongzheng were generally second-class officials, and they had the right to participate in the selection of officials. Since almost all of them came from aristocratic families, these families completely controlled the power of selecting officials. As a result, during the process of evaluating the nine ranks, the standards of talent and virtue were gradually ignored, while family background became more and more important, eventually becoming the only standard. By the Western Jin Dynasty, it had become a situation where "the upper ranks have no commoners, and the lower ranks have no aristocrats." The Nine Ranks System not only became an important tool for maintaining and consolidating the rule of the aristocracy but also became an essential part of the aristocratic system itself. During the Southern Dynasties period, in the evaluation of officials by Zhongzheng, even the high or low rank of their ancestors' official positions was no longer important; what mattered was only the fame and position of their distant ancestors during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. To distinguish between different bloodlines and surnames, one only needed to check the genealogy records, making the evaluation of the nine ranks a mere formality. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period and the Northern Dynasties, due to the nature of minority rule in various regimes, the role of the Nine Ranks System cannot be compared with that of the Two Jin and Southern Dynasties. Emperor Shi Le of Later Zhao once re-established the nine ranks, while Emperor Shi Hu restored the privilege of exemption from labor for aristocratic families in Yong and Qin provinces. However, it seems that no Zhongzheng position was established. During the early and middle periods of Northern Wei, the Nine Ranks System was not implemented. Cui Hao once wanted to restore the practice of distinguishing between different surnames but was killed for this reason. Emperor Xiaowen reformed the system, fixed the order of surnames, and established the Nine Ranks System. However, after the Heiyin Incident, this system also became a mere formality. By the Sui Dynasty, with the decline of the aristocratic system, this system was eventually abolished.
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At first, this system was committed to solving the problem of unifying the selection of officials by the imperial court and the evaluation of local gentry. It was a continuation of the Han dynasty's tradition of selecting officials and an inheritance of Cao Cao's personnel policy. However, during the transition from Wei to Jin, the middle-ranking officials were monopolized by the "eminent surnames" of various states and counties, who favored aristocratic figures when evaluating their ranks. The division into nine grades had already deviated from the principle of "not considering family background." In the following three hundred years, a situation emerged where "the upper ranks had no commoners, and the lower ranks had no powerful families," with the aristocracy monopolizing political power, and the Nine Ranks System remained an official selection system that protected the hereditary political privileges of the aristocracy. Therefore, after the decline of the aristocracy, the Nine Ranks System was thoroughly abolished.
