Tag: civil service exam

Extensive Reading Lesson 58

工人农民有望成公务员社交网站改变生活据英国广播公司报道，由特恩斯市场研究公司进行的一项研究显示，数字信息源正取代电视、收音机、报纸，成为世界上61%网络用户的首选媒体渠道。特恩斯公司为做此项研究采访了46个国家的5万名消费者。研究发现，马来西亚人社交网站上的朋友最多，平均有233名，而日本人的社交网站朋友最少，平均只有29人。中国人在社交网站的平均朋友数为68人。马来西亚人也是社交网站最忠实的用户，每周要在上面平均花费9小时。此项研究还发现，消费者在社交网站上比在电子邮件上花费的时间更多，这种趋势某种程度上是由移动网络的兴起助长的。

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Chinese dynasty history—Tang dynasty 唐朝

The Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), with its capital at Chang’an (长安), is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization–equal, or even superior, to the Han period. Its territory, acquired through the military exploits of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han. Stimulated by contact with India (天竺) and the Middle East, the empire saw a flowering of creativity in many fields. Buddhism (佛教), originating in India around the time of Confucius, flourished during the Tang period, becoming thoroughly sinicized and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. Block printing was invented, making the written word available to vastly greater audiences. The Tang period was the golden age of literature and art. A government system supported by a large class of Confucian literati selected through civil service examinations (科学) was perfected under Tang rule. This competitive procedure was designed to draw the best talents into government. But perhaps an even greater consideration for the Tang rulers, aware that imperial dependence on powerful aristocratic families and warlords would have destabilizing consequences, was to create a body of career officials having no autonomous territorial or functional power base. As it turned out, these scholar-officials acquired status in their local communities, family ties, and shared values that connected them to the imperial court. From Tang times until the closing days of the Qing empire in 1911, scholar-officials functioned often as intermediaries between the grass-roots level and the government.

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Chinese dynasty history—Han dynasty 汉朝

After a short civil war, a new dynasty, called Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), emerged with its capital at Chang’an (长安 ). The new empire retained much of the Qin administrative structure but retreated a bit from centralized rule by establishing vassal principalities in some areas for the sake of political convenience. The Han rulers modified some of the harsher aspects of the previous dynasty; Confucian ideals of government, out of favor during the Qin period, were adopted as the creed of the Han empire, and Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service. A civil service examination system also was initiated. Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished. The Han period produced China’s most famous historian, Sima Qian (司马迁 145-87 B.C.?), whose Shiji (史记 Historical Records) provides a detailed chronicle from the time of a legendary Xia emperor to that of the Han emperor Wu Di ( 武帝141-87 B.C.). Technological advances also marked this period. Two of the great Chinese inventions, paper and porcelain, date from Han times.

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Eight-Part Essay 八股文

As a type of literary style,prescribed-form （科举kē jǔ ）text has a double attribute: on the one hand, as a succession to and development of the style of the former dynasties, it has the characters of a style itself; on the other hand, as a literary form designed for the imperial civil service examinations.

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