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As an important mechanism for selecting talents in ancient China, the imperial examination system not only affected the fate of literati, but also paved the way for military generals to stand out. The Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, as two key periods in the development of the martial arts system, each carried the characteristics of the times and the needs of the society, showing the colorful martial arts system in different historical backgrounds.
So what was the difference between the martial arts system in the Tang and Song dynasties?
1. The establishment and characteristics of the martial arts system in the Tang Dynasty
Wuju is a imperial examination system for the purpose of selecting military talents, also known as "Wuke". Wuju became independent from the imperial examination system, which began in the Wu Zetian period of the Tang Dynasty, was developed and perfected in the Song Dynasty, and basically followed the Wuju system of the Song Dynasty in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Successive feudal rulers selected a large number of military generals through the martial arts system, which played an important role in maintaining feudal rule. In the Song Dynasty, under the unique social background of emphasizing literature and ignoring martial arts, the martial arts system was continuously developed and improved on the basis of the Tang Dynasty, and various alienations and problems also appeared.
The establishment of the martial arts system in the Tang Dynasty was a major institutional innovation in the Wu Zetian period. In that turbulent era, in order to consolidate the foundation of his rule, Wu Zetian urgently needed to expand the military talent pool also based on the learning of historical experience, especially the tradition of selecting martial warriors since the Qin and Han dynasties, Wu Zetian formally created the military system in the second year of Chang'an (702), opening a new chapter in the selection of military talents.
Prior to this, the selection channels for military attachés were narrow, and the introduction of the martial arts system opened up a new path of promotion for those who practiced martial arts. The Tang Dynasty martial arts focused on technical bravery, especially the horse marksmanship, the content of the examination was more standardized, regardless of the background, as long as the examination can be awarded an official position, which greatly broadened the scope of talent selection, stimulated the enthusiasm of the people to practice martial arts, and promoted the popularization and development of martial arts in the people.
The introduction of the martial arts system has also improved the social status of martial arts, changed the long-standing social atmosphere of "emphasizing literature over martial arts", and promoted the establishment and improvement of the martial arts education system. The martial arts system not only selected military talents with actual combat ability, but also indirectly promoted the development of military theory and military technology, and laid the foundation for the consolidation of border defense and the improvement of military strength in the Tang Dynasty.
The content of the Tang Dynasty martial arts examination was rich and diverse, including archery, mounted archery, horse pistol, foot archery, talent, speech and weightlifting, among which martial arts skills were the core of the evaluation, but it did not ignore the consideration of the general's resourcefulness and cultural literacy. The establishment of the martial arts system not only provided a channel for martial artists to enter the military profession with military merits, but also promoted the popularity of martial arts in society and enhanced the combat effectiveness of the army.
2. The development and alienation of the martial arts system in the Song Dynasty
The martial arts system of the Song Dynasty was inherited and changed on the basis of the Tang system, but it was deeply influenced by the national policy of "emphasizing literature over military force". At the beginning of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, in the face of frequent border conflicts and internal peasant uprisings, there was an urgent need for excellent military talents.
But at the same time, it also faces more complex internal and external challenges. At the beginning of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, it was faced with frequent intrusion by the surrounding minority regimes, and the internal society was not stable, so there was an urgent need for high-quality military talents. The rulers of the Song Dynasty implemented the policy of "emphasizing literature over military force", which directly affected the positioning and development of the martial arts system.
During the Song Zhenzong period, the martial arts system began to be explored, but it could not be implemented immediately due to various reasons. It was not until the seventh year of Renzong Tiansheng (1029) that the martial arts system was formally established, and gradually improved in the following years, forming a four-level examination system including competition, interpretation, provincial examination, and palace examination, and the proportion of martial arts and Chengwen was increased in the content of the examination, aiming to improve the comprehensive quality of military attachés.
The development of the martial arts system in the Song Dynasty was accompanied by alienation, and the martial arts examination gradually skewed towards the literary examination, the importance of martial arts selection was weakened, and the number of admissions was small and the status of martial arts was low, resulting in many officials from martial arts being literati, which was contrary to the original intention of the establishment of martial arts.
However, the alienation of the martial arts system in the Song Dynasty was obvious. First, the content of the examination gradually skewed towards the literary examination, resulting in many military attachés not practicing martial arts, but only studying articles, and most of the generals selected by the martial arts system were literati rather than those who were truly proficient in military affairs.
Second, the promotion of military attachés mainly depends on the substitution of shadows and the transfer of military personnel, and the military is no longer the main way for the promotion of military attachés, which has dealt a blow to the enthusiasm of military personnel in martial arts.
In addition, the number of students admitted to martial arts is scarce, and the status of martial arts is low, which affects the popularization and improvement of martial arts education. Eventually, with the emergence of the phenomenon of "exchanging military officials for civil service" and the frequent occurrence of problems such as examination fraud, the military system of the Song Dynasty gradually declined and was abandoned during the Duzong period of the Southern Song Dynasty.
3. The main differences between the Tang and Song dynasties
1. Background and purpose of the establishment
The establishment of the martial arts system in the Tang Dynasty originated from the political needs and military realities of the Wu Zetian period. In order to consolidate his rule, Wu Zetian recruited talents and used martial arts to select military talents, and at the same time conformed to the martial atmosphere that prevailed in the society at that time.
Wu Zetian's move is aimed at injecting fresh blood into the country's military force through examination selection to deal with frequent border conflicts and internal instability. The establishment of the martial arts in the Tang Dynasty was based on the historical experience of selecting martial artists before, such as the Han Dynasty to raise "material people" and the Jin Dynasty to promote "strong people", combined with the demand for military talents at that time.
The reconstruction of the martial arts system in the Song Dynasty was carried out in a more complex social context of "emphasizing literature over martial arts". After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, although the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ended, it faced external threats such as Liao and Western Xia, as well as frequent internal peasant uprisings, and the urgent need for military talents.
In view of the historical lesson of Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, who seized power through mutiny, the rulers of the Song Dynasty were highly vigilant about the power of military attachés, and adopted a series of measures to curb the power of military officers.
2. Development process and test content
The Tang Dynasty Wuju was first established in the second year of Wu Zetian's Chang'an (702), and its examination content included archery, mounted archery, horse pistol, talent, speech, weightlifting, etc., focusing on the assessment of martial arts skills.
The establishment of martial arts not only provided a career channel for martial artists, but also promoted the continuation of the martial culture in society. The implementation of martial arts in the Tang Dynasty, although limited in scale and influence in the early days, laid the foundation for the subsequent development of the martial arts system.
The martial arts system of the Song Dynasty underwent many innovations and improvements on the basis of the Tang Dynasty. The grading of the examination was refined, and four levels of competition test, solution test, provincial test and palace test were formed, and the martial arts palace test was established for the first time. The Song Dynasty martial arts not only retained traditional subjects such as mounted archery, but also added weapons such as knives and guns, and integrated martial arts and Chengwen into examinations at all levels, emphasizing the combination of military theory and actual combat skills.
This change reflected the higher requirements of the Song Dynasty for the comprehensive quality of military attachés, but at the same time, it also showed that the excessive emphasis on literary examinations under the policy of "emphasizing literature over military force" led to the weakening of the essence of "martial arts" in martial arts.
3. Influence and alienation
The establishment of the martial arts system in the Tang Dynasty had a positive impact on the development of military education and martial arts at that time, promoted the popularization and improvement of martial arts skills, selected a group of military talents for the country, and strengthened the border defense force. Although the number of people admitted to martial arts in the Tang Dynasty was small, it set an example in society that one could also enter the military through martial arts, providing a way for martial artists to be promoted.
The development of the martial arts system in the Song Dynasty was more tortuous, due to the deepening of the policy of "emphasizing literature over martial arts", the martial arts gradually became alienated, which was manifested in the fact that the martial arts examination was mainly based on literature, the promotion of military attachés was not based on martial arts, and the number of martial arts admissions was scarce, and the status of martial arts was low.
Although the martial arts of the Song Dynasty were more standardized and comprehensive in form and content, they were limited by the social atmosphere of "respecting literature and suppressing martial arts" and the vigilant mentality of the ruling class towards martial artists, and the martial arts system did not effectively improve military strength. As a result, the role of the Song Dynasty military juju in the selection of military talents was limited, and it failed to fundamentally change the imbalance in the relationship between the civil and military.
4. Influence on the development of martial arts
The establishment of the martial arts system in the Tang Dynasty promoted the popularization and new development of martial arts, improved the social status of martial arts, provided career opportunities for martial arts enthusiasts, promoted the rise of martial arts education, broke the traditional concept of emphasizing literature over martial arts, and provided a political guarantee for the development of martial arts.
Although the martial arts of the Song Dynasty improved the cultural level of military attachés to a certain extent, their relative neglect of martial arts and excessive emphasis on literature led to the selection of martial artists who were mostly proficient in literature and ink rather than actual generals.
This reflects the negative impact of the policy of "advocating literature and suppressing martial arts" on the development of martial arts. At the same time, the instability of the Song Dynasty's martial arts system, as well as the low-level conferral of officers on those who came from the martial arts, limited their actual improvement of military combat effectiveness.
Although the Wuju system in the Song Dynasty went through a process from exploration to perfection, in the late Southern Song Dynasty, with the widespread phenomenon of "military ministers exchanging civil capital" and the serious fraud of martial arts, coupled with the fact that the reform of Song Lizong could not fundamentally reverse the situation, the martial arts system was finally abandoned in the tenth year of Duzong Xianchun of the Southern Song Dynasty (1274), while the Wuju of the Tang Dynasty continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Although the martial arts system of the Tang and Song dynasties was an important way to select military talents, its development path and social influence were completely different.
summary
The establishment of the martial arts system in the Tang Dynasty was an inheritance and innovation of the experience of the previous generations in selecting martial artists, aiming to enhance military strength and meet the needs of frontier defense. However, the development of the military system in the Song Dynasty was more constrained by the policy of "emphasizing literature over military force", although there was a system of improvement, but in the end due to the social atmosphere and policy orientation to decline, failed to give full play to its original intention of selecting military talents.
The comparison between the two not only shows the changes in the selection mechanism of military personnel in different periods, but also reflects the profound influence of the ruling strategies and cultural tendencies of feudal society.
Resources:
CNKI - Yang Yingjie - A Comparative Study of the Wuju System of the Tang and Song Dynasty