Criticizing the drawbacks of the imperial examination, Gan Long severely reprimanded the drawbacks of selecting scholars in calligraphy. Do you need to read articles for study?

Although in his later years, Gan Long did so many stupid things that when many people mentioned Gan Long, they remembered the absurd things he had done. For example, he wrote 40,000 doggerels in a row, forcing courtiers to taste them together. In other words, he acted as cowhide on the cultural relics, and brazenly printed his own big seal, which completely destroyed the cultural relics.

Although we will laugh at Gan Long's jokes, we should not ignore his real talent and practical learning. Take the imperial examination as an example. When Qianlong succeeded to the throne, there were cases in which scholars were selected according to the merits of calligraphy. This situation is naturally caused by the incompetence of the examiner. Gan Long was also very angry about this, and directly said a word, saying that learning still depends on the quality of the article, but you can't draw conclusions based on calligraphy. Although both writing and calligraphy are good, they are the best choice. But if the handwriting is not good, you shouldn't kill it with a stick. If the article is excellent, you should still hire it.

1776, Ganlong traveled eastward, and a special exam was held in Shandong. The topic is very uncommon, and the test is the examinee's interpretation of Gan Long's eastward tour. The allusion corresponding to this topic is even less common, and only one candidate knows it. But it happened that this herringbone was so badly written that it was impossible to read.

As a result, Gan Long read ten papers selected by the examiner and was not satisfied. At this time, the examiner said that one of the candidates wrote a related article, but the handwriting was too poor and he lost the election. Gan Long said on the spot that what we tested at school was the literary talent and knowledge of candidates. How did it become a calligraphy test? Bring it here quickly. At first glance, I feel that the article made by this candidate is not only relevant, but also meaningful. So, Gan Long personally appointed this man and granted him the position of a cabinet secretary, so that he could enter the Ministry of War in the future.

Although Gan Long made many jokes in his later years, he was quite wise in selecting talents. But unfortunately, Qianlong attached importance to the imperial examination, not only to select some talents for the country, but also to command the Han nationality. After the Qing Dynasty entered Shanhaiguan, they soon found that their past life was out of tune with the Central Plains, and the Han people under their rule often caused trouble.

In order to stabilize his rule, Qianlong naturally chose to rely on the Han literati to control the decision-making of the Han people. However, if we rely too much on literati, it will inevitably lead to excessive power of the Han people and threaten their own rule. Thus, in the Qianlong period, the literary inquisition also developed to the extreme. On the one hand, the imperial examination prevailed, on the other hand, the literary inquisition prevailed, which kept the literati silent and entered a stage of decline academically.

Such repeated actions directly lead to the failure of talents. The imperial examinations in Qing dynasty were conducted for the need of rule. The people who will really be reused are still our own. As a result, the so-called Eight Banners became more and more incompetent, and some really talented Han Chinese could not find a way out. Scholars who are already in high positions need to worry about the sword hanging over their heads, and they will end up in a "literary prison" if they are not careful.

However, we can also see from Gan Long's denunciation of the behavior of selecting talents only by calligraphy that he actually wanted to rely on the imperial examination to select some talents for the country. Although his purpose is not pure, his knowledge and vision have already surpassed that dynasty. Although Qianlong's reign led to many mistakes, China missed the opportunity to enter modern times with the West and suffered a hundred years of backwardness. Closing the door to the outside world is not the fault of Qianlong alone, but the arrogance of the Qing Dynasty.

There are too many judgments about Gan Long's merits and demerits, but only in the imperial examination, he relied on articles to select Jinshi, which is quite wise and not a groggy king.