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Zhu Xi's 1182 Proposal for Imperial Examination Reform

Type Event Region Asia Time 1182

Around 1182, Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi taught in Fujian and handled local examination affairs, criticizing the emphasis on literary composition ov…

Timeline

  1. 1182Jianyang · FujianIn his teaching and writings, Zhu Xi criticized the examinations' excessive focus on poetry, rhapsody, and formulaic essay patterns, which led scholars away from practical statecraft; he argued selection should stress classical meaning and principle rather than flashy rhetoric.
  2. 1182–1183Fujian · FujianZhu Xi advocated making the Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects, and Mencius the basis of scholars' cultivation and examinations, stressing the investigation of things, extension of knowledge, sincerity, and rectification of mind, attempting to embed the Neo-Confucian system into selection standards and laying a theoretical foundation for later academy education and examination orientation.

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