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116 H. He

2 Trilateral Relationships

Phenomena of trilateral relationship between politics, humanities, rural homeland,
and officials playing the roles of scholar, official, and landed gentry, were rare in the
history of humanity, especially those officials’ academic achievement enabled them
to make colossal contribution to society. The main significance was abolition of the
aristocratic hereditary system and peaceful handover of power from generation to
generation. Such practice ensured scholars’ equal access to political opportunities,
their rise in officialdom, and contribution to social stability, all of which helped to
enhance and improve social governance.
Ancient Greecewas acity-statesociety. Athens at that time was a city-state,
where its citizens had equal political rights and took turns to rule by drawing
lots. Its people enjoyed full democracy and flourishing culture. Unfortunately,
such democracy did not last long. At that time, philosophers, poets, and play-
wrights were commoners who received no special privileges. In Sparta, warriors
belonged to a special class while scholarly knowledge was not respected
whatsoever.
Rome, during the whole period from a republic to an empire, championed
militarism and ignored literature and arts. In medieval kingdoms, hereditary
monarchs and wealthy aristocrats who owned private armies played dominant
roles in politics. However, the emerging Catholic Church—a force that could
practically contend with the monarchy—attracted some cultural young hopefuls
from the lower classes, and talented Catholics from poor families who had the
opportunity to rise to the top. To restrain a pernicious system of inherited
administrative power, the Mamluk Sultanate, which governed Egypt until the
Ottoman Empire, forcefully recruited—and even abducted—children from
numerous European regions and brought them to its capital, where the children
received good education and training so that they could become “Slave Generals”
or “Slave Prime Ministers” with political and military power. However, their power
was not allowed to be passed down to their heirs.
Such systems were not entirely ineffective but, compared with China’s
imperial examination system, they seemed simplistic and crude. Though they
worked to stymie the hereditary system, issues such as unequal access to political
opportunities, the integration between politics and culture were ignored.
In a way, the ancient Chinese scholars who believed in the concept of “He who
excels in studies can become an official” can be compared with literati in the
modern-day West, especially those living around the era of the Enlightenment. For
instance, in 18th century France the literati—mostly enlightened philosophers