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history is inadequate for justification. According to Elman, “The overcrowded
examination hall became a contested site, where the political interests of the
dynasty, the social interests of its elites, and the cultural ideals of Confucian
classics were all competed and compromised” (Elman, 2010, p. 150). As the
cultural intersection of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the specific themes and
ideological purports of the Imperial Civil Examination System should be paid more
attention by scholars. That is why Elman grew interested in the changing themes
for the Imperial Civil Examination System, from which he expected to trace the
general trend of Ming–Qing scholarship and its transition in modes of thinking.
Elman first selected policy questions from local provincial and metropolitan
examinations (乡试、会试) from the early to the late Qing. He finds that the themes
of policy questions in late Qing imperial examinations differ greatly from those of
the early Qing. As he concluded, “Policy questions from late eighteenth century to
early nineteenth century began to reflect a change of trends that shaped the future
of Confucian examinations” (Elman, 2010, p. 179). The policy questions in the early
Qing were often based on the Neo Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties,
but those of the late Qing were tinged with heavy textology; the academic methods
and problem awareness of textology became the chief trend of the period. Elman
points out that though disputes between advocates of Han Learning versus Song
Learning did not upset the Qing rulers, it is sufficient to show how the Cheng-Zhu Li
School of Confucianism (程朱理学), as state orthodoxy in the Imperial Civil
Examination System, was being undermined in the late Qing, which hinted the
gradual crumbling of the state-sanctioned ideology of the Qing.
Similarly, through case studies of policy questions in provincial examinations
in southern China throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, Elman finds that
historical studies were also breaking their confinement from the Learning of Dao
(道学) and the study of Confucian Classics (经学). The trend reminds us of Zhang
Xuecheng’s(章学诚 1738–1801) later announcement that “The Six Classics are all
histories” (六经皆史), a declaration indicating that the prestige of the Classics,
though outwardly unchanged, actually had diminished appreciably with the rise
of historical studies.
In regard to this effect, Elman remarks: “Historical studies were no longer the
dependency of the Classics and, of course, classical studies were not forced into the
purview of historical studies, either. The prestige of historical canons remained
unchallenged. Changes were in the brew. A century later, Zhang Xuecheng at the
end of the 18th century challenged the authority of the Six Classics and brought
them into the purview of historical research” (Elman, 2010, p. 193).
Chen Bisheng (陈壁生) points out the cultural shift as indicated by the rise and
fall of classical and historical studies since early modern China: “Confucian