The Motivation for Developing the Subject-based Imperial Examination in the Southern Song Dynasty:A Discussion of the Dispute over Jingyi and Poetry in the History of Imperial Examination in the Song Dynasty

In the period of the Southern Song Dynasty,motivated by political needs and prompted by the scarcity of talents in poetry and the prevailing atmosphere of advocating government by civilians,the government decided to restore the system of selecting scholars by testing them on poetry,which had been abolished in the Northern Song Dynasty.However,imperial examination(IE) focused on the test of Jingyi had been retained because of the historical fact that IE for the test of Jingyi had long been implemented in the Northern Song Dynasty as well as because of the cultural background of the revival of Confucianism.The government of the Southern Song Dynasty adopted inclusive employment policies,which objectively strengthened this historical trend.From then on,the subject-based IE was established and generally accepted until the overthrow of the Southern Song Dynasty.And this event ended the so-called dispute over Jingyi and Poetry in the history of IE in the Song Dynasty.The motivation for developing the subjectbased IE revealed the patterns of transformation of the contents of IE in the Song Dynasty.