A Study on "Die Shi(牒试)" of the Song Dynasty

In the general consideration of scholar-bureaucrat of the Song Dynasty,Die Shi(牒试) was the darkest corner of the imperial examination,and also the chief criminal that eroded the intellectuals’ minds.Die Shi(牒试) was a kind of imperial examination aiming at selecting local official’s relatives and hangers-on organized by the Transport Department(转运司),which was derived from Bie Tou Shi(别头试),equalling to Zhou and Jun’s (州军)Fa Jie Shi(发解试) on the whole. The original intention of Die Shi(牒试) was to prevent jobbery of local imperial examination,however, Die Shi(牒试) evolved into the government’s favor to the official’s relatives in the practical operation. As a whole,Die Shi(牒试) system was relatively rigorous on its own. According to the rules,all the attendees should be qualified for attending the examination, such as having the officials’ guarantee,and must be the real relatives and hangers-on of officials. However,the enrolling proportion of Die Shi(牒试) was higher than that of Fa Jie Shi(发解试) in which the candidates for the imperial examinations took part, so the local officials often falsified qualification for their relatives and friends who had no qualification for Die Shi(牒试). As a result,Die Shi(牒试) not only aggravated the redundant official crisis of the Song Dynasty,lead up to severe bureaucracy corruption,but also disturbed the imperial examination system,destroyed the seriousness and justice of the imperial examination,and thus brought some negative effects on the imperial examination, officialdom and even the whole society .