Literature and Eight-part Essay as Promotional Imperial Examination in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and Their Influences on the Mindset of Scholar-officials

Eight-part essay refers to a style of essay writing to be mastered to pass the imperial examinations.It was initiated in the early Ming dynasty,developed and reformed in the mid-and late Ming dynasty,standardized in the Qing dynasty,and finally backed out of Chinese history.As a genre,eight-part essay did not belong to any literary category;it was set up only for imperial examinations.Those intellectuals attempting at officialdom,had to study its techniques to win the favor of examiners and to open for themselves a door to officialdom in a glorious way.Bathed in this tradition,intellectuals changed not only in their mode of thinking but also in their writings of poetry and prose.Consequently,this examination genre bore close link with literature,and simultaneously affected the mindset of scholar-officials during the two dynasties.