Subordinates and evildoers : Song scholar-officials' perceptions of clerks
Historians know that Song scholar-officials liked to use positive ways to strengthen their qualifications for being rulers. For example, in scholar-officials' view, only their Confucian sage-kings were qualified to be ideal rulers. Scholar-officials studied the ideas of these sage-kings, and imitated their ways. Therefore, scholar-officials claimed that only they had the potential to become ideal rulers. Here Song scholar-officials' ruling qualifications came from their succession to ancient sage-kings. But historians do not know that Song scholar-officials also employed negative rhetoric to retain or bolster their legitimacy as rulers. This dissertation argues that Song scholar-officials labeled clerks as incompetent and corruptible, but then distanced themselves from clerical incompetence and corruption. In this way, they maintained and fortified their ruling qualifications
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2008