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
2008