University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VII.

Weighing of Talents (Ch`êng-t`sai).

Among those who have discussed the question many are of
opinion that scholars cannot be placed on a level with officials.
Seeing that the officials are of practical use, and the scholars unemployed,
they stigmatise the latter as shallow and incompetent, and
praise the former as very ingenious and proficient. That shows that
they are as ignorant of scholars as of officials, for both have their
talents and abilities, and it is not true that the parts of officers
are superior to the accomplishments of literary men. Officers do
business, and students have no practice. We may well say that
officers are business men, and that students have no practice,
but the assumption that officials are ingenious and proficient, and
scholars shallow and incompetent, exhibits a want of judgment.

The public usually looks down upon scholars, and these
themselves have no very high opinion of their worth, for they
would likewise be only too glad to serve their country and imitate
the officials, whom they regard as their models. Whatever may
be their shortcomings, the public will sneer at them, but the faults
of officers they dare not criticise. They lay all the blame on the
students, and give all the credit to the functionaries.[236]

The talents of the Literati do not fall short of those of
the officials, but they lack routine and have not done official work.
However, the public slights them, because they notice that the
authorities[237] do not like to employ them, a dislike caused by the
mass of affairs which they cannot all settle alone, and are obliged
to leave to the care of officers. Respecting their qualities and talents
they hope that their many abilities may be of use to them. The
bureaucrats relieve them of their troubles, working hard in their
offices. By their decisions they distinguish themselves, and their
chiefs highly appreciate their skill.

The scholars are timid and unqualified to overcome difficulties.
When the governors are troubled with doubts, they cannot help
them, and are unable to exert themselves. Their services being of
no benefit under existing conditions, no post is conferred upon
them. The governors judge talents by official efficiency and expect
them to become manifest in the discharge of official duties. It is
for this reason that the public is wont to esteem the officials and
despise the scholars. This contempt of the latter, and admiration
of the former, is based on the inability of the students to meet
the bureaucratic requirements, for public opinion merely inquires
into their usefulness.

At present, those in authority are very able and extremely
learned men who thoroughly know the people. They take things
up in the proper way and ever bring them to a good end. When
they appoint officials, they take a sufficient number to assist them
in carrying out their designs. Should these designs aim at the
cultivation of virtue or at the introduction of reforms, then officers
are only like tiles and stones, but scholars like pearls and jewels.
Officers are merely able to break resistance and smooth over difficulties,
but they know nothing about preserving their own selves
pure and undefiled, and therefore cannot be of any great help to
their governor.[238] Scholars have no experience of business, but
excel in guiding and possibly rescuing their superiors. When
governors and ministers[239] are going wrong, they are not afraid to
remonstrate with them, and warn them.

They who on earth were able to establish stringent rules,
who up to three times offered their remonstrances, and enjoined
upon the governors to examine and purify themselves, despising
all crookedness, have for the most part been scholars. They who
assent to everything and try to remain in favour at all cost, and,
when their governor indulges his desires, merely bow their heads
and remain silent, are mostly officials. They are strong in business,
but weak in lealty, whereas scholars are excellent on principles,
but bad business men. Both have their special merits and demerits,
between which those in power may choose. Those who
prefer students, are such as uphold virtue and carry out reforms,

those who rather take officials, attach the greatest importance to
business and the suppression of disorder.

If a person's gifts are insufficient, he wants help, and wanting
help, he expects strength. An officer takes an assistant, because
his own force is inadequate, and a functionary engages an able
man, because his own talents do not come up to the mark. When
the sun illuminates the dark, there is no need for lamps and
candles, and when Mêng Pên and Hsia Yü oppose the enemy, no
further helpmates are requisite. Provided that the knowledge and
the power of governors and ministers be like the sun shining upon
darkness or the irresistible Mêng Pên and Hsia Yü, then the talents
of officials are of no use.

In case of sickness we call in a physician, and when misfortune
happens, we employ a sorcerer.[240] If we could ourselves make out
the prescriptions and mix the medicines, or enter into the house
and expel the evil influences, we should not have to pay for the
doctor, nor to invite the sorcerer.

Bridges are built, because the feet cannot cross ditches, and
carts and horses used, because one cannot walk long distances. If
the feet were able to jump over ditches, or if one could walk a long
way, there would be no bridges built, and no carts and horses used.

People estimate those things of the world most, to which
they must look to supply their deficiencies, owing to their weakness
and limited knowledge. The high authorities of our age
do not accuse their own inability, but disdain the students for
their want of practice, nor do they study the qualities of the
officials, but finding them useful, think very much of their talents,
and declare them to be excellent functionaries. Without officials
they cannot get rid of their troubles, and in default of these there
is nobody to save them from their vexations. Wherefore they fill
all posts with ordinary men. Since their appointment is never
attended with any inconvenience, whereas the scholars have nothing
to distinguish themselves, and with their abilities are incapable
of filling difficult posts, they are left out, when new appointments
are made, nor are their services desired at court.

Those among them who have a quick intellect, at once change
and set about studying official work, following in the wane of the
officials. The others who have not yet made themselves conspicuous
by their admirable qualities, cling to antiquity and pursue
their ideas, observing the rules of propriety and cultivating virtue,

but governors and ministers do not entrust them with any duty,
and the bureaucrats mock[241] them. Not being called to office, they
give up further efforts and resolve to resign. The scorn fills them
with disgust. Since in the discharge of their duties they do not
meet with encouragement, their treatment of affairs lacks thoroughness.
Then they are supposed to be inefficient and pushed aside.

Men possessed of common gifts and not burdened with lofty
ideals, commence to learn official work, and are soon merged in
officialdom. Taking the knowledge of the high authorities as their
load-star, and conforming to the exigencies of the times, they completely
change their former ideas and their occupation. Studying
day and night, they are not ashamed of anything, provided that
they make their mark and master the official correspondence.[242]

Conversely, enthusiasts and remarkable characters disdain to
sacrifice their convictions, or to demolish the objects of their veneration
for the purpose of pushing on by sycophancy. They
strongly disapprove of talented students entering into the ranks
of office-holders. Strongly maintaining their high aims, they
decline to take up those poor studies.[243]

Sometimes it may also happen that scholars do not quite
understand their business. Their thoughts being wandering and
not concentrated enough, they are not fit for the office of which
they may be in charge. When asked, they give wrong answers,
they do not know the art of genuflexion, and in coming forward
and retiring, disregard the fixed rules. In their reports on various
matters, young students will disclose faults, adducing the opinions
of the ancients. They denounce the selfish desires of their superiors
with a terrible outspokenness, saying awkward things which they
had better leave unsaid. Obstinate, and bound by their prejudices,
they follow their own rules in all their writings, and do not manage
things in the proper way. Their style is unusual; being
somewhat excentric, they depart from the ordinary standard, and
do not do things as they should be done. Therefore people make
light of them, the official class despises them, and the high dignitaries
hold them in disrespect.[244]

It is for this reason that common students dislike to go through
the Classics, or make a thorough study in order to become well
acquainted with ancient and modern times. Eager to collect one
master's dicta and to get a smattering of theory, they all rush to
study historical works and read law.[245] Reciting ordinances and
institutions, they write reports on various subjects. They learn
how to fawn upon their superiors, and how to kneel down and
kotow, all with a view to laying the foundation of their house,
and establishing their family. Once called to office, they are well
off, hence their bias in favour of the present, and their disregard
of the past. In the keen competition with their rivals, they give
up their former ideas, and struggling to get to the front, pay no
heed to propriety. The Classics are neglected, and study is an
exploded idea. Ancient literature is no more cultivated, and what
they have learned formerly, soon forgotten.

Literati lead a poor life in their lonely houses, while the
officials are bustling about in the halls of the palace. Clever and
able officials rise, later on, and come to the front, whereas persons
fulfilling all moral obligations, are beset with so many difficulties,
that they hide and steal away. The success is owing to cunning
and the failure to awkwardness.[246] The talents of scholars are not
inferior, nor is their knowledge insufficient, but they lack experience
and practice.

When the foot has never walked a road, even Yao and Yü
must inquire at its turns, and when the eye has not yet spied an
object, even Confucius and Mê Ti would ask about its shape. In
the region of Ch`i,[247] the inhabitants make embroidery from generation
to generation, and even common women possess this skill.
In the city of Hsiang,[248] the people weave brocades, and even stupid
girls know the art. That which we daily see and daily do, our
hands become accustomed to. If talented scholars have not yet
seen a thing, or if clever women have not yet done something,
the work seems strange to them, and the handicraft extraordinary.

When they are suddenly called upon to perform it, and for the
first time behold it, even something apparently very easy gives
them the greatest trouble.

Respecting scholars, at present their critics do not speak of
a want of practice, but doubt their intellectual faculties; they do
not say that they have not yet done anything, but that their
knowledge does not reach so far, which is a misrepresentation.
The mental power of the literati is not too weak, and there is
no profession which they might not comprehend, though they have
not taken an active part in it.[249] Now the public noticing that they
have no experience, regard them as incapable, and seeing them inactive,
ascribe this to their dullness.

Ranked according to their usefulness and classed according
to their efficiency, the officials are in front, and the students in
the rear. That is the point of view of the government. But in
a classification on scientific principles, the scholars are above,
and the officials below. From an agricultural point of view, agriculturists
come first, and from a commercial standpoint, merchants
are the first class. As regards government, officers are its men.
In their youth already they learn official work, and government
is their field of action, knives[250] and pencils being their ploughs,
and despatches, their labour. They resemble the sons of a house
who, having grown up in it, know all its nooks and corners much
better than any foreigner does. When a guest arrives only for a
short while, he may be a second Confucius or Mê Ti, yet he will
not be able to distinguish things as well as they do. Scholars
are like these guests, and officials represent the sons. As sons the
officials know much more than the scholars, for the latter are
much less au courant than the former. The governors and ministers
of our time know how sons are, yet believe officials to be exceptionally
clever, unaware that the officials have acquired their efficiency
by practice. They likewise know guests, and yet see in
helplessness after a short stay a sign of foolishness, quite forgetting
that the incompetence of the scholars is owing to their want of
exercice. The vision of these dignitaries is blurred, and they are
unable to reason by analogies.

A man fit to be assistant in a district, might also fill the post
of a secretary in a prefecture, and he who could reform an entire

prefecture, would be qualified for service in a province. However
the prefecture does not summon the assistant, and the province
will not have the reformer. It would be no harm, if they used
their talents to acquire the necessary practice, their little knowledge
of official correspondence would be compensated by their
great virtue.

The Five Secretaries[251] of course have their rules and regulations,
and for books and registers there exist certain precedents.
How can a man who diligently studies and easily learns all these
things, so that he becomes a clever official, for that reason be
thought more of than others? Wise governors select officials
according to their talents, regardless of their being experienced in
discussing official matters. They set the highest store on character,
and do not look to book-keeping.

Good officials are called loyal. Loyalty is not exhibited in
books and registers. Business may be learned by study, and with
the rules of etiquette one becomes familiar by practice; loyalty and
justice however are not to be acquired in this manner. Officials
and scholars have both their special aims. Loyalty and faith is
the goal of the scholars, whereas the officials are chiefly interested
in the management of affairs. As long as loyalty and honesty is
maintained, a little bungling in business is not injurious to a man's
reputation. Albeit yet owing to their inexperience in office work
students are placed in the second rank by most critics.

Judges give their verdicts according to edicts and laws. In
their administration the officials are obliged to consult jurists,[252] and
nothing is of greater importance in a district magistrate's office than
edicts. If his competence be taken as a criterion of the worthiness of
an official, then the jurisconsults[253] ought to take the first place.
Perhaps people will admit this, saying that edicts are the Canons
of the Han dynasty, on which the officials base the decisions which

they propose, and that a case having been settled by law, everything
is clear indeed.

I should say that the Five Canons are also standard works
for the Han dynasty, and that the literati conversant with the theory
of government, have all derived their wisdom thereform.[254] Tung
Chung Shu explained the meaning of the Ch`un-ch`iu, and in comparing
it with the laws did not find any divergence. Therefore the Ch`unch`iu
is a Canon of the Han, composed by Confucius, it is true, but
handed down to the Han. Those critics who merely appreciate
jurisprudence and slight the Ch`un-ch`iu, are narrow-minded. The
purport of this work and the other four Canons is intertwined, and
unless the Ch`un-ch`iu were a great production, the Five Canons
would not be universally read.

The Five Canons deal with principles, and business counts
less than principles. There being principles, business is regulated,
and in default of principles nothing can be done. Now that which
scholars study, are principles, and that which officers learn, is
business. In case they are of equal talents, they should study
principles if they wish to rank with officials.[255]

For washing dirty things one uses water, and for roasting raw
and tainted meat, fire. Water and fire are the principles, and
their use is business. Business is posterior to principles. If we
compare students with officials, the former adjust what is antecedent,
the latter care for what is subsequent. From the contrast between
principles, which are first, and business, which is last, we may
determine the superiority and greater dignity of either.

Yao by his brilliant virtue succeeded in conciliating the black-haired
people. Confucius said that filial piety and brotherly love in
the highest degree could even touch spirits. Chang Shih Chih[256]
remarked that the Ch`in dynasty relied on petty officers with pencils
and knives, and that, the dissolution having gone on up to Erh
Shih Huang Ti, the empire broke down. Chang T`ang and Chao Yü
were both honest officials of the Han period, and yet the Grand
Annalist places them among the oppressors.[257] How can those

responsible for the breakdown of the empire, be compared with
them whose piety affects the spirits? This should fill people's minds.

The high dignitaries are cognisant of the great principles of
the classical studies, but do not honour the students, because it
strikes them that those students of classical literature are in the
administration less efficient than functionaries.

With a butcher's knife one may carve a fowl, but it is difficult
to slaughter an ox with a poultry knife. A master in embroidery
can sew a curtain or a garment, but a workman twisting thread
would be unqualified to weave brocade. Thus the scholars can do
the business of the officials, but officials do not find their way
through the science of scholars. The knowledge of officials is really
bad and not up to the mark, the scholars however, in spite of
their want of practice, possess excellent qualities, only they have
no experience.

Yü regulating streams and rivers did not handle the hoe or
the spade, and the Duke of Chou in building Lo-yi[258] did not hold
battering-rams or poles in his hands. Pencils and ink, registers
and books are like hoes and spades, rams and poles. To expect a
man of vast ideas and high principles to carry them out personally,
would be like bidding a general fight himself, or an engineer[259]
cut wood. In case a scholar able to interpret one Canon is
called upon to do the work of one office, he can master it in ten
months. For an office-holder, on the other side, to study the
contents of one Canon a whole year would not suffice. Why?
Because official work is easy to learn, whereas classical studies offer
great difficulties.

Students thumb the Classics[260] to fathom the meaning of the
Sages, and officials move their pencils to take note of public affairs.
What is more difficult, to comprehend the thoughts of the great
Sages, or to understand the affairs of the small people? These men
who by their genius overcome all difficulties, cherish more than a
hundred thousand sentences and paragraphs in their minds, and
never flag in what they take in hand. Their profound studies
embrace antiquity as well as the present time, and from the rich

spring in their bosom pour out ingenious thoughts by thousands.[261]
The wisdom of the bureaucrats consists merely in their books and
registers, of which they understand all the intricacies.

What means the possession of ten or a hundred coins compared
with the wealth of a thousand pieces of gold, and how could
the granaries of the capital towering like mountains be placed on
a level with heaps of grain not higher than mounds of earth? A
man famous for his talents is like a famous vessel. The bigger
the vessel, the greater its capacity. The treasures hidden in the
bosoms of the scholars can be pronounced greater than those of
the officials.

Creepers growing among hemp, become straight without support,
and white silk gauze placed amidst coloured one, takes a
dark colour without having been dyed. This means that the good
and the evil we practice transforms our character. The nature of
scholars cannot always be good, but revering the holy doctrines,
they chant and hum them over day and night,[262] and thus take the
habits of the Sages.

In their childhood already do the future officers become
familiar with pencil and ink, which they learn to use by constant
practice. They never read a page of a book, or ever hear the
words benevolence and justice.[263] When they have grown up and are
called to office, they abuse their power of writing and their experience
in business. All their proceedings are dictated by selfish motives,
and influence and profit are their only aims. When they have to
make an investigation, they allow themselves to be bribed, and fleece
all the people with whom they are brought in contact.[264] Having an
honourable position, they crave for power, and, should they find
favour with the sovereign, they contrive the disgrace of the
governors. Once in power, they will wear elegant hats and sharp
swords,[265] and after one year's service their estate and their mansion
are well provided. They have not all a wicked character, but their

practices are in opposition to the holy doctrines. Those who follow
the method of the literati, reform and learn to love justice, so that
their ideas as well as their dealings change and improve.

An enlightened governor who clearly saw this, and therefore
employed scholars, was the minister of Tung-hai,[266] Tsung Shu Hsi.[267]
He used to invite obscure scholars on a large scale. In spring and
autumn he would assemble them to a feast and divide them into
three classes. In a regular order he nominated them to vacant
posts. Among the officials of a prefecture nine out of ten were
scholars. The prefect of Ch`ên-liu,[268] Ch`ên Tse Yü likewise opened the
ways to the literati. They were given all the posts of secretaries
and clerks, and the bureaucrats were only employed in the ratio
of one or two among ten.

These two governors knew the respective value of principles
and business, and could judge of the capacities of the candidates.
Therefore the age has praised their names, and many of their
doings have been recorded in books and memoirs.