I was inspired to write this post when I came across this piece of writing on Du Fu the poet on answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/du-fu
(born 712, Xiangyang, China — died 770, Hunan) Chinese poet, often considered the greatest of all time. After a traditional Confucian education, he failed the important civil service examinations and consequently spent much of his life wandering, repeatedly attempting to gain court positions, with mixed success. His early poetry, which celebrates the natural world and bemoans the passage of time, garnered him renown. He suffered periods of extreme personal hardship, and as he matured his verse began to express profound compassion for humanity. An expert in all the poetic genres of his day, he is renowned for his superb classicism and skill in prosody, though many of the subtleties of his art do not survive translation.
A renowned poet, yet I found it surprising that his ambition was to be a civil servant in the emperor's courts, hence my musings on the mind of a civil servant in the emperor's court as shown below:
I, as a civil servant in the Emperor's court acknowledge that:
1) The Emperor is the dragon and he is my overlord.
2) I am also subserviant to the empress dowager.
3) The emperor's son will be the next in line to the throne.
4) If I am under a minister, I have to serve him with unquestioning loyalty.
5) I am prepared to be punished for violating any part of the system that was put into place.
6) I have to pass important examinations if I want to be appointed in leadership roles.
7) Scholars who did better than me in the important examinations would be appointed as officials holding positions that are higher than mine.
8) A degree holder will not necessary be appointed to a civil service position.
9) Someone with a higher classification of degree will stand a better chance at appointment in the civil service than me.
10) This examination system is meritocratic.
11) The values of Confucianism in running the country.
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