PoliticsSpring 788

The Dokseo Sampumgwa

King Wonseong graded students of the National Academy into three ranks by their reading of the Confucian classics, for use in appointing officials.

Students who understood the Zuo Commentary, the Book of Rites and the Wenxuan and knew the Analects and the Classic of Filial Piety were placed in the upper rank; lesser readings earned the middle or lower ranks, and those versed in all the classics, histories and philosophers could be appointed outright.

It was an attempt to choose officials by learning rather than bone rank, but true-bone opposition and the bone-rank system kept it from working fully. It did help spread Confucian learning.

The map in AD 788

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States and rulers at the time
Silla — King Wonseong
Places
Seorabeol (Gyeongju)

People

  • King WonseongAD 798

    monarch · 38th king of Silla (Kim Gyeong-sin), who created the Dokseo Sampumgwa to select officials by their reading of the Confucian classics

Before and after

Themes that include this event

  • Educational Institutions Through the AgesAD 372 – 1943

    From the Taehak and Gukhak to the Gukjagam and Seonggyungwan, modern schools and the colonial education ordinances — state schools that trained officials and the private schools that filled the gaps