Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t6.14

v1.c7.s7.t6.14

The theory on character and talent was a special theory which evolved in the course of bringing about certain change in the imperial examination system in late Han and early Wei Dynasty. Due to chaos caused by wars of devastation, the scholarly class migrated from their native places to other places of safety and security; the township-level imperial exam so far being held according to tradition remained discontinued. During the regime of the Emperor Ming of the Wei Dynasty (who reigned during 226-239 CE), Liu Shao devised the rules and regulations to conduct the tests and examinations for the examinee. In order to ensure the effectiveness of test method, it was necessary to evaluate characters and recommend potential officers according to their talent and character. The "*Records of Personnel*", authored by Liu Shao, took the ideas of Confucianism, Daoism, moralisation and legalism together. It was a monograph talking of the ways on how to make assessment of the people, which met the need of that time. But the "*Records on Personnel*" discussed the ideas of Yin-Yang, image and Spirit, that match with the heavenly ideas of he saints". According to History *Book of the Three Kingdoms Period* · *Book of the Wei Dynasty* · *Biography of Fu Gu*, Fu Gu often discussed about similarity and difference of talent and character and Zhong Hui gathered all those opinions of Fu Gu. The *Theory of the Four Fundamentals*, authored by Zhong Hui, collected popular opinions of that time on talent and character, accompanied by his own comments. A chapter titled *A New Account of Tales of the World* · *Literature* to be found in the *Book of the Wei Dynasty*: says that the theory of "four fundamentals discusses the similarities between talent and character (represented by prime minister Fu Gu); dissimilarities between talent and character (represented by chief secretary Li Feng), integration between talent and character (represented by assistant minister Zhong Hui) and separation between talent and character (represented by cavalry officer Wang Guang)”. Actually Fu Gu and Zhong Hui’s theories on talent and character were simply developed to evaluate characters for practical purpose, so its philosophical value was less than that of “Records on Personnel” authored by Liu Shao.