with
mandarin square of the seventh rank (
Mandarin duck) on the chest.
Background Prior to the nine-rank system, official positions were denoted by their salary paid in or ("bushels") of
rice or
other grains, used to feed and supply their household staff. For example, during the
Han, the highest-ranking officials were classed as
wanshi (), meaning countless bushels, and were paid 350 of grain per month. The lowest ranking petty subofficials were paid in
dou ("pecks"), amounting to less than 100 bushels per year. The nine-rank system was a reorganization of the Han dynasty practice of recommending noteworthy locals for political office. Since 134 BCE, during the reign of
Emperor Wu of Han, the Han court relied mainly on nomination by local magnates and officials as a way of identifying talent, by nominating them under titles such as
xiaolian (, "
filial and
incorruptible") or
maocai (, "outstandingly talented"). The nine-rank system was created after the end of the Han in 220 AD when
Chen Qun, a court official from the state of
Cao Wei, proposed it as a way of organizing the state bureaucracy. It was called the "nine-rank method for recruiting men for office" (
Jiǔ pǐn guān rén fǎ; ). During the
Song dynasty it became the "system of Nine ranks and impartial judges." Chen Qun's reform was a way of systematizing the selection of candidates for political appointments in two ways: by creating a common scale of nine ranks to evaluate a person and by appointing controllers () in the court to grade officials on the scale. In practice, not only potential entrants but also existing officials were graded, creating two parallel systems: a "candidacy grade" () and a "service grade" (). The system was ostensibly based on a few criteria: moral probity, administrative ability, and the contributions of the person or his family to the newly created Cao Wei regime. In practice, descent also played an important role, since the service grade of a candidate's father had a bearing on their candidacy grade. Through the changes, the nine-rank system also became more closely aligned with the interests of the powerful official clans who had come to dominate imperial politics since the Cao Wei period. The expanded powers of the appointed controllers in turn meant that the officials who held the post, many of whom came from these clans, could use their powers to promote the interests of their own scions. An example of this intrafamilial transmission of skills is the calligrapher
Wang Xizhi, of the
Wang clan of Langya that was prominent during the
Eastern Jin, whose sons,
Wang Ningzhi,
Wang Huizhi and
Wang Xianzhi, were all famed calligraphers in their own right. The emphasis placed by the nine-rank system on moral attributes such as
filial piety also led to the growth of "familial instructions" (), which aimed to transmit moral teachings to children, as a genre of writing in the Jin and subsequent dynasties. During the
Northern Wei, ranks four to nine added additional upper and lower ranks to the standard and secondary ranks, giving the nine-rank system a total of 30 ranks (6 in the top 3 ranks; 24 from ranks 4 to 9). After the
Northern Song the nine ranks reverted to the original standard of 18 ranks, with each rank containing only two classes.
Organization The upper ranks were 1 − the highest — to 3, the middle were 4 to 6, and the lower were 7 to 9. Each rank had two classes − standard and secondary − for 18 steps. From the Northern Wei to before the Northern Song, classes from ranks 4 to 9 were further divided into upper and lower grades for 30 steps. Ranks were expressed as class, rank, then grade; for example: Standard class, Rank 4, Upper grade (). Prestige titles were also awarded, normally based on seniority, to confer status among officials of the same rank. From the Han to the
Sui, local recruiters recommended official candidates. Social status became the most important criterion, and powerful local families secured places in government; this led to the saying: "There are no poor people in the upper ranks and no powerful families in the lower ones." Centralization during the Sui and Tang reduced the power of the local elites, and candidates started to be selected by the
imperial examination system instead of by recommendations. By the Song, recruitment through examination was the norm. ==See also==