Introduction

This paper discusses how biographical data of the lecturers at the Directorate School in early Northern Song (960-1050) China are extracted, converted, verified, visualized and analyzed. Through this prosopographical survey of lecturers, I aim to address the following questions: to what extent did the scholarly background of lecturers shape students' learning at the Directorate of Education? To what degree did the geographical background of a lecturer cast an impact on his intellectual inclination? What explains the changes of lecturers' appointment, and how did such changes shed light on the relationship between government education and examination? Answers to the above questions may help us to rethink an important historical question in Chinese history: to what extent were reforms at the metropolitan educational institutions in the Qingli (1041-1048) era revolutionary?

The first task is to identify the names of those who received appointment as lecturers during the period 960 to 1050. Key terms like "Directorate lecturer" 國子監直講 and "lecturer"直講 are then searched extensively in core textual sources like the Long Draft Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror That Aids Administration 續資治 通鑑長編, the Draft of documents pertaining to matters of state in the Song Dynasty 宋會要輯稿, the General Investigation on Important Writings 文 獻 通 考 , the official History of the Song Dynasty 宋史, as well as biographies, epitaphs and biographical sketches scattered in anthologies of Song literati, local Gazetteers, and notebooks. With the help of the Database of Chinese classic ancient books 中國基本古籍庫 and the electronic database of the Complete prose of the Song 全宋文, which contain all the above texts in digital format, I have found 46 names that are associated with the lecturer position and their approximate period of appointment.

These Records of a lecturer's scholarly attainment are also used to indicate whether he was an expert in classics or literature. For example a lecturer who was "erudite in the Five Confucian Classics"通五經 or who had "a thorough understanding of classical knowledge" 明 經 術 is considered as an expert in classics. 1 A lecturer whose "prose was pure, beautiful, clear and profound, which is a model for students to imitate," 2 其文清麗簡遠，學者以 為師法 whose "literature was famed all under heaven at the time," 3 當是時，以文學稱天下 or whose "prose and The above figures show that most of the Directorate lecturers appointed prior to 1020 were experts in the Confucian Classics. This is also attested by their scholarly productions, of which the proportion of classical to literary works is 2:1. Yet the situation began to change from the 1020s onwards. The scholarly background and writings of the lecturers appointed between 1021 and 1050 suggests that heavier stress was put on literary skills relative to classical knowledge: the proportion of literary to classical works produced by the lecturers is 3:2. Among all the lecturers appointed between 1021 and 1030, 60% were acclaimed for their classical erudition and 40% were adept in literature. The respective ratio became 22% and 45% for the group of lecturers appointed between 1041 and 1050, while the remaining 33% were praised for both their classical knowledge and literary writings. Such bias towards literary composition at the expense of classical studies is also reflected in the credentials of the Directorate lecturers. 32% of the lecturers whose credentials are traceable and who received appointment before 1020 were holders of "Various Subjects" degree, successful candidates of which could be considered as experts in the Confucian Classics. The percentage of "Various Subjects" degree holders dropped to a mere 10% for those appointed between 1021 and 1030.

Contrarily, at least 60% of the newly appointed lecturers between 1031 and 1050 attained the credential of "Advanced Scholar", a degree qualification that proved the candidates' literary abilities. Yet none of the lecturers between 1031 and 1050 were holders of "Various muzhi ming"宋尚書司封郎中孫公墓誌銘, in Li Zhiliang 李之 亮 jian zhu, Wang Jing Gong Wen Ji Jian Zhu 王荊公文集箋注 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shu she, 2005), Juan 60, pp.2057. 4 Li Qingchen 李清臣, "Wu Zhengxian gong chong muzhi ming", in Zeng Zaozhuang 曾棗莊, Liu Lin 劉琳 zhu bian, Quan Song wen 全宋文 (Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she; Hefei Shi: Anhui jiao yu chu ban she, 2006), Vol.79, pp.58.

Subjects" degree. (Figure 4) In addition, there is also a tendency to appoint younger officials to be lecturers from the 1020s onwards. The average age of Directorate lecturers who received appointment prior to 1020 was 49, which gradually dropped to 38 for those appointed between 1041 and 1050. (Figure 5)

Geographical Background of Lecturers

To what degree did the geographical background of a lecturer cast an impact on his intellectual inclination? A Song contemporary Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072) claimed that "the custom in the southeast prefer literature, hence more Advanced Scholars but less Classical experts are produced; people in the northwest advocate austerity, hence less Advanced Scholars but more Classical experts are produced. and their intellectual orientation helps shed light on the above questions. The native place of 32 of a total of 46 known lecturers appointed between 960 and 1050 can be identified, which is shown in Figure 6 below with the help of GIS tools: Figure 6: Native place of lecturers Among these 32 lecturers, only 20 of them had their scholarly inclination traceable (Figure 7): This study of a small sample of Directorate lecturers somehow attests Ouyang Xiu's observation that scholars in the Southeast were more adept in literary abilities than their northern counterparts. To sum up the above analysis of the lecturers' data, although the amount of empirical evidence does not allow for proper statistical trend analysis, the visualization of the quantitative measures still gives rise to an intriguing and plausible explanation for the changing scholarly background of the lecturers.

Concluding Observations

What explains the Song court's appointment of an increasing number of younger literary experts to become Directorate lecturers from the 1020s onwards? A prolonged mismatch between the curriculum at the Directorate School and the syllabi of the prestigious "Advanced Scholar" degree examinations since the founding of the Song dynasty is the key: the former stressed the Confucian Classics, 6 but poetry and rhapsody were keys to the latter. Since the curriculum at the Directorate School was not appealing to students who aimed to pursue the "Advanced Scholar" degree, they appeared disinterested in education at the School and most of the time did not attend classes. In turn, the campus of the Directorate School remained quiet in view of students' absence, as stated in a casual comment by a scholar-official Yang Yi 楊億 (974-1020): "In spite of the existence of the School campus today, the classrooms are tiny and the student population is miniscule." 7 今學舎雖 存, 殊為湫隘, 生徒至寡, 僅至陵夷

The appointment of an increasing number of "Advanced Scholar" degree holders with expertise in literary composition from the 1020s onwards can be conceived as a response of the Song court to the prolonged students' absence from classes at the Directorate School. In stark contrast with Directorate Lecturers prior to 1020 who instructed students only in the Confucian Classics, this new generation of Directorate lecturers advocated poetry and prose in the school. They tested their students monthly on poetry, rhapsody, policy essays and discussions questions. Based on these tests, students were ranked and their names posted at the gates of the school. 8 The inclusion of poetry and rhapsody in the school curriculum and assessment shows that teaching in the Directorate School had finally matched the syllabi of the "Advanced scholar" examinations. Changes of lecturers' appointment between 960 and 1050 as revealed in this paper also suggest that certain reforms at the metropolitan educational institutions were evolutionary rather than revolutionary.