The eight-legged essay (Chinese: 八股文; pinyin: bāgǔwén; lit. 'eight bone text')[1] was a style of essay in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China.[1] The eight-legged essay was needed for those candidates in these civil service tests to show their merits for government service, often focusing on Confucian thought and knowledge of the Four Books and Five Classics, in relation to governmental ideals.[1] Test takers could not write in innovative or creative ways, but needed to conform to the standards of the eight-legged essay.[1] Various skills were examined, including the ability to write coherently and to display basic logic. In certain times, the candidates were expected to spontaneously compose poetry upon a set theme, whose value was also sometimes questioned, or eliminated as part of the test material. This was a major argument in favor of the eight-legged essay, arguing that it were better to eliminate creative art in favor of prosaic literacy. In the history of Chinese literature, the eight-legged essay is often said to have caused China's "cultural stagnation and economic backwardness" in the 19th century.[1][2]
essay parts 9 8
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The eight "legs" refer to the eight sections (literally "bones") of the essay that form its basic structure. These sections are "breaking open the topic (破题 pò tí)", "receiving the topic (承题 chéng tí)", "beginning discussion (起讲 qǐ jiǎng)", "initial leg (起股 qǐ gǔ)", "middle leg (中股 zhōng gǔ), "later leg (后股 (hòu gǔ)", "final leg (束股 shù gǔ)", "conclusion (大结 dà jié)."[1]
Since mastery of the form was a requirement for success in the examinations, commercial printers during the Ming dynasty began to print successful examination essays as guides for aspiring candidates.[6] The first of these appeared in pirated form during the 16th century, and the practice gained official approval in 1587, when the government suggested that the best papers of the previous century be reprinted as examples.[6]
There was widespread dissatisfaction with the eight-legged essay during the Qing dynasty.[4] In the beginning of the Kangxi reign, the state under the rule of the Four Regents issued an order revoking the need to use baguwen in all civil service exams, although the order was later repealed.[4] The Qianlong Emperor said that he could not comprehend the eight-legged essays written by many exam-takers.[4] The eight-legged essay was abolished in 1905 by the Guangxu Emperor.[4][7] In total, the eight-legged essay was included in China's civil service examination for over 1,000 years and thus assumed a historically important role.[4][8]
Structurally and stylistically, the eight-legged essay was restrictive and rigid.[2][9] There are rules governing different sections of the essay, including restrictions on the number of sentences in total, the number of words in total, the format and structure of the essay, and rhyming techniques.[9] The requirement of length went from 550 words to 700 at one point.[4][8]
In terms of the content, the exam-takers were required to compose their essays under a pre-assigned title and rhyming word, around which they needed to rhyme their essays or poems.[2][9] Writers were also advised to circumvent the use of offensive vocabulary and clues that can point to their identity or social status.[9]
There are two types of printing and publishing related to the eight-legged essay, one for the exams themselves and the other for public purposes.[1] After the test-takers finished with their exams, their papers were collected in the testing room and sent over to be graded.[1] They were then printed with the graders' comments and in the order of the score rank.[1] During the late Ming dynasty, commercial publishing also increased in the face of increasing commercialization of culture.[1] The public printing, publishing, and dissemination of the essays prompted more people to be interested candidates of the civil service examination during the Ming and Qing dynasties.[1]
One virtue of the eight-legged essays is that its composition is well defined and easy to follow.[2] For the purpose of administering a large group of exam-takers, this structure allowed convenient regulation as the exam-takers were not likely to deviate from the requirements.[2] Thus, this format contributed to ensuring standard and fairness in the civil service examination system.[2] The examiners could reduce the amount of time spent in grading exams by being accustomed to this format, and uncertainties in the grading schemes were reduced.[2] A scholar named Tian Qilin defended the eight-legged essay by arguing that it embodies the complex Chinese cultural and literary tradition.[8]
As early as the 17th century, the form's adoption was blamed for the decline of classical poetry and prose during the Ming dynasty.[citation needed] The critic Wu Qiao wrote that "people exhausted themselves on the eight-legged essay, and poetry was only composed with their spare energy."[citation needed] Writing at the same time, the political theorist and philosopher Huang Zongxi echoed these sentiments.[8][11] Also, the essay did not allow for any personal opinion and was completely impartial.[12] As a result, it led to the gradual narrowing of people's innovative thinking and consequently their minds, thus achieving a constraining effect on Chinese people and the nation.[2] The eight-legged essay has been associated with the "petrification in Chinese literature" and "China's cultural stagnation and economic backwardness."[1][12]
The introduction is the first paragraph of the essay, and it serves several purposes. This paragraph gets your reader's attention, develops the basic ideas of what you will cover, and provides the thesis statement for the essay. The thesis statement is usually only one sentence and is made up of the topic, focus, and three main points of the essay.
Be sure that each sentence in the paragraph directly addresses both your topic sentence and your thesis statement. If you have a point to make that is not directly connected to the topic sentence, it does not belong in the paragraph. You might write a different paragraph on that other point, but you may not stick it into any old paragraph just because you thought of it at that point. (You can't stick a red towel into a load of white laundry without causing damage to the rest of the clothes, and you can't stick a point that' off-topic into a paragraph without doing damage to the rest of the essay. Keep your laundry and your paragraph points separate!)
The conclusion is the last paragraph of the essay. This paragraph brings the essay to a close, reminds the reader of the basic ideas from the essay, and restates the thesis statement. The conclusion should not contain new ideas, as it is the summation of the content of the essay. The restatement of the thesis is a simpler form that the one originally presented in the introduction.
Before we finish, it is important to remember that the format of the five-paragraph essay is the foundation of nearly every other essay you'll write. When you get ready to write longer papers, remember that the job of the introduction and conclusion are just the same as they are in the five-paragraph essay. Also, when you write longer papers, change your idea of support from three body paragraphs to three (or two or four) body sections, with as many paragraphs as necessary in each section (just as you had as many sentences you needed in each body paragraph).
Air pollution levels remain dangerously high in many parts of the world. New data from WHO shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. Updated estimations reveal an alarming death toll of 7 million people every year caused by ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution.
There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using the dictionary.
In IELTS Writing Task 2, you will need to write an essay. Let our IELTS Experts walk you through 8 steps that can help you get a band 8. Take a closer look at the assessment criteria, how to structure your essay and common mistakes to avoid.
To achieve a band 8 in IELTS Writing Task 2, you will need to produce an essay that contains all the positive features contained in the band 8 writing assessment criteria. Let's take a look at these in the table below.
If you are asked to present both views and your opinion, state your opinion at the beginning of the essay and then move on to present both views. You can then come back to your own opinion and then conclude the essay. This is a logical way to present these ideas.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and your work with us. As teachers, we are always in need of fresh material. I teach college level creative writing classes, and your worksheets help my students. Sometimes I change the essay topics to fit their particular age group or interest, but having these examples laid out for us and made available for use in our classrooms is wonderful.
In a persuasive essay or argument essay, the student strives to convince the reader of the merits of their opinion or stance on a particular issue. The student must utilise several persuasive techniques to form a coherent and logical argument to convince the reader of a point of view or to take a specific action. 2ff7e9595c
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