The contents for the imperial civil
examinations in
the Ming Dynasty, which were based on The Four Books (The Great Learning,
The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, and Mencius) annotated by Zhu Xi(a renowned scholar of the Song Dynasty), distorted the mentality of Ming candidates or scholars. One outcome of studying the Four Books through their lifetime was that the candidates became narrow-minded and pedantic. Another was the loss of their dignity and individuality in a frenzy of passing such imperial
examinations. The examinations had remained a constant source of worry for Ming candidates. In describing the situation, Gu Yanwu, a Ming scholar, said that abundant food and a gold house were all that the adults used to stimulate their children to learn. After these children grew up, they began to go after what they had been told about in childhood. The emperors and ministers were all guided by the interests, too. Such became a mainstream that could no longer be held back. On the moral corruption resulting from seeking the interests, he further remarked that the people of today preferred greetings with clasped hands to those with words, for the silent were regarded as steady; frankness was no longer a merit, and in its place is slickness, which was now an equivalence of tact. This was so prevailing that the established officials never commented on truths of state affairs and, as a result, their successors followed suit. Therefore no one could be certain of what others really meant by what they said. As a result the governments at all levels had fallen into an abyss of disorder. However, real thinkers began to question the society and take a different path. Noble-minded scholars such as Wang Yangming stuck to their thoughts and despised the imperial examinations, while keeping away from those who were "empty and outdated, vain and vulgar" and pursuing their freedom of life. These scholars became spokesmen for and pioneers of human individuality in
the Ming Dynasty. They stayed away from the worldly distractions and preoccupations, finding their own pleasure in their little world of amusement by amusing the world around them. Seemingly hermits, they had all been ambitious, under the guidance of the Confucian teachings, to "run the country well and give people peace and security". The Ming artist Tang Yin, for example, tried the imperial examinations several times for an official career; Li Zhi, philosopher and writer, led an honest and simple life as prefect in Yao An; the writer Yuan Hongdao attained marked achievements in governing a county; and Feng Menglong, a pioneer novelist, enjoyed the high remarks "clarity and efficiency in justice and administration" during his four-year governorship in Shou Ning where people were known for being simple and honest. These scholar-officials quit their official career just because the dominant ideology ran counter to and overshadowed their ideas and ideals. Owing to their failure to reject the strong and deep-rooted tradition of the time, they felt so insignificant and helpless as to retire into their own world of spiritual purity and defiant pride.