As Long As I Get Paid...

... I don't care what silly nonsense you have me do.

Money is the only truth

I love how when studying history, because one has no personal stake in believing in the lies of the time period, we can cut through the bullshit and talk about things for what they are.

Here's an example of 'at the end of the day, it all boils down to money.'

The system of merit-based education in 1700s China leading to cushy government jobs was flawed on several accounts. The prescribed texts were not authentic to the original work of Confucius. Its effectiveness in selecting the best government officials was unproven. But most importantly, it failed to deliver the money.

The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence.

103

[1] "Yan proved, with carefully marshaled evidence, that several sections of this major work [Confucian texts] (on which generations of state examination questions had been based) were a later forgery and thus did not deserve the reverence that scholars ascribed to it.

[2] By the 1740s the examinations as a whole were coming under attack as sterile exercises that failed to select the finest scholars for office, and Yan's work heightened this sense of state Confucianism's weakness.

[3] Social tensions further undermined confidence in this system, for by the mid-eighteenth century the state had not increased quotas of examination candidates proportionately to the rise in China's population. The consequent pressures on students and the difficulties of finding employment even if one passed the exams brought frustration and disillusionment to many members of the educated elite."

Remarks:

1) LOL. At some point the rulers subversively changed/added to the Confucian doctrines to suit their political agenda.

2) The whole studying Confucianism to become great leaders was a long standing sham. It was a disguised way of keeping the progeny of wealthy elites (who could afford the education to pass the exams) perpetually in office, under pretext of upholding moral teachings.

Government officials, despite their exacting Confucian education, grafted wherever they had the opportunity!!

A commonly known Chinese idiom:

有孔就钻

Has hole just enter!

(Deliberately squeeze into every opening.)
Meaning: act as an opportunist, make a grab at every chance one gets!

Same to this very day in China. Need a permit? Not without a bribe. Want your child to attend the best school? Pay me to get in. Want your child to actually get passing grades while in school? Send the teachers gifts. Need to see a doctor? Hope you have cartons of cigarettes - not to smoke, yourself, silly! - to hand out to the staff!

And then on top of that you better have the right connections, or all the bribes you can afford won't do you any good!

3) It's all fun and games until we get to the bottom line. Let's suppose you spend your whole life competing for this examination, actually succeed in passing it, and then find out it does you no good in getting a paid position.

 'You can lie to me, you can force me to jump through hoops, but at the end of the day if I'm not getting paid then you and I have got a problem!!'

That's what it boils down to.