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Chapter 16 Section 1 Procedures and Methods of Ming and Qing Imperial Examinations

Ancient Chinese Examination System 郭齐家 7323Words 2018-03-20

At the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang solved the problem of selecting officials and scholars through various methods such as imperial examinations, recommendation of talents, and school training.In the third year of Hongwu (AD 1370), an imperial edict was issued to implement the imperial examination, which was held for three consecutive years. Since most of the selected talents were young and lacked practical experience, Zhu Yuanzhang was quite dissatisfied, so from the sixth year of Hongwu (AD 1373) Suspend the imperial examination.At this time, the Ming Dynasty paid great attention to recommending scholars and setting up schools to select outstanding talents and appoint them as officials.However, the situation of recommendation is not better than that of imperial examination, there are many and excessive recommendation.After comparison, in the 15th year of Hongwu (AD 1382), it was decided to restore the imperial examination to select scholars. From the 17th year of Hongwu (AD 1384), it was held every three years. After that, the imperial examination was quickly raised to the dominant position. , The recommendation gradually declined, and the school became a preparatory institution for the imperial examination. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, two methods of recommendation and imperial examination were also implemented to select talents, but the effect of recommendation was not good, and most scholars despised recommendation.Intellectuals of the Han nationality also suggested that the Qing court pay attention to using the imperial examination system to win over talents.For example, Zhang Cunren, the governor of Zhejiang Province, said: "If you open a course to obtain a scholar, the student will have the hope of becoming an official, and you will stop thinking about going against it." To win the hearts of the people. Scholars are to show off the people, and if you learn from the scholars, you will get the people's hearts! Please go to the township and general examinations, so that you can get in." ("Manuscript of Qing History · Fan Wencheng Biography") Therefore, the selection of officials and scholars in the Qing Dynasty was still based on the imperial examination. Mainly, the imperial examination basically followed the system of the Ming Dynasty in terms of content and form, and was basically finalized in Qianlong. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examinations highlighted the Jinshi subject.The examination is roughly divided into the following four steps. The first step is called "children's test", which can also be said to be a preparatory test.Candidates are called "Rutong" or "Tongsheng" regardless of their age. They first take the state and county-level examinations (that is, children's examinations), and the prefects take the exam. After passing, they are called "Students", also known as "Xiangsheng". , commonly known as "xiucai". "Xiu Cai" is divided into three classes. Those with the best grades are called "Lin [Lin Lin] Sheng", and the state pays food subsidies on a monthly basis; the second is called "Zeng Sheng", who do not provide food subsidies. There are certain quotas for "Linsheng" and "Zensheng".The third is "attached students", the attached students who have just entered the school.In the first year of Ming Zhengtong (AD 1436), in order to strengthen the unified and centralized jurisdiction of the central dynasty over local schools at all levels (prefecture, prefecture, and county schools), a school official in charge of education in a province was appointed, called "promoting school officials". ", this academic officer is also called "college", and the "college" presides over the exam, so the "children's test" is also called "the college test"."Scholars" who pass the college examination can also enter local prefectures and counties as students.Only after obtaining the "Xiu Cai" qualification can they take the higher-level examination.Scholars have a higher status than ordinary people. They don't have to kneel down when they see the county magistrate, and the government can't use criminal law on them casually.So the third chapter wrote that after Fan Jinzhong became a "scholar", his old father-in-law Hu Tuhu said: "Now that you have won the title of a gentleman (a scholar), you must establish an individual system in everything...these field workers and excrement pickers at the door of the house Yes, it’s just ordinary people, if you bow to him and sit on an equal footing, this is breaking the rules of the school, and even my face will be tarnished.” The "Children's Examination" is only the first step in the long journey of the imperial examination. One step, but thousands of people have difficulty taking this difficult step.According to the eleventh volume of "Grand Views of Unofficial History of the Qing Dynasty": "Especially for those who fail to pass the test for a long time. A certain old man is more than 50 years old, and Yingxian took the test 30 times, but he has not yet won the championship. The self-proclaimed seven unique words:

The content of the children's examination is mainly the "Four Books" ("University", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "Mencius"), as well as "The Classic of Filial Piety", "Xing Li" and "Tai Chi Tu Shuo", "Xi Ming", " Confucian classics and Neo-Confucian works such as "Zhengmeng", as well as the "Holy Edict Guangxun" and "Teaching Scholars" promulgated by the Qing court.The style of the essay in "Four Books" is eight-legged essay, also known as Zhiyi. "Examination post poetry" is a special name for the examination poems in the examination room. The title and rhyme are limited, and "Sheng Yu Guang Xun" is written silently. Roll call before dawn on the day of the exam. When you enter, you must go through a strict search, untie your hair, take off your coat, and you are not allowed to bring any pieces of paper, words, gold and silver.After entering the venue, test papers will be issued, and candidates will be seated according to the seat number stamped on the paper, and then the gates and gates will be sealed off.When the cloud board is hit in the hall, the examination hall is immediately silent. The guards hold the question boards and walk up and down the corridor so that the candidates can see the questions clearly. Candidates with poor eyesight can stand up and ask the examiner to read the questions aloud two or three times, but the candidates are not allowed to leave their seats.There are soldiers monitoring around the examination room. If candidates are found to have moved seats, changed papers, dropped paper, talked, looked around, and groaned, they will be suspended from the test immediately.After the candidates have obtained the questions for a period of time (around nine or ten o'clock in the morning), the invigilator will stamp the small stamp issued by Xuezheng on the transcribed examination paper (about between 100-character test papers), so as to prevent others from substituting Disadvantages of taking exams or taking easy exam papers.From 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon (afternoon time), drums are played outside the gate three times, and the inspectors in the hall hit the cloud board three times, shouting "Quickly copy the truth!" Whether the transcript is completed or not must be handed in.Each time the examiner collects a roll, he will issue a card to 30 people, open the door once, and let a group of people out of the examination room, first put the first card, then the second and third cards, until the end of the game.When going out, collect one card and let one person go.On the back of the test paper, there is a stamped number on the right corner, and it is printed on it.The first place in the court examination is the head of the court.The announcement of the college examination is called the "out of school [honghong] case", also known as the "red case", that is, the academic officer will print out the names of the people who enrolled in each county in this session, according to the counties, in red, and collect them. One volume, distributed to each student. Strictly speaking, the children's examination is just an entrance examination, and those who pass the children's examination only mean that they have obtained the qualifications of local officials and students.In the real sense, the imperial examination system for selecting scholars began with the provincial examination. The second step is called the "township test", which is a provincial level test.It is held every three years, called "Dabi", and it is usually held in Zi, Mao, Wu, and You years. Because the examination period is set in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, it is also called "Qiu Wei".There are two main examiners in each township examination, and four examiners at the same time, collectively referred to as "inner curtain officials".Examiners are generally temporarily appointed by the emperor, and most of them are Beijing officials and instructors with Jinshi backgrounds. Most of the examiners are Hanlin graduates.Most of the promoted officials were selected from the Chief Secretary or the Beijing government to serve as a secretary to be responsible for administrative and general affairs.In order to ensure that the examination is "supreme", according to the Procuratorate or the Metropolitan Procuratorate, two officials or censors will be appointed as examiners.The promotion officers and supervisors are collectively referred to as "outer curtain officials".Outer curtain officials shall not infringe upon the examiner's power, and shall not interfere with the examiner's judging and admission work. Township examinations are held in provincial capitals.The first session will be on the 9th of August, the second session will be on the 12th, and the third session will be on the 15th.Each game is put in by roll call on the first day, and released on the next day.The examination style also uses stereotyped essays (or Zhiyi, Shiyi, Shiwen, "Four Books" essays).The first examination of the "Four Books" in the Ming Dynasty consisted of three meanings, each of which was limited to more than 200 characters, and four principles of classics and meanings, each of which was limited to more than 300 characters.In the second round, there is one essay, with a limit of more than 300 words, one piece of imperial edict, imperial edict, and internal medicine, and five judgments; the third round is five essays on classics, history, and current affairs, all of which must be more than 300 words, but those who are less able can do so. Reduce two as appropriate.In the early Qing Dynasty, it basically followed the Ming system. During the Qianlong period, the content of the three rural examinations was adjusted. In the fifty-two year of Qianlong (AD 1787), the emperor ruled the classics by scholars, and he did not bypass other scriptures. In the way of practical learning, it is ordered to abolish the special classics from the next year, and the township and general examinations will be rotated every year for five consecutive years.Therefore, three articles of "Four Books" and one poem of five characters and eight rhymes were decided for the first session.In the second scene, there are five scriptures, titled "Yi", "Poetry", "Spring and Autumn", and "Book of Rites".In the third session, there are five questions, including classics, history, current affairs, and politics.Self is then eternal.There is also a limit on the number of words in each test paper. It was established in the second year of Shunzhi in the early Qing Dynasty. The first test paper should not exceed 550 words, the second and third test papers should not exceed 1,000 words, and the discussion papers should not exceed 2,000 words.Because the text is too short, the meaning of the words is difficult to understand.During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the first text was limited to 650 characters.In the 40th year of Qianlong (AD 1778), the rate for each article was 700 characters, and those who violated it would not be admitted. The three township examinations lasted nine days. The weather was still hot in the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The sun was scorching during the day, and the fire was burning, making it uncomfortably hot.In addition, there is a toilet at the end of each row of rooms, and the smell is pervasive.A candidate who participated in several rural examinations recorded his visit to the Zhejiang Provincial Examination in "Memoirs of the Examination Hall": "In No. 1, there are dozens of rooms, one for each candidate, and the bottom is the toilet. Those who sit near the toilet , so-called 'stinky number', the first session is fine, but the second session spreads the filth far and wide. Year, that is, 1897 A.D., in the second field, sitting on the stinky horn, the weather was sweltering, and the disease came on, and the white paper (examination handed in a blank paper) came out. There is another person who is opposite to the place where the cooking pot [cuan channeling] is called 'fire horn', and the smoke It’s unbearable to smoke and burn.” This examinee fell ill due to sitting in a “stinky title”, and passed a blank paper. Those who pass the provincial examination are called "juren".In the township examination, it is called "Yibang", also known as "Yike".The first name is "解〔jiejie〕元".The second name is "Yayuan".The third, fourth and fifth are called "Jing Kui".The sixth name is "Yakui".The rest are called "Wen Kui".After winning the election, it is customary to announce the good news.The person who announces the good news is called Baozi, wears a red tassel hat on his head, rides a horse, beats a gong, and takes the newspaper slip to the door of the Zhongju family to post it.The paper reads: There is a poem "Announcement of Good News" written by Zhang Ziqiu (Xue Qiushi), a poet of the Qing Dynasty, in "Continued Dumen Zhuzhi Ci":

This poem vividly describes the custom of presenting good news in Dengdi Middle School, and expresses the joy of the announcer and the author for the high school. After the newspaper slips have been pasted, the people who have passed the exam will come out to entertain the newspapers.If you pass the "juren" exam, you can not only enter Beijing to participate in the national "examination", but even if you fail to pass the "examination" in the "examination", you are also qualified to be an official.So the third chapter said that after Fan Jinzhong became a Juren, many people came to pay homage to "Master Fan of Xinzhong". The couple came to serve as servants for shelter. In two or three months, Fan Jin’s family had servants and maids, not to mention money and rice.” No wonder Fan Jin was so happy when he heard the news that he had won the exam. He went crazy, and his old father-in-law, Hu Tuhu, also changed his countenance, saying: "Although he is my son-in-law, he is now a master, and he is a star in the sky." The lower ones are local government officials, and those who can be promoted to the officialdom account for a small proportion of the total number of recruits.Some wait for several years, or even decades, and are still commoners. The poem "Doumen Bamboo Branch Ci · Candidates" says:

The third step is called "meeting examination", which is a central-level examination.In the second year after the rural examination, that is, the spring of the Chou, Chen, Wei, and Xu years, the lunar calendar will be held in Beijing.Therefore, it is also called "Chun Wei" or "Li Wei".In the fifth year of Yongzheng (AD 1727) and the second year of Qianlong (AD 1737) in the Qing Dynasty, due to the leap month and the cold weather, the examination time was temporarily changed to March.In the ninth year of Qianlong (AD 1744), there was a decree saying: "There will be an examination in February next year. The weather is not yet warm. It is not without cold during the inspection, and all provinces need to re-examination. It will be a little later for scholars to arrive in Beijing. It will be rescheduled in the next year." It will be held in March." (Volume 330 of "Imperial Qing Huidian Cases") Therefore, from the tenth year of Qianlong (AD 1745), the examinations were held in March.The ninth day of March is the first test, the 12th is the second, and the 15th is the third.For each game, the first day is to lead the papers to enter the field, and the next day to hand in the papers and exit the field, and each game is counted as three days.The content and text restrictions of each field in the general examination are basically the same as those in the rural examination. The examination is hosted by the Ministry of Rites.The emperor appointed two chief examiners from the Hanlin and instructors, and eight people were in charge of the same examination.After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the main examiners were held by academicians from the Imperial Academy, and the deputy examiners were served by the chiefs of the Imperial Academy or Zhan Shifu.The number of examiners has increased to 20, including 12 from Hanlin, and 4 from each department and department.The two officials who were promoted were dispatched by the Ministry of Rites.The two supervisors are supervised by the supervisory censor.Juren from all over the country participated in the examination.The number of admissions is not customized, sometimes there are only more than 30 people, and sometimes as many as 400 people.After being admitted in the general examination, they are called "Gongshi", and the first one is called "Huiyuan".In the first year of Hongxi Emperor Renzong of Ming Dynasty (1425 A.D.), the number of admissions in the general examination began to be divided into north and south. It was stipulated that southerners accounted for 3/5 and northerners accounted for 2/5.Later, it was divided into three volumes: south, north, and middle. Among the 100 quotas, 55 people were selected for the south paper (candidates from provinces south of the Huaihe River), 35 people were selected for the north paper (candidates from provinces north of the Huaihe River), and 10 people were selected for the middle paper. Names (candidates from provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Anhui).Adopted the principle of "dividing land and taking" to take care of the interests of various regions.In the Qing Dynasty, the admission quota for the general examination was allocated according to the three volumes of the south, north, and middle, and the allocation was generally based on the ratio of one admission to 20 candidates.In the third year of Qianlong's reign (1738 A.D.), Taiwan was allowed to come to Beijing for a test, and only one of the 10 candidates could be selected to show care and encouragement.The total number of admissions is temporarily determined by the emperor.If you are not admitted in the general examination, you can be transferred to the Guozijian as a student supervisor, and when conditions permit, you can be awarded a minor official of the capital, a government assistant, a prefectural and county official, etc. in the future.At that time, there was also a sub-list in the examination. Those who made it to the sub-list were not officially admitted, but most of them could be awarded to school instructors.Juren who are in prison are also given a salary. There was no re-examination in the general examination. During Renchenke in the fifty-first year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1712 A.D.), some people cheated, so a re-examination was conducted.There were also re-examinations during the Yongzheng and Qianlong years, and it was written as an order during the Jiaqing period.A few days after the announcement of the list, the re-examination was held at the Qianqing Palace, which was later changed to the Baohe Palace.During the re-examination, there will be an article from "Four Books" and a poem with five characters and eight rhymes, which will be handed in on the same day.Those who rank first, second, and third in the re-examination are allowed to participate in the palace examination. The fourth step is called "court examination" or "temple examination".After the general examination (usually in April of the lunar calendar), it is presided over by the emperor himself, and the examiners are the scholars, ministers, Du Yushi, Tongzheng Shi, Dali Temple ministers, Hanlin scholars, Zhan Shi, etc., and the ministers of the Ministry of Rites and ministers He was promoted and transferred, and the examination was supervised by the censor.The Palace Examination is only a trial question, and the examinee is required to hand in the paper on the spot, and send it to the examiner for review after sealing.The palace examination is not eliminated, and all the tributes who participate in the palace examination can obtain the qualification of Jinshi.In the palace examination, it is called "Jiabang", also known as "Jiake".The list is divided into three tops: one is awarded Jinshi and the first place, and there are only three, namely the number one scholar (also known as Dianyuan), the second place in the list, and Tanhua, collectively known as the three tripods.The number one scholar is generally awarded to the Imperial Academy for editing and writing, and the second place and Tanhua are generally awarded to the Imperial Academy for editing and editing.Erjia gave Jinshi a number of family backgrounds, the first of which was Chuanlu [lulu].Sanjia bestowed several Jinshi from the same background.The second and third best Jinshi can take the examination of Shujishi of the Imperial Academy, which is called "Guanxuan".After passing the entrance examination, he was called "Shu Jishi", studied for three years and then awarded important official positions.Jinshi who have not been selected by the museum may be awarded to Shizhong, Yushi, Liubu principals, Tuiguan, Zhizhou, and county magistrates.After the palace examination, when the admission results are announced, a grand roll call ceremony will be held in front of the palace.After the palace examination, the emperor will personally give all Jinshi a banquet.At that time, if he won the Jinshi, his fame would come to an end.Therefore, in the seventeenth chapter, Pu Moqing said: "After all, being a Jinshi is the end of studying." Anyone who passed the promotion of the second list and the Jinshi of the A list to become an official is called "two list background".Those who have "Jieyuan", "Huiyuan" and "Zhuangyuan" in one person are called "Lianzhong Sanyuan".According to "Jiaosheng Essays" written by Wang Zhichun of Qing Dynasty, since the Tang Dynasty, there have been 13 people who have "connected with three yuan".They are: Zhang Youxin and Cui Yuanhan in the Tang Dynasty; Sun He, Wang Zeng, Song Xiang, Yang Zhi, Wang Yansou, Feng Jing in the Song Dynasty; Meng Zongxian in the Jin Dynasty; Wang Chongzhe in the Yuan Dynasty; Shang Lu (lulu) in the Ming Dynasty ; Qian Qi [qiqi] and Yang Jichang in the Qing Dynasty.Among the subject names, the one with the highest honor is the No. 1 scholar, so the title of the No. 1 scholar is "Da Kui Tian Xia".

"No. 1 Scholar and No. 1" plaque

This is a seven-character poem "Biography of Lu" in "Miscellaneous Odes of the Capital" by Yang Jingting, a poet of the Qing Dynasty. It describes the imperial examination customs of the ceremony of Chuanlu in the Golden Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and promotes the glory of the number one scholar and the Jinshi. According to "Ming Dynasty Zaifu Textual Research", from the beginning of Ming Yongle to the end of Chongzhen, there were 163 cabinet scholars. According to the geographical division of the two capitals and thirteen chief ministers in the Ming Dynasty, the native places of these 163 are as follows: Nanzhi (including 27 from present-day Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai), 26 from Zhejiang, 17 from Beizhi (now Hebei), 13 from Shandong, 11 from Fujian, 9 from Sichuan, 5 from Shanxi, 2 from Guangxi, 22 from Jiangxi, and 17 from Huguang (now Hebei). Hubei, Hunan) 12, Henan 11, Guangdong 5, Shaanxi 2.From the above personnel distribution, it can be seen that there are 98 scholars from Nanzhi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, and Fujian in the south of the Yangtze River, accounting for 60% of all cabinet scholars. to the northerners.If there were no separation of the northern and southern volumes, perhaps more scholars from the south would enter the upper echelons of the ruling group. According to the survey, among the 114 champions in the Qing Dynasty, 49 were from Jiangsu, 20 from Zhejiang, 9 from Anhui, 6 from Shandong, 4 from Zhili and Guangxi, 3 each from Jiangxi, Hubei, Fujian, and Guangdong, and 3 from Hunan, Guizhou, and Manchuria. 2 each, and 1 each from Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Mongolia.Among them, the three champions of Manchuria and Mongolia belong to the Eight Banners system.There are no champions in Shanxi, Yunnan, Gansu and other regions.It was also checked that in the palace examination of 112 subjects in the Qing Dynasty, a total of 342 top three candidates (that is, champion, second place, and Tanhua) were produced.Among them, 117 were from Jiangsu, 75 from Zhejiang, 21 from Anhui, 18 from Jiangxi, 14 from Shandong, 13 from Hubei, 13 from Hunan, 11 from Guangdong, 10 from Fujian, 8 from Manchuria, 8 from Zhili, and 8 from Shuntian. , 5 from Henan, 5 from Guangxi, 3 from Guizhou, 3 from Shaanxi, 3 from Sichuan, and 3 from the Han Army (that is, the Eight Banners of the Han Army, which were compiled by Han soldiers in the seventh year of Chongde in the Qing Dynasty, called the Eight Banners of the Han Army). Interestingly, the number of winners in the palace examinations in each province is roughly the same as the number of Jinshi in each province, which reflects the level of politics, economy, and cultural education in each region at that time.In the Qing Dynasty, seniors in their 70s, 80s or even 100 years old who failed the general examinations were often rewarded with false titles such as Siye of the Imperial Academy or editor and reviewer of the Imperial Academy.It is said that in the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi (1699 A.D.), Huang Zhang, an examinee in the Shuntian Township Examination, was already a hundred years old; :

In the spring of the sixth year of Daoguang (AD 1826), a general examination was held in Beijing.Among the many applicants, there is a 103-year-old old man with gray temples. He is Lu Yuncong from Sanshui County, Guangzhou Prefecture.The chief examiner was very surprised to find that the candidate was an old man over a hundred years old, so he immediately played the emperor.Emperor Daoguang was very happy, thinking that this was a "renrui" and an auspicious omen, and immediately gave Lu Yuncong the official title of the old man Guozijian.

Nanwei release map

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most provinces established Gongyuan in the southeast of the city as the examination room for the rural examination.The Beijing Gongyuan was small at the beginning, and it was rebuilt during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It was built in the northwest and south of the Observatory in Chongwenmen.A large plaque with the word "Gongyuan" hangs in the middle of the gate.A gold plaque with the word "Dragon Gate" hangs in the middle of the two gates.To the north of Longmen is a two-story Mingyuan building.During the examination period, the supervisors, supervisors, inspectors and other officials climbed to the tower to look down, condescending, and had a panoramic view of the entire examination room, which was convenient for inspection.To the north of Mingyuan Building is the "Zhigongtang".From the Longmen to the east and west sides of the corridor of the Zhigongtang are the East and West Wenchang, each of which has 57 rows of numbered rooms facing south and shaped like long alleys, with a total of 9064 rooms.Each row of numbered rooms is a font size, and the sequence is arranged in "Thousand Characters", and "a certain font size" is written on the lintel wall at the entrance of the alley.In each font size, the number of rooms is different, separated by walls.Each room is about six feet high, four feet deep, and three feet wide.The east and west brick walls are more than one foot to two feet above the ground, and are built with two layers of brick joints, with several wooden boards on them, which can be moved.During the day, the wooden boards are separated, one up and one down, the upper layer is a table, and the lower layer is a stool; at night, the upper wooden boards are moved to the lower layer, and put together to form a couch.During the exam, after being searched, the examinees would carry pens and ink, bedding, candles, and meals into the numbered room in the middle of the night. These boards are inseparable from eating, sleeping, and writing articles. "Three years of hard work will make you a ghost, and two words of fame will make you a fool." The life of candidates in the number room was very difficult.During the examination in the seventh year of Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty (1463 A.D.), the weather was still very cold. Soldiers on patrol lit a fire to keep warm, which caused a fire.The number rooms are simple brick and wood structures, and the rows of number rooms suddenly turned into a sea of flames.The doors of the number room were all locked, and the examinees were curled up inside, unable to escape. More than 90 people were buried in the sea of fire, and countless injured.The hygienic conditions in the number rooms are extremely poor. They eat cold food, and they can only defecate in the number rooms. Candidates are prone to get sick, and plagues occur from time to time.Candidates must avoid the emperor's taboo and temple name when answering the questions, and they are not allowed to reveal their family background and family status.The answer sheet must use an ink pen (that is, "ink scroll"), and those who transcribe must use a vermilion pen (that is, "Zhu scroll").The Song system is still used, and the method of obfuscation, sealing, and transcription is adopted. As for the palace examination, it was outside Tiananmen Square in the early Qing Dynasty, and later changed to the east and west stone steps of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and moved to the east and west corridors of the hall in case of wind and rain.After Qianlong, it was changed to Baohe Hall.Due to the dim light in the deep hall and the height of only one foot short, the examinee wrote cross-legged for a whole day, suffering from pain in the waist and legs, dizziness and dizziness.And at dawn, the examinees will come to the Hall of Preserving Harmony and wait until the emperor ascends the hall. After all the officials and candidates pay homage, the officials of the Ministry of Rites will distribute the examination papers. The candidates must kneel down to accept them, and then return to their seats to start answering the questions. , It has taken several hours, and I still have to write neatly, write a 2000-word policy essay, and hand in the paper before sunset. It is conceivable that I am nervous and hard. The palace test paper is pasted with white rice paper.At first, it was mounted on four layers, and it was increased to seven layers after Qian and Jia in the Qing Dynasty.Each test paper can be divided into four parts.The first part: volume, occupying one page.It is stamped with the official seal of the Ministry of Rites, which is a combination of Manchu and Han Dynasty, and the names of the applicants for the imperial examination are written.Part Two: Curriculum Vitae, two pages, four pages.In fact, only the first page is used, leaving three blank pages.Write down my age, place of origin, the year of the township examination and general examination, issue the names of the three generations, and indicate that I have served but not yet.After handing in the volume, Mifengguan will fold the two parts into a tube shape, seal it with paper paste, and stamp it with the seal of "Mifengguan Guanfang".It was not opened until the ranking was determined, and the name was written on the gold list.The third part: the main text of the test strategy, which is also the main part of the whole volume. At first, it was nine pages, and after Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty, it was reduced to eight pages. Two pages are one page, and each page has six lines.There are straight grids with red lines, but no horizontal grids.Each line is limited to 24 characters at most, and generally only 22 characters are written, and two spaces are left above for header.The fourth part: the back of the volume, occupying one page, with the name of the printing officer printed on it.On the back of the scroll, the surname of the minister who read the scroll is printed. After reading the scroll, the minister must draw a mark under his surname, and finally determine the rank of the scroll according to the opinions of various officials.The size of the palace examination paper, according to the "Records of Imperial Examinations in the Qing Dynasty", in the early Qing Dynasty, each page was one foot five inches long and four inches wide; Four inches wide and three inches wide.During the palace examination, another draft book is given, which is slightly smaller in size, with the same vertical lines as the main volume, but with horizontal grids and 24 characters per line.Sometimes, the imperial examination questions are printed on the front of the herb.

The cover of the original volume of Fu Zengxiang Palace Examination in the Qing Dynasty

Diagram of the Imperial Examination Program in the Ming and Qing Dynasties