Chapter 18 Section 3 Disadvantages of Ming and Qing Imperial Examination System
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examination system became more and more strict, with more and more rules, and the prevention and punishment methods became more and more refined.For example, in the Qing Dynasty, it was stipulated that all examinations above the township examination should be sealed and transcribed. Candidates will enter the venue, supervised by soldiers, and have a strict access control system. The "Regulations on the Examination Hall" stipulates: "The cabinet publishes the examination papers of the hall, and the Ministry will send a guard to lead one person to lead the guard to the front and rear gates of the military academy. Strict inspections are carried out to prevent leakage. , Distribute to those who entrust, and find out and punish the crime." ("Guangxu Huidian" Volume 33) From the 25th year of Qianlong (AD 1760), it was stipulated that the ministers who read the papers must read the papers in the Wenhua Palace. The two corridors of the hall and the front and rear rooms of the Chuanxin Hall are used for sleeping, and the princes and ministers who manage and supervise, the officials of science and Taoism, and the examiners live together.After reading the papers, they left the gate of Wenhua Hall, and the guards were in charge of managing the papers.If fraud is discovered, heavy penalties will be imposed.For scholars, the method of inspection and inspection is extremely strict.During the Shunzhi period, it was stipulated that when scholars entered the examination room, they had to wear ripped and sewn clothes.Single layer footwear.During Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, the prohibition was reiterated, and wooden cabinets and tubs, double-layered benches, thick mattresses filled with cotton, and bags in rolls were not allowed.It was also announced that inkstones should not be too thick, felt blankets must be lineless, leather garments must be faceless, pen tubes must be hollowed out, porcelain for water injection, single trays of wax tables must be hollow and open to the bottom, and cakes and pastries must be cut open.The bamboo and willow test baskets carried by candidates should be woven into grids, with the same pattern on the surface and bottom.In the Gongyuan, there are two gates for search and inspection, and the guards line up in two lines. Candidates open their collars, unsock their socks and shine their shoes, and carefully check their clothes and utensils one by one.After the search, each enters the seat according to the roll number, and is not allowed to stay. When entering the house, the door is closed and locked, and they are not allowed to open the lock to enter or pass anything.In addition, a special reward order was issued, and if one cheater was found, he would be given three taels of silver.As a result, many government officials searched for private papers for profit.For those who cheat in their pockets, "one month before the shackles in front of the field, the crime will be punished" (see "General Examination of Qing Dynasty Literature · Election Examination 1").Many people opposed such a strict search method at that time. In the ninth year of Qianlong (1744 A.D.), Wu Wei [Wei Wei] said: "It is not a pity to search and inspect in the examination room. If one or twenty people are disrespectful, then tens of millions will be involved, and they will be exposed and insulted, not to encourage morale and encourage good people." ("National History Old News" Volume 59)
During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, a literati Shen Tinggui wrote a parallel essay imitating "A Fang Gong Fu", describing the strictness of inspections and the mentality of scholars at that time:
Stereotyped, three venues, scholar collection, tribute courtyard plug.Overwhelmed by more than 9,000 numbers, the sun cannot be seen.Go to Taipei, turn west, and go straight to Wenchang.A boss, everyone be careful.The first shot of the police, the third shot to open the cabinet, listen to the paging, and strive to be the first.Each holds the examination equipment, lays out the formation and binds tightly.Squeeze, squeeze, stool foot basket head, suddenly I don't know why someone fell.
In "Article Game" edited by Miao Gen in the Qing Dynasty, there is a poem "Zhejiang Xiangwei Poems" in Volume 3 of the second volume, which was carved in the 21st year of Jiaqing (1816 AD), which is also very interesting.The original poem is very long, only a few paragraphs are excerpted:
This is a long poem describing the whole process from the examinee's "passing the hall" into the examination room to the exit of the examination room. It describes in detail the humiliation and patience of the examinee, the leaks and dust in the main courtyard, the harsh and difficult weather environment, and the tension of writing and answering all night. Fatigue, the hardships of cooking and eating, and the viciousness of the examiners vividly and truly reflected the physical and mental torture of the imperial examinations in the Qing Dynasty, expressed deep sympathy for the examiners, and revealed dissatisfaction with the imperial examination system .
Qing Jiaqing (1796-1820 A.D.) scholars wrote 80 poems "Doumen Zhuzhi Ci" in Jiaxu Jiaxu, which described the historical style, human customs and customs of the Qing capital from eight aspects. The Exam is well worth a read:
This group of "examination" poems focuses on describing the life and mentality of the candidates who took the exam in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty. Ask about good and bad luck.
Although the anti-fraud measures in the imperial examinations are very strict, the phenomenon of corruption, bribery, and deception in the imperial examinations is still very common, such as bribery, bribery, entrainment, replacement of guns, cutting of papers, delivery, aliasing, and false membership. Famous halls are not uncommon.For example, in the forty-fourth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1616 A.D.), the vacancy for the first place in the examination was because Shen Tonghe, who passed the examination in Huiyuan, plagiarized some articles by others in the examination, and some were ghostwritten by his neighbor Zhao Mingyang. .After the incident was revealed, both Shen Tonghe and Zhao Mingyang were banished to the border.According to Zhou Xuanwei [weiwei]'s "Jinglin Xuji", the cheating methods of candidates are becoming more and more ingenious. Some people who are good at writing are asked to copy the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" on gold foil paper in tiny characters, one for each page. The wages are three cents.There are thousands of scriptures, and the thickness is less than an inch.These thin paper pieces can then be hidden in the brush tube, or at the bottom of a thick inkstone, or between the soles of straw shoes.Others used the liquid to make ink, and copied scriptures on green cloth trousers without any trace.After entering the examination room, smear it with mud, then brush off the mud, and the characters will appear.This kind of underwear costs one hundred taels of silver each.There are also people who bribe the examiners to bury the prepared essays in the examination room, and take them out after entering the examination room as the answer sheet.The so-called cutting papers is to bribe the examiners to use the opportunity of marking the test papers to exchange the test papers.For example, during the Wanli period, the examination papers of Ma, a Fujian candidate, were exchanged, and Ma committed suicide after failing, but someone used the exchanged Ma's examination papers to get fourth place in the examination.There are also people who bribe the transcription officer and the examination paper officer. The bribe-taker tampers with the paper division and transcription, hides the good papers that have been spied on, and sends them to the briber. The good paper is the test paper for the briber.According to Shen Defu's "The Remaining Words of My Broom Xuan", the negligence of the examiners in marking the papers often caused many absurd things. For example, some candidates plagiarized the old inscriptions in the workshop without changing a word, but they were not found.Therefore, Gu Yanwu criticized that the examination papers only focus on the "stereotyped essays" at the beginning. In fact, they may not even look at the stereotyped essays carefully, but only look at the broken questions and a few sentences of the test questions. Errors and omissions in the test papers are unavoidable.In the early years of Ming Yingzong Tianshun's general examination, the examiners Xue Xuan, Qian Pu, Wu Jie, Sun Xian and others were all recommended by the cabinet scholar Xu Daozhong and other dignitaries.These examiners know how to repay their kindness. When the results were released, the son of Xu Daozhong and the nephew of Shi Heng, the commander-in-chief, all took them privately.But this time there are mistakes in the test questions, for example, the sentence "Yan Yuan asked benevolence" was omitted.The examination papers of these rich and powerful children were full of mistakes, such as answering the questions of "Mencius", saying that Gongduzi's words were from Gaozi.When the incident spread, public opinion was in an uproar, so someone made up a satirical poem:
This satirical poem fully exposed the shady situation in the examination room at that time. Of course, the dignitaries refused to give up and ordered the spies to track down the author of the poem. Due to the protection of the masses and middle- and lower-level intellectuals, the investigation failed.
Some of the top scholars in the Ming Dynasty were suppressed because of their ugly appearance.For example, in the palace examination in the second year of Jianwen (AD 1400) of Emperor Hui of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Gen was originally appointed as the number one scholar, but later he was relegated to the second place because of his ugly appearance, making Hu Jing the number one scholar.In the fourth year of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1439), Zhang He was originally appointed as the number one scholar in the imperial examination. The eunuchs sent by the Yingzong inspected him carefully and found that his eyes were sick, so Zhang He was demoted to the second best, and Shi Pan (pan pan) was the number one scholar. .There are also those who were demoted because their names were not loved by the emperor.For example, in the 22nd year of Yongle (AD 1424), Sun Yuegong was originally appointed as the number one scholar in the palace examination, but the emperor said that "Yue Gong" combined is the word "violent", so he was demoted to Tanhua.At the same time, the emperor found that the candidate "Xing Kuan" had a good name, which meant that the criminal law was lenient, implying a benevolent government, which was contrary to "tyrannical" government, so he decided that Xing Kuan was the champion.In the 23rd year of Emperor Shizong's Jiajing reign (1544 A.D.), Wu Qing was originally determined to be the number one scholar in the palace examination, but the emperor thought that he was "ruthless", so how could he be the number one scholar?Then dropped to third.When the ranking was being determined, suddenly the high-hanging palace flag was blown up by the wind, forming a shape of the word "Lei". The examiners were inspired and quickly found a person named "Qin Minglei" in the list, so Qin Minglei became the candidate. champion.In the palace examination in the fourth year of Emperor Yingzong Tianshun (AD 1460), Qi Shun was initially determined to be the number one scholar. However, some examiners thought that Qi Shun’s name was similar to the name of Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, and it was inconvenient to pass on the roll call, so they changed it. Wang Yikui was the champion.The Qing Dynasty also had such a thing. In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu (1903 A.D.), the Guimao Palace Examination coincided with the thirty-year birthday of Emperor Guangxu. When the examiners were determining the ranking of the palace examination, they suddenly found the word "Wang Shoupeng" from the list. , I feel that the meaning of "longer than Lao Peng" is far-reaching, (Lao Peng is a person with a long life in ancient legends) decided to admit Wang Shoupeng as the number one undergraduate student, expressing his birthday to the emperor, which is auspicious and auspicious.In the 30th year of Guangxu (AD 1904) Jiachenke, the minister who read the paper originally proposed Zhu Ruzhen to be the first. Death, but Zhu Ruzhen's "Zhen" coincides with it.It was a year of long drought and no rain. When I saw Liu Chunlin [Lin Lin]'s name, I thought it was auspicious, so I made it a first-class one. Liu Chunlin became "the last of the first".There are many legends about Wang Shoupeng and Liu Chunlin winning the grand prize, and there is no history of it. Further research is needed.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, scandals in the imperial court continued to occur.For example, in the 14th year of Qianlong (1749 A.D.), after the Imperial Examination, the examiner colluded with the examinees to hint at the surnames in the examination articles in order to connect the joints.It was the Minister of Examination who proposed to take each paper and submit it. In the paper of the first strict edition, there was a sentence "the human heart is completely different, but it must be strictly handled according to the difference between movement and static", and the name of the examinee was secretly informed.In the drafted second-place paper, the name of Wang Shiwei, the candidate, was secretly announced with the "Wei Huang Jiang Table".Bao Zhizhong, who is proposed to be the third, has the sentence "contains upper and lower" in his text, Bao is half of Bao, and the homonym is the same as the surname.It is proposed to be the fifth name Cheng Yuan, whose text has "the nature of success", and "Cheng" and "Cheng" are homophonic to show his surname.When Emperor Qianlong personally folded and sealed the review papers, he discovered the flaws in it, and thought it was no coincidence, so he ordered the Minister of Military Aircraft to review with the original reviewer, put the cheater at the bottom of the list, and hand over the reviewer to the Ministry for discussion. (See Fu Zengxiang's "Examination of Palace Examination in Qing Dynasty" and Qing Huang Chonglan's "Examination of State Tribute Examination")
Another example is the so-called method of "delivering tiaozi" to connect joints in the imperial examination during the Xianfeng period, which was very rampant. Xue Fucheng revealed the mystery of tiaozi in "Yongyu [an'an] Notes": "Those who write tiaozi, cut the paper into strips. , specifying the words used in a certain part of the poem as a record, anyone who is familiar with the examiner and room official can submit it, or hand it over and over. One hundred is one. Since Tiaozi flourished, but the method of obfuscating names and changing books is almost poor... In the early years of Xianfeng, the style of Tiaozi prevailed, and it was not taboo among the public. Those who are sensitive often win, and those who are simple often lose There are often those who have been acquainted by the examiner for a long time, who do not know about it, and reject it, and those who go out and blame him for not handing over the note. There are also shameless people who add knowledge to the note three times and five times. If they get the Chinese style (the test paper meets the specifications Those who are called "Chinese style"), the third circle will give three hundred gold, and the five circles will give five hundred gold. The examiner is especially envious of Wuxing or Xin [xinxin]. I don’t know when this trend started. The world is getting worse. , to the extreme."
The examination room of the imperial examination seems to have become a trading market. In "Qing Barnyard Banknotes Examinations", there is a story of the so-called "old boy entering the market and selling epigrams". "Sell aphorisms, each sentence costs seven cents, and the price is the same." Bring a cricket pot into each game, and when the sun goes down, the pot is full of money and spins out of the examination room.This kind of public trading of stereotyped sentences in the examination room has a prosperous business.
Even sometimes the emperor got involved in cheating.For example, in the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong (AD 1761), General Zhaohui, who returned to Beijing triumphantly from the northwest, participated in the examination paper of Xinsike Hall.Zhaohui said that he did not know Chinese and was not qualified for this position. Emperor Qianlong actually gave him advice: "Every minister has his own circle and dots, but the one with the most circles is the best." Circle, point the amount, draw a ladle according to the gourd.But after the test papers were unpacked, the first was Zhao Yi from Jiangnan Yanghu (now Changzhou, Jiangsu), the second was Hu Gaowang from Zhejiang Renhe (now Hangzhou), and the third was Wang Jie from Hancheng, Shaanxi.Emperor Qianlong summoned the ministers who read the scrolls and asked, "Has there ever been a champion in Shaanxi in this dynasty?"In order to show his importance to the northwest region, Emperor Qianlong swapped the first and third places, and Shaanxi Wang Jie became the champion, while Zhao Yi came in third.The admission principle of "everything depends on Cheng Wen" in the imperial examination has lost its meaning.
In the thirteenth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1874 A.D.), Lu Runxiang, the number one scholar in the Jiaxu Division, had a good friend, Li Youmei from Hunan, who was erudite and talented, but the examination field was not smooth.During the chat, Lu Runxiang saw Li Youmei smoking a hookah, so he made a wish that if he was the chief examiner in the future, he would make Li Yumei use the word "hookah" as a secret mark in his poems.Sure enough, Empress Lu served as the deputy examiner of the Hunan Provincial Examination, and immediately wrote a letter to Li, reminding Li not to forget the word "hookah".This matter was learned by Li's mother-in-law, who told the other sons-in-law privately.There were three copies of the middle school examination papers where the trace of "hookah" was scattered. The examiner took back the two copies that were read before, and the latter one was placed in the auxiliary list.When the list was released, it was discovered that the other two sons-in-law of Li's mother-in-law were selected, but Li Youmei fell into the sub-list.The poems in the test papers of this subject require the rhyme of "out", and one of the papers has such a poem: "Smoke and water are in Xiaoxiang, talents are stored in bags", which can be said to be watertight. (See "Qing Barnyard Banknotes · Examinations")
, made a vivid description of the drawbacks of the imperial examination system in the late feudal society.Pu Songling (1640-1715 A.D.) wrote a "slang song" - "禳〔rang〕Envy Curse", which deeply exposed the corruption of the imperial examination system:
The school shed was originally a place for puppets, and the monkeys (manipulating puppets) were all in the back hall.The most hurtful thing is that the blind man is also studying the article.Hiring a corporal, with a clear eye and a strong heart, this master is also famous for his work.If you meet that bastard shop, you will enjoy the smell of meat and shit.Oh my God!Lose your conscience, really lose your conscience!
The master's idea is so clear, as long as he really presses [Deng et al.] to get on the star.Asking for favors, anyway, will not be relied on in the future.It's better to put two hundred good ice (referring to silver) on the bag, and throw it in the court according to his face.If you want to enter Tongsheng, you are Tongsheng, and how many people you want to enter.Oh my God!The spiritual response is real, but there is a real spiritual response! ("Pu Songling Collection · Liaozhai Slang Collection")
The imperial examination system has come to this point!It is full of corruption, darkness and smell of copper, reflecting the decline of feudal society.
The imperial examination system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had a profound impact on school education, social education and even family education.The whole society is permeated with an idea of exhorting to study hard for fame and wealth, which leads to a strong magnetic field that attracts every corner of society and every family.Some widely circulated poems and essays are published in children's books, influencing generations of children.Here are some miscellaneous poems:
Although the poems recorded above were not necessarily produced in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and penetrated into thousands of households, even women and children who could not read.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was a saying among the people that "an inch of time is an inch of gold", which is also related to the influence of the social atmosphere brought about by the imperial examinations that encourages students to study hard.Wang Youguang of the Qing Dynasty commented on this widely circulated motto in the second volume of "Wu Xia Proverbs": "An inch of time and an inch of gold are issued by readers. From the age of seven or eight to twenty, what you read The book can still be memorized even when you are old. The time at this time is red gold. After twenty to thirty, the mind grows and it is easy to understand, but it is easier to forget than before. This is gold. Thirty to forty is the time to use it , It is platinum, but it is still full-colored silver. After forty, it is Yuansi. Memorization and understanding are not as good as before, but if it is used, it will make meritorious deeds. It is at this time. In the past, it was copper or iron, tin or lead, and all metals were gold, but they were used differently. If you memorize them unremittingly for a long time, you will be enlightened and still alive. When you use them later, the value is particularly expensive. That is, platinum and yellow red are all due to refining. For a long time, the source of mercury is inexhaustible. The ancient man [mao trade] was eager to learn, and could turn lead and tin into gold and silver. If young people are lazy, they have already used gold and silver as copper and iron. Thirty or forty years later, it will be rubble. It’s not as good as lead and tin.” In order to seek the name of the subject, readers lit up thousands of homes and alleys at night, just like the poet Chao Chongzhi said: “When you get old, your fame will change, and you will ride a thin horse alone for a long distance. Some people read at night." These are the summaries of the practical experience of the ancients in studying and studying, and they still have educational significance for us today.
