The imperial examination during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was divided into two subjects, one was called Ming Jing and the other was called Jin Shi. Although the number of subjects was greatly increased in the Tang Dynasty, Ming Jing and Jinshi were still the main subjects for selecting officials.
The main examination contents of Ming Jing Ke include Tie Jing and Mo Yi. Tie Jing is a bit like filling in modern exams. The test questions usually excerpt a sentence from the scriptures and cover up a few words. The candidates need to fill in the missing words; as for Mo Yi, they are some questions and answers about the scriptures. The Jinshi examination mainly requires candidates to compose poems and rhymes on specific topics, and sometimes also add scriptures.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the number of people taking examinations increased
After the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the status of the Jinshi subject gradually surpassed that of the Ming Jing and became the only important subject in the imperial examination. The main reason for this phenomenon is that Jinshi candidates need to be creative in order to pass, while Mingjing candidates only need to study the scriptures thoroughly to pass. Moreover, the selection criteria for Jinshi subjects are very strict, and the number of people admitted is often only one-tenth of those for Mingjing subjects. There was a saying at that time: "Thirty old Ming Jing, fifty young Jinshi", which expresses the difficulty of the Jinshi subject.
In addition, starting from the Wu Zetian era, martial arts examinations were also established to select military attachés. She also created the palace examination, where the emperor personally selected talents.
For most of the Song Dynasty, the content of the imperial examinations was not much different from that of the Tang Dynasty. However, when Wang Anshi was in power, he reformed the imperial examination system and canceled the examinations such as Tie Jing, Mo Yi and poetry. The examination content is based on Jingyi (interpretation of the classics), Commentary (comments on the current situation) and Strategies (proposing solutions to current problems). However, Su Shi and others strongly protested against this reform. Although the imperial examination in the Yuan Dynasty had little impact on its own rule, its content had significant changes. The first is that the imperial examination is no longer divided into subjects, and scholars are selected exclusively through the Jinshi subject. The second is that the designated reading materials for the exam have changed. The new rule is that if the content of the examination of classics and meanings includes the Four Books, the "Collected Commentary on the Four Books" written by Zhu Xi will be used as the main basis.
These two changes did not disappear with the Yuan Dynasty, but became the basis of the eight-part essay in the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examinations in both the rural examination and the general examination were based on the contents of the Four Books, requiring candidates to explain the meaning of the scriptures in the tone of the ancients, "to speak for the saints", and to answer in eight-legged prose. Eight-legged essays have many formatting requirements and are extremely formal. Only when the final level of the imperial examination is reached, the palace examination used to determine the ranking will be changed to the current affairs policy question. However, many of the contents of the candidates' answers were not important. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty used to use the calligraphy on the test papers to determine the ranking of the palace examination.
People who are keen on imperial examinations only know the Four Books and Five Classics, and all other knowledge has become "miscellaneous knowledge". Many scholars are ignorant of everything. The Scholars, a novel that satirizes the imperial examination, records such a joke: Someone joked to Fan Jin, a Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty: "If Su Shi from Sichuan took the exam now, his essay would only be in the sixth grade." Fan Jin Jin replied, "Since Su Shi's writing is not good, it's okay if he fails the exam." It turned out that he didn't even know who Su Shi was.
Even for the content of the Four Books and Five Classics, the imperial examination only required following the ideas of the predecessors and using gorgeous words to write beautiful articles that fit the format; it did not require independent thinking or innovative insights. The actual knowledge and talents of the candidates are ignored under the requirements of the eight-part essay. As a result, many candidates simply abandoned the Four Books and Five Classics and devoted themselves to studying the selected eight-legged essay model called "Tie Kuo" designed for the examination. At that time, some people called the eight-part essay a "stepping stone", which meant that after gaining fame, they could discard it like nothing. Some people once ranked the Eight-part essay together with "opium" and "foot-binding" as the three major evils that poisoned the Chinese people.
Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, two masters and apprentices who advocated the abolition of imperial examinations in the late Qing Dynasty, can be regarded as a typical example of a pair of talents and exam results.
Liang Qichao entered school at the age of twelve and became a scholar. At the age of seventeen, he was elected as a prodigy and was considered a success in the imperial examination. However, after Liang Qichao passed the imperial examination, he believed that he "didn't know anything about classics and history besides Tie Kuo." When he met Kang Youwei, he realized that he knew nothing about it, and instead wanted to worship the old scholar Kang Youwei as his teacher. On the contrary, Kang Youwei came from a scholarly family, with a library of thousands of volumes at home, and he was already familiar with ancient and modern classics in the Classics and History at a young age. Although Kang Youwei was well-known in Nanhai, Guangdong, he became a scholar at the age of sixteen. After receiving the status of Gongsheng, he failed to pass the provincial examination in six tests and was frustrated in the examination room for twenty years.
When he was thirty-six years old, his fortune turned out to be a success, and he was able to go to Beijing to take the exam with his apprentice Liang Qichao. In the end, he came first in the exam and became Huiyuan, a high school Jinshi.
The Jinshi in the same class as Kang Youwei was Cun Kaitai of Yunnan, named Xiaoting and Xindan, a native of Dongping, born in the second year of Tongzhi (1863 AD). In the sixth year of Guangxu (AD 1880), he became a scholar at the age of 16, and in the twelfth year of his reign (AD 1886), he had a poor diet. In the fourteenth year (AD 1886), Wu Zike went to the provincial and rural examinations but failed to pass. The following year, he passed the 45th Juren examination. In the 21st year of Guangxu, Yiweike (AD 1895) passed the Jinshi. He stayed in Beijing and served as the sixth-rank chief of the Ministry of Punishment, and was assigned to the Shandong Division. When the Gengzi uprising occurred and the allied forces invaded, Cixi and Guangxu fled to the west together with hundreds of officials. Their colleagues persuaded them to go south, and they refused to take refuge in the capital and stayed in the capital. After the peace negotiation was concluded, in order to commend his loyalty, the imperial court awarded him the rank of Chief of the Ministry of Punishment, which was increased by five levels, and he was awarded the title of Zhongxian Dafu of the fourth rank. In the summer of the 28th year of Guangxu (AD 1902), he was sent to Anping Prefecture, Guizhou Province to recruit Tongzhi and act as the magistrate of Anping County. In the autumn of the following year, he served as co-examiner of the Guizhou Township Examination and copywriter of the Camp Affairs Office. Because a candidate cheated, the superior officer investigated his negligence and was demoted to the Lijiang County Jiaoyu (in charge of the educational affairs of a county). In the 31st year of Guangxu (AD 1905), he resigned and returned home. He first served as the associate manager of Tengyue Railway Company. In September of the third year of Xuantong (AD 1911), Tengyue established a council meeting. After the election of members, Cun Kaitai was elected as the speaker. In May of the second year of the Republic of China (1913 AD), members of the Tengchong County Council were elected in accordance with the Constitution and the Constitution, and the county council was established, with Cun Kaitai as the first chairman of the county council. In November of the following year, Yuan Shikai ordered the dissolution of Congress, and the county council was subsequently abolished. After that, he served as the director of Tengchong County's Encouraging School and the principal of the Five Affiliated Middle School. He participated in the compilation of "Tengyue Hall Chronicles" and edited "Tengyue Local Chronicles", "Longling County Chronicles", "Cun Family Tree", etc. His handed down works include "Eighty-one Plum Blossoms Pavilion Poetry Manuscript", "Plum Blossoms" and "Poems of the Gengzi Chronicle" in multiple volumes. Since success in the imperial examinations guarantees a lifetime of wealth and glory to a certain extent, many people try to cheat in order to achieve good results in the imperial examinations. There are three most common types of cheating: one is bribery (that is, bribing the examiner to get good grades); the other is cheating by bringing test scriptures (bringing books or copying them in personal belongings); and the third is asking someone to take the test on your behalf.
Bribery
In the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian established a method of concealing the name of the examinee to reduce the chance of the examiner identifying the examiner. This practice became popular after the Song Dynasty. Established rules. At the same time, a transcription method was invented, in which a special person would copy the test papers of the candidates and send the transcripts to the graders. In this way, the grader cannot even recognize the handwriting. However, candidates can still agree with the examiner to use specific sentences or words as passwords, which is the so-called "bridging the gap." In order to reduce this possibility, the system of locking the courtyard was established since Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty. The examiners for each examination are divided into multiple persons, chief and deputy, who are all temporarily appointed to facilitate mutual supervision. When the examiner receives the appointment, he must enter the Gongyuan on the same day and is not allowed to leave until the end of the examination and the results are released; nor is he allowed to receive guests. If the examiner wants to come from out of town to invigilate the exam, he or she is not allowed to receive guests after entering the province. If the bribery is exposed, the briber and the briber may be executed; and the examiner who is present may also be implicated and punished.
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty's entry into the customs, there were the Dingyou case (the 14th year of Shunzhi), the five cases of corruption in Shuntian, Jiangnan, Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi. In the end, all the house owners in the 16th year of Jiangnan were killed. After the decision was made, hundreds of candidates were forced to retake the exam under the influence of the soldiers. After that, dozens of people were sentenced to death or demoted to Ninggu Pagoda in Shangyangbao. It is the largest case of examination fraud in the history of China's imperial examinations. It is generally believed that this was the Manchu ruler's use of harsh torture to shock the Han intellectuals, thereby achieving the purpose of consolidating their rule.
Entrainment
The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty had military guards to prevent entrainment and cheating. Since the Song Dynasty, examinations have been held in the Gongyuan. Candidates in the Gongyuan are separated by walls, called halls. Candidates are not allowed to make noise or leave the venue to prevent passing papers or messages. However, the cheating method of inserting scriptures has always been banned repeatedly and emerges in endlessly. Common methods include hiding scriptures in clothes, shoes and socks, or simply writing them secretly on clothes or bodies. Various other personal items, including stationery, food, candles, etc., have been used as carry-ons. The security of the imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was very strict, and the requirements reached the level of "not even a piece of paper or a word is allowed to be brought into the examination room."
In addition to being carefully searched by the military guards before entering the venue, Emperor Qianlong also issued an edict to specify the specifications of various items that candidates should bring into the venue. For example, there are clear limits on the size and thickness of inkstones, charcoal, and cakes; the materials used for kettles and candlesticks; and even the styles of brushes and baskets. In addition, there are rewards for those who are reported to be involved, and those who are found will not only be disqualified, but also have to be yokeed in public. However, examination fraud has never been completely and effectively combated. There is a legend that during an examination, an examiner dropped the books he was carrying on the ground, but the prince who was ordered to examine them covered up for him and said, "Why are you bringing your account books to the entrance?"
Examination on behalf of
Daikao was quite common in the Tang Dynasty. In order to prevent taking the exam on behalf of others, candidates are required to provide detailed resumes of physical characteristics. Before entering the venue, the examiner will verify the candidate's identity based on their resume. However, cheating on behalf of students does not seem to have been completely eliminated. For example, Hu Hanmin, an important political figure in the early years of the Republic of China, was a famous "shooter" in the proxy examination in history. He participated in the provincial examination twice on behalf of others in the late Qing Dynasty and won both times. Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty initiated the martial arts examination to select military generals. In the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Wu Ke. In history, martial arts exercises have been held about 500 times. Compared with the liberal arts examination, the martial arts examination is less valued. The martial arts exercises in the past dynasties were sometimes abolished and sometimes restored. The status of those who came from martial arts is also lower than that of Jinshi who came from liberal arts.
The martial arts examinations in the Tang Dynasty mainly tested techniques such as weightlifting, mounted archery, infantry archery, and carbine shooting. In addition, candidates also had requirements for their appearance, which required "a person with a majestic torso who could serve as a general." In the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that military exercises should not only involve force, but also "strategies as a supplement." Ask Sun Wu about the art of war and so on. In the Ming Dynasty, it was changed to "strategy first, martial arts secondly". If you failed the written test to answer the question, you could not refer to the martial arts test. The initial written test consists of three questions, two strategy questions, and another discussion question on four books. Later, the title of the Four Books was changed to Silent Writings of Martial Arts. The martial arts test requires at least three hits out of nine arrows on horseback and five hits out of nine arrows on foot. By the time of the Qing Dynasty, it was changed to try horse-step shooting first. The horse shot two times with six arrows, and three hits were combined. Five of the nine arrows from the step shot are combined. Afterwards, the strength was compared, including pulling a stiff bow, dancing a sword, and lifting stones. Bows are divided into eight, ten and twelve kilograms; swords are divided into eighty, one hundred and one hundred and two kilograms; stones are divided into two hundred, two hundred and fifty and three hundred kilograms. Only those who pass will take the written test.
Before the Song Dynasty, there was no such thing as "Martial Champion". The first martial arts champion was born during the reign of Shenzong of the Song Dynasty. He was Xue Yi from Fujian. He later died in the battle with Xixia. Famous military generals in history who were born in martial arts include Guo Ziyi in the Tang Dynasty (who had different martial arts exams in the early years of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty), Qi Jiguang in the Ming Dynasty (a martial arts scholar in the Jiajing year of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty), and Xu Huiyan in the Northern Song Dynasty (who was a literary Jinshi, but later abandoned literature and practiced martial arts). , Huizong awarded him the first prize in martial arts) and so on.