July 25, 21:20 In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system formed a complete system, which was divided into four levels: the college examination (i.e. the children's examination), the provincial examination, the general examination and the palace examination.
Local examinations are called "college examinations". Candidates took part in county examinations hosted by the county magistrate and prefectural examinations hosted by the magistrate. After admission, they should take the college examination hosted by Xuedao (or Xuezheng, Xuetai) sent by the central government to each province. Those admitted in the college examination will become students of the local county school (prefecture school or government school). Those who enter the school for the first time are called affiliated students. They are gradually promoted to Zengguang students and Linshan students, collectively known as scholars. Anyone who has obtained the qualification of being a scholar is exempted from going on official business and paying farm grain. Scholars take an academic examination once a year, called the "Sui Kao", whose function is to supervise learning. In the year before the Great Competition, a "scientific examination" was held under the auspices of the academic administration. Students from prefecture, prefecture, and county schools who are ranked among the top three in the scientific examination will be allowed to participate in the "rural examination" held in the provincial capital the following year. The rural examination is held in the years of Zi, Wu, Mao and You. The exam is divided into three sessions, each lasting three days. The first session is scheduled to be on the 9th day of August. The first session will be on "The Analects", "Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean", and "Mencius"; five character and eight rhyme poems. One song. The twelfth day is the second session, try five verses in one. The 15th day is the third session. Try to use strategies to ask the five ways. All three games are entered on the first day and exited on the next day. The regular subjects in the imperial examination are regular examinations. Unless there is a major accident in the country, the examination period will never change, so no advance notice is required. Candidates across the country will automatically be ready to take the examination. Those admitted in the provincial examination are called Juren, and the first place in the Juren is called Jieyuan. Candidates can go to Beijing to take the examination held by the central government in the second year. The number of candidates varies from province to province. There are more than a hundred in large provinces, seven to eighty or forty or fifty in medium and small provinces. There is always a fixed number and cannot be increased or decreased at will. It is generally based on the population, property, wealth, etc. of a province. Sure.
When students fail to win the election for a long time, they will gradually advance from epiphysics to hyperplasia, from hyperplasia to linsheng, and from linsheng to tribute students. Gong students are divided into Bagong (selected once every 12 years), Suigong (selected once a year, and supplementary selections are made in order according to the time in school), Engong (no fixed period), Excellent Gong (no fixed period), and Deputy Gong (every 3 years) The election will be held once, and will be selected from the students who have obtained the deputy list in the provincial examination). As the name suggests, Gongsheng students were promoted to the Imperial Academy through Gongju and became imperial students. In fact, Gongsheng students do not study in prisons. However, if they obtain the qualifications of imperial students, they can directly participate in the provincial examination, and on the other hand, they can pass the selection to hold official positions, mainly serving as instructors in local schools.
The Central Examination The first step is the "Examination" held in the Ministry of Etiquette, which is held in March of Chen, Xu, Chou and Weinian. There are 3 examinations, each lasting 3 days. The examination items in the 3 examinations are also four-calligraphy and five-character essays. Eight-rhyme poems, five scriptures and policy questions. Those who win the examination are called "Gongshi" or "Chinese-style Jinshi", and the first place is called "Huiyuan". There is no quota for each subject in the Chinese-style examination. The number ranged from 200 to 300. The highest number was 406 in the eighth year of Yongzheng's reign, and the lowest number was in April, the 54th year of Qianlong's reign.
After the examination. The "Palace Examination" was held on the 21st. In the early Qing Dynasty, it was held in Tiananmen Square, and later in Baohe Hall. All Gongshi participated in the palace examination. After the examination, they were ranked again according to their results. There was no dismissal in the palace examination. There are certain formats and character limits for the beginning and ending of the characters and the writing in the middle, and calligraphy is emphasized. The writing fonts must be black, large, round, and light, that is, the fonts are square, the strokes are smooth and round, and the ink is dark. It was called "yuan style" at that time. Or "Guange style". The evaluation of the palace examination mainly focuses on calligraphy, and the content of strategies and writing style come second. The imperial examination lasts only one day, and the tribute must spend most of the time on arranging the format, planning the number of words, and writing. The imperial examinations are divided into the top three (third class) according to their results. The three people in the first class are called "Jinshi", some people in the second class are "born as Jinshi", and some people in the third class are "born as Jinshi". The first person in Grade A is named "Zhuangyuan" if he gets the first place (Jieyuan, Huiyuan, Zhuangyuan) in all the provincial examinations, joint examinations and palace examinations, which is commonly known as "three consecutive wins". The first and second place is ranked second, and the third place is ranked third overall. Collectively known as Sandingjia. The top three candidates in the palace examination will be conferred immediately, the number one scholar will be awarded the title of editor of the Hanlin Academy, and the second and third best will be awarded the title of editor of the Hanlin Academy. The rest of the top two and three top Jinshi will go through the "Chao Kao", and based on the scores of the previous and later examinations, the best ones will be selected as Shujishi by Hanlin Academy, commonly known as Hanlin. The rest were assigned to serve as directors (members) of various ministries, or as county magistrates in other places.
When candidates take part in the Central Examination, those who pass the examination are in the minority and most fail. Moreover, most candidates fail to pass the examination several times in a row (Gui Youguang, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, failed the examination 8 times and ranked 9th). The first time he passed the Jinshi examination).
In order to give these people a chance to get ahead, those who have failed the exam for more than three consecutive times are selected and awarded official positions. This measure is called "big challenge" for recruiting people. Those who were selected were given the title of county magistrate, and most of them served as local school instructors.