According to legend, from the Tang Dynasty, palace examination made an appointment with the Jinshi. If one of them became a leader in the future, he would ask the calligrapher of the same branch to write the title of Big Wild Goose Pagoda with Zhu Shu (red pen).
from then on, whenever someone rushed for the exam, relatives and friends gave him pig's trotters. "Pig" is homophonic with Zhu, and "hoof" is homophonic with the title. The intention of sending pig's hoof is: I hope to be no.1, a candidate, can become a relative and write the title of Zhu Shu.
Extended information:
Since the imperial examination system was initiated in Sui Dynasty, China has produced a rich and interesting auspicious culture of imperial examination. Many things that had nothing to do with the imperial examination evolved into imperial examination mascots by some chance. If we don't understand its evolution process, it will be confusing. For example, we all know that the two auspicious words of "topping the list" and "themoon winning the laurel" mean the number one scholar in high school and to be no.1. However, Ao is a legendary aquatic animal, while Gui is a plant, which is totally irrelevant to the imperial examination. The legendary aojiang, with its huge body and infinite strength, can "support the sky and the earth" and "load the mountain". The ancients called it a giant aojiang and regarded it as a mascot.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, images of dragons and aojiang were carved on the stone slabs in the middle of the front steps of the palace. Every time after palace examination's release, the emperor met the new Jinshi in front of the temple. The Jinshi should stand on the front steps of the temple in turn in order to wait. The champion is naturally ranked first. The place where he stood was right next to the head of the sole. It is precisely because of this coincidence that people call the top scholar "the best". Ramulus Cinnamomi is associated with "to be no.1", which is also somewhat meaningless.
since the Han dynasty, it has been said that there is a toad and a osmanthus tree in the moon palace. This osmanthus tree is 5 feet high and flourishing. Another man, WU GANG, was punished for cutting down trees every day. Legend has it that if someone finds the cassia twig cut by WU GANG, there will be endless wealth, but it is extremely difficult. It is extremely difficult for people to think of being the top scholar in high school, so "themoon won the laurel" became the image metaphor of "to be no.1".