In China, exams have also gone through a mature process. Before Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was popular to advocate filial piety, that is, to recommend talented people to be officials. However, its disadvantages soon emerged, mainly because the recommender has a lot of self-interest space and can use the power of recommendation to obtain benefits, thus blocking the upside of the bottom. And the country cannot get real talents. As a result, the imperial examination came into being. No matter who you are, you can take exams at all levels and come out step by step. Although there is still a cruel side, it is reasonable and fair in talent selection. The road is bumpy, but it is a road after all.
Exams are varied. Candidates write their own lists.
At the beginning of the imperial examination, there were not only eight-part essays, but also poems and songs. Citing the works of the Ming Dynasty, it is said that the Yuan Dynasty, which was still alive in the Southern Song Dynasty, used the first Song Yuan in the examination and asked candidates to fill in the Song Dynasty. No wonder Yuan Zaju is so developed, and the writers and arrangers are all selected by the examination. Coincidentally, in the Huizong exam in the Northern Song Dynasty, candidates were asked to look at paintings and say a Tang poem, "Those who are interested in painting must first". Therefore, there is a saying that "the painting of Yuan Qu in Song Dynasty is unparalleled throughout the ages". Of course, there is no such record in the official history. Maybe it's just the individual behavior of individual exams, but it is enough to show that ancient exams are not as boring as we thought.
The examination content is complicated and the examination method is not standardized. In the Tang Dynasty, candidates' names were not posted on examination papers. Failing the exam depends entirely on the examiner. It's called a "flyer", and it gives you the green light to go through the back door. Sometimes the examiner doesn't want to read the test paper, so he simply entrusts irrelevant people to make the list, and even lets the candidates write the list, which is too careless. One year, the examiner said openly in the examination room, "You are all handsome for a while. Unfortunately, no one came to save you. " More than 500 candidates present at that time looked at each other and didn't know what he wanted to say. An old examinee in his seventies named Yuan Shu asked, "What do you mean?" Examiner: "There is no list." He was too lazy to read the newspaper, but he didn't write a list.
Yuan Shu said, "Otherwise, I will." Hearing this, the examiner immediately gave Yuan Shu this arduous task. Yolanda unambiguous, took the pen and paper, a stroke of a pen to write up. The name of the champion is still empty. The examiner asked, "Who is the champion?" Yuan Shu said, "The best scholars are the oldest." That's how he became the first.
Cheating and leaking secrets will be severely punished.
Life has to go through many exams, big and small, but it is a big mistake to think that you can be smart after one exam.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a special eunuch named "Writing in the Class", who was the recorder of copying and writing. I used to recruit this position, which was recommended by Li Sili. During the Chongzhen period, I want to take an exam. In the summer of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Li Chengfang, the invigilator of Lisi, had a man named Gu Sanpin who wanted to take the exam in class. No, no, Gu Sanpin found a Wang Dingjian, wrote a composition for him and handed it in as an exam answer. As a result, he has been reported now. Li Chengfang, an old superior, can't save him, so he must report it. Knowing the situation, Emperor Chongzhen gave an order without saying anything: Gu San hired a staff to die, and the king sent Nanhaizi, and never wanted to spend the rest of his life in the palace again.
Tang Bohu, one of the "Four Great Talents", also cheated. During Hongzhi's reign, Tang Bohu and the famous rich second generation and good friend Xu Jing went to Beijing the following year. On the recommendation of Teacher Liang Chu, I went to Beijing and met the examiner. Ceng Cheng won the second place in Shuntian Building. He liked this talented classmate very much and prefaced his poems. With the support of the examiner and full of poetry books, can the champion still run? Therefore, the whole public opinion predicted that Tang Bohu would be the best undergraduate student, which caused great dissatisfaction among the reference candidates. After the exam, two people actually answered a digression correctly, so everyone guessed that they were Tang Bohu and Xu Jing. At this time, someone reported the topic of intentional release to Cheng. Although there is no conclusive evidence, hongzhi emperor created the Qin case and was arrested and tortured by the Royal Guards. After more than half a year, the three talents were released due to insufficient evidence. Cheng lost everything and died three days after he was released from prison. Tang Bohu and Xu Jing were permanently deprived of their scholar status, because they were too arrogant, so they could no longer take the imperial examinations. This case also hurt innocent people. It is said that Wang Yangming got the wrong answer, but in order to avoid suspicion, the emperor demoted him from the beginning, and the number one scholar was Lun Xuwen.
Of course, the most familiar and tragic test case is Yu Hong's design in Yongzheng period of Qing Dynasty. Yu Hongtu, the inspector in charge of organizing the exam, unknowingly leaked the test questions because his family took bribes. The result was sentenced to half. Yu Hongtu was tortured and soaked in his own blood. I wrote seven words "miserable" before I died. This made the stern Yongzheng determined to abolish the punishment of beheading, and Yu Hongtu stayed in history as the last victim of beheading.
The kaleidoscope of exams angered the emperor and frightened the old Confucianism.
There was a Song Yue in the Tang Dynasty who failed the exam. He thinks it's because his name is not nice. There is a big mountain above Yuetou. How can he get ahead? I want to give up the word "mountain", but it will become a "prison", which is still not good. A cruel, next to the "dog" on both sides deleted, renamed Song Yan, not to mention, really won. Why? I don't know. Anyway, Feng Ya, the examiner of that session, was cheated, and Song Yan was later erased from the first place to the 65th place. This Yan Song is really confident. The next year, he took the exam and finally got the fourth place.
In the Song Dynasty, the examination was much stricter. At the time of the imperial examination, the emperor also made his own questions. It is said that in 200 AD, the name of this poem by Song Taizong was Ode to the Sunrise. He looked at the candidate's answer and said, "Recently, the students' atmosphere is relatively frivolous, and they pursue early submission of papers without in-depth thinking. I am asking this question now, which is more profound. I just want candidates to think about it and reverse the bad atmosphere of this radish. " As a result, examinee Qian Yi handed in the answer sheet, and Song Taizong was so angry that he swore and kicked him out. From then on, the emperor lost confidence in scientific research and did not hold an exam for ten years.
To say this, not all candidates have the final say. Who asked him to solve this problem? "Chatting" means chatting casually.
In the era of Song Renzong, there was a Yang Xiang who was bent on winning the first prize. Why? Because he has won the RMB share exam, he will try to take the RMB share exam. Finally, he showed it to Emperor Fu Xiao. If the emperor chooses the number one scholar, it will cost three yuan a row. Another reason is that his brother is Yan Shu's son-in-law and has a background.
Confident, he begged his brother to find Yan Shu after consulting and wanted to see his ranking in advance.
Let him down. The fourth one. Yang Xiang slapped the table angrily: "I don't know which donkey won my first prize." It is the donkey who does better than him.
This donkey is called Wang Anshi. I'm sure to win the first prize. Who knows that the emperor was unhappy when he read the newspaper and saw one of them, "I wish my son to be my friend": "This is a big taboo and you can't win the world." What are the taboos? This was taught to Zhou Chengwang by the Duke of Zhou, and the emperor didn't like it. It's wonderful to say that Yang Cong is lucky. The second and third are all exam officials. No matter how good a person is, he can't be a champion without a professional title. So, the champion gave the fourth place to Yang Cong. He really won three yuan in a row.
Unfortunately, Yang Xiang was in poor health and died soon. It is not easy to be a junior high school official. He didn't become an official, nor did he contribute to the government. He is the only one in history, and he was named.
At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, nomadic people went south, and the leader was called the Korean War. This time, I was curious about the Imperial Examination in the Central Plains, so I took the exam when I came up. As a result, Hu Li from Cizhou won the first prize. Han Zhan first ordered not to publish the results, and then went to the examination room to call the elderly candidates, saying that they were exempt from the test. Many old people are scrambling. They knelt before their horses.
Han Zhan pointed at the whip and said, "You old slaves, do you have any talent?" If you have a gift, you should have passed the exam when you were young. Now you are all old coffins, and you are going to take the exam. You are really lucky to be an official. You must feel that you don't have much time to think about your future, so don't try corruption? What is good for the country? Young people are not good things either. Some of you old people must raise money to take exams for young people. Bah, old and young are not good people. I was going to kill you, but before you committed the crime, I wanted to send you all home, but it was not easy for you to come all the way. Come on, I finally gave you a test. You people should be honest and pay a lot of money in the future. If you are dishonest, you will be killed. "
In other words, these people who have studied all their lives have been trained to be timid and kowtow like garlic. Finally, except Hu Li, no Han people made the list.
examination hall
Search the examination room. Search the examination room.
Shen of the Qing Dynasty said in his book that from Daoguang Emperor onwards, you must wear a blue shirt on formal occasions, and you must go to imperial academy to study before you can wear other clothes. Probably a symbol of status. But in the Ming Dynasty, it was suspicious to wear Tsing Yi to the examination room. In the Ming Dynasty, examinees used drugs to write on green cloth. This handwriting is usually invisible. When you need to peek, get some water to wet your clothes and the handwriting will show. It is said that this method comes from the blue paper imperial edict of the ancient emperor. If an emperor wants to issue a secret imperial edict, he will write such an imperial edict, and people will secretly take it out of the palace to show it to ministers. Unexpectedly, it became a means of cheating in the exam. Only this medicine was lost in the Qing dynasty, and the cheat sheet could not be typed.
The ancient examination room was called Gong Yuan, Gong Yuan, Beijing, just opposite Beijing Railway Station and behind the International Hotel. The exam can't be finished in one day. It takes several days in a row. So the exam should not only bring pen and ink, but also bring food and drink. Therefore, it is necessary to search the website. After the search, candidates should enter their own small partition and can't go out except to fetch water or go to the toilet. Some candidates feel wronged and often collapse when they are nervous. By drawing water, they jumped into the well and committed suicide.
Interestingly, in the scientific research of the Qing Dynasty, Chengdu examination room had to search not only the entrance, but also the back of the entrance. Why is this? Initially, Gong Yuan was established on the site of Shu Han Palace during the Three Kingdoms period. It is said that the tiles on the house are all old things from the Three Kingdoms period. Each tile is more than a foot long and wide, and there is a small line next to it: "Made by Minister Zhuge Liang". Based on the principle that a scholar can't leave his room, many candidates steal his sheep outside the exam, so there is a spectacle of appearance search. After thirty years, the imperial court finally made up its mind: really.