1904, the Qing dynasty was in a stormy period, but the imperial examination was still held as usual, and the last scholar in feudal society was born, namely Liu Chunlin. Although Liu Chunlin was the last scholar in the history of China, his position as a scholar was somewhat accidental, and there was an interesting story about Cixi's talent selection.
In July of the same year, after layers of screening, the Qing Dynasty held the palace entrance examination as usual. The minister in charge of the examiner selected some examination papers, and then sorted them according to their merits and presented them to those who were selected as the number one scholar by Empress Dowager Cixi.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was beset with domestic troubles and foreign invasion, and Empress Dowager Cixi was preparing for her 70th birthday, hoping to get some good omen from it. When the first test paper was opened, Empress Dowager Cixi saw that the examinee's handwriting was very neat and gorgeous, and she was ready to make it the number one scholar. When I turned my eyes to the signature, I found that this was a Guangdong examinee named Zhu Ruzhen, and Empress Dowager Cixi was angry at that time.
The name of the candidate reminds her of Zhen Fei, which is why she let Empress Dowager Cixi gnash her teeth and drown her in the well. In addition, Zhu Ruzhen was also a candidate in Guangdong, and Empress Dowager Cixi remembered Hong Xiuquan, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others. In a rage, she threw the test paper aside directly, and the position of the top scholar was missed by Zhu Ruyun.
Then, Empress Dowager Cixi looked at the second paper. This is an examination paper of Liu Chunlin, a candidate from Zhili Suning. It's also well written and comfortable to read. More importantly, the word "spring rain" is full of auspicious meaning, and the birthplace of "Suning" symbolizes quiet and peaceful weather. Cixi thought it was a good omen, so she chose Liu Chunlin as the first place with a stroke of the pen. In this way, Liu Chunlin changed from the second place to the champion.
The following year, the imperial examination was abolished in the Qing Dynasty, and Liu Chunlin became the last scholar in the history of China.