Books hold a thousand measures of grain.
For an easy life, no need to build a mansion;
In books are found houses of gold.
Marrying, be not vexed by lack of a good go-between;
In books there are girls with faces of jade.
A boy who wants to become a somebody
Devotes himself to the classics, faces the window, and reads.
- Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty
The
popular saying "in
books are found houses of gold; in books there are girls with faces of jade" - is from the above poem, "Encouragement for Study" (勸學詩), written by the Emperor Zhenzong of the
Song dynasty (宋朝, 960-1279). The poem
describes the value of study with great vividness in order to exhort boys to
study for the civil service examinations.
In
Confucianism, studying is considered as a primary mission of scholars in order
to attain office and contribute to the well-being of the country. The Analects
of Confucius says, “when a student finds that he can more than cope with his
studies, then he takes office” because “a gentleman must be strong and
resolute, for his burden is heavy and the road is long.”
The civil service examinations
The
civil service examination system was the primary method of recruiting civil
officials from 605 to 1905. Unlike the previous recruitment systems, it was
based on intellectual merit rather than family or political connections, or
moral virtues. As Benjamin Elman argues cogently, this system played a central
role in Chinese social and intellectual life and conferred a highly
sought-after status as well as cultivated a rich literati culture. It served as
a political tool and socio-cultural glue to “tie the dynasty and literati
culture together bureaucratically.” The Qing rulers governed a population of
over a hundred million people with a remarkably small bureaucracy of less than
40,000 officials. One of the keys lay in the examinations system and its associated
institutions, such as private academies and lineages, which instructed people
in moral values and statecraft. This institutional structure helped the
emperors to create a cooperative elite class in the society to enable its
policies to be implemented.
In
the Ming (明, 1368-1644) and Qing (清,
1644-1912) dynasties, the examinations were divided into three stages, namely,
provincial, metropolitan, and palace examinations. To join the provincial
examination, one had to pass preliminary local examinations to receive the
title shengyuan (生員) "student
member", also commonly known as
xiucai (秀才) "distinguished
talent". With this entry-level
licentiate, he was entitled to embark on the rigorous journey to the provincial
capitals, then the national capital, and finally the palace in order to receive
the more prestigious titles of juren (舉人) "recommended man",
gongshi (貢士) "tribute
scholar", and jinshi (進士) "advanced scholar",
respectively.
The
examinations were based on a classical education of moral and political theory
from the Confucian classics. They included the Four Books (Great Learning,
Doctrine of the Mean, Analects of Confucius, and Mencius) and Five Classics
(Classic of Changes, Classic of Poetry, Classic of Rites, Classic of History,
Spring and Autumn Annals) while the classical interpretations in the Song
dynasty were adopted as the orthodox guidelines for the examination system.
The
format of the examinations was highly standardized to make the process of
selection fair and transparent. Candidates were required to write their papers
in the so-called "eight legged essay" (八股文) style. The eight "legs" referred to the parallel and balanced lines of the essay. This formulaic
structure made the examiners’ job easier and less subject to idiosyncratic
favoritism while at the same time candidates also knew what was expected of
them. The required length was between three hundred to seven hundred words.
Both the provincial and metropolitan examinations required candidates to answer
about thirteen to thirty-seven questions in three sessions. To excel in the
examinations, candidates would need to demonstrate superior classical education
in the Chinese classical language, complex understanding of Confucian classics,
extraordinary memory, and articulate writing skills.
The
question of whether or not the civil service examinations promoted social
mobility in imperial China is a topic that historians have debated for decades.
It has been generally agreed that wealth was a determinant of social status in
the Ming and Qing dynasties because only affluent families and lineages could
afford to provide their members with the resources needed (such as private
schooling and high-quality teachers who had titles but had yet to become
scholar-officials) to prepare for and pass the examinations. Nevertheless,
passing the examinations has long been considered an entree to the ladder of
success and the key to upward social mobility. In the long history of the
examinations, there were countless cases of commoners from peasant or artisan
backgrounds rising to pass the examinations then gaining office and becoming
well-known scholar-officials.
The legacies of the civil service
examinations in Hong Kong
Although
the Chinese civil service examinations were abolished in 1905, its legacies are
still deeply rooted in Chinese and Hong Kong society. Its traces can be
observed in the media, popular religions, astrology, heritage sites, and even
food culture.
Every
summer in Hong Kong, the front pages of nearly all newspapers cover the release
of the results of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination
(HKDSEE). The HKDSEE is equivalent to the British GCE Advanced Level and
similar to the other types of exams around the world which are instrumental in
gaining university admission. One of the usually featured stories is about the
top scorers in Hong Kong. Following the long tradition of the civil service
examinations, they are named optimus (狀元),
secundus (榜眼), and tertius (探花),
representing the top three tiers of students.
Due
to the influence of Confucian traditions, it is not too surprising that
achievements in examinations are considered the entry to success in Hong Kong.
Thus it is very common for school kids and their parents to worship Man Cheong,
the God of Literature, as explained in the previous video. In Chinese
mythology, the bowl of the Big Dipper represents another God of Literature, Kui
Xing (奎星), literally meaning “chief
stars.”
In
the rural parts of Hong Kong one can still see old villages and in one of them
you can see a centuries-old pagoda, Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda (Pagoda of Gathering
Stars). Kui Xing is housed on the upper floor. This hexagonal-shaped pagoda is
three stories tall and was built by the Tang clan of Ping Shan (屏山),
Yuen Long (元朗), in the late
14th-century. It was intended as a fengshui structure to ward off evil spirts
and ensure success for clan members in the civil service examinations. Indeed,
the Tang clan has produced numerous scholar-officials in the past few hundred
years. The evidence is seen not only in their genealogical records but in their
ancestral hall as well. A number of attainment plaques, also known as scholar
plaques, hang in the hall and several sculpted attainment stones are erected
right outside the hall to inspire the next generation, displaying the glorious
history of the clan members in the examinations. It is certainly no coincidence
that the clan should have such an extraordinary past. The clan provided
educational facilities for their boys to work hard for the examinations. Four
study halls built between seventeenth and eighteenth centuries stand until
today and are well-preserved.
The
legacies of the examination craze can also be found in food culture. In Hong
Kong, a popular Cantonese style of congee is associated with the examinations,
called Kap Dai Juk (“passing the examinations”), which is congee (or rice
porridge) with pork tripe, chitterlings, liver, and meat balls. One of the
stories behind the origin relates to a talented scholar, Lun Wenxu (倫文敍).
Lun was born to a poor peasant family in Guangdong province in the late
15th-century. When he delivered fresh home-grown vegetables to a congee
restaurant, the restaurant owner admired his talent and served him a bowl of
congee with pork tripe, chitterlings, liver, and meat balls every day. Many
years later, Lun took the examinations and became optimus in both the
metropolitan and palace examinations. Returning home to pay respect to his
benefactors, he enjoyed another bowl of the congee he was once served. To
commemorate this dish, Lun named it Kap Dai Zuk.
A
Latin proverb says “learning has sour roots, but pleasant fruits.” It resonates
with a popular Chinese saying about the civil service examinations: “one can
study for ten years in obscurity, but as soon as one passes the examination the
whole world pays attention.”
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