Throughout the history of imperial examinations in Qing Dynasty, people will be greatly disappointed with these top scholars, most of whom have neither great achievements nor historical masterpieces. On the contrary, those who were frustrated in the official career of the imperial examination, such as Cao Xueqin, Pu Songling, Wu Changshuo and Zheng Banqiao, have made great achievements. What is this? If we open the curtain of the imperial examination in Qing dynasty from the aspects of examination questions, marking and admission, we can know its outline.
The imperial examination, which began in Sui and Tang Dynasties, is undoubtedly a historic progress compared with the Nine Grades Zhengzhi system in Wei and Jin Dynasties. In Qing dynasty, with the decline of feudal system, the negative factors of imperial examination system itself further developed. Cases of revealing examination questions, impersonation, renaming times, bribery, corruption and bribery accompanied the whole history of imperial examinations in Qing Dynasty. Its disadvantages have always been criticized by people of insight.
The examination questions in Qing Dynasty are mainly empty and useless eight-part essays. Due to the popularity of lithographs in Qing dynasty, some bookstores printed and sold a lot of Chinese ink. At that time, candidates just had to firmly remember these cliches and piece them together during the exam. There are even some people who ask the veteran of the examination room to draw up some topics and do some articles to memorize in advance. When you arrive at the examination room, you may encounter a topic that is consistent with the article you have recited, so you can copy it directly.
Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the contents that can be used as topics in the Four Books and Five Classics have basically appeared, and the examiners have come up with a new type of questions called truncated questions. The so-called cut-off is to destroy the original words of the four books and five classics. It is meaningless to pick out a few words from a sentence as a topic, or to associate the words after the previous sentence with the words before the next sentence. However, it is meaningless to force candidates to make a fuss about this meaningless topic. It is doubtful that top scholars should be selected from such articles.
There are even more ridiculous things about marking papers. Examiners in the Qing Dynasty were called presidents, usually held by three or four first-class and second-class officials. 18 examiner, each examiner has a special marking room, called the room officer. Named eighteen rooms, they were selected by the officials of the Ministry and Academy who came from Hanlin and Jinshi. After reading the papers in the room, the room official ranks the papers and recommends the excellent papers to the examiner. This kind of paper is called recommendation paper, and the rest are called placement papers. It means eliminated papers.
Because marking papers is a key link in scientific research, Qing * * * has also adopted a series of anti-fraud measures and penalties, but cheating incidents have occurred from time to time. Especially in the late Qing Dynasty, the corruption in the examination room became more and more serious, and the examiner's pockets were filled with requests for help. Randomly arranging rankings, being entrusted to change, and engaging in malpractices for personal gain are common. They don't do their duty, don't carefully evaluate every test paper, and only regard this kind of trial and error as an opportunity to make a fortune. In Qing Dynasty, He Gangde's "Dream of Spring" contained: The president of a certain department could not bear to read the papers, but only put the recommended examination papers in each room in a circle with a snuff bottle in the middle. When the pot is turned over, the one in the middle is the one facing down. No wonder those abused and cheated taxi drivers lamented: the exam is in the article, not in life!
As for the housing examiner, it is not a batch of points one by one, but just a cursory look and random recommendation. If the rest of the paper is dropped, prepare a vague comment, such as sticking it on the paper. For example, if there is insufficient warning and you can't see the Excellence, add a few words to the text and the paper will die. Some housing examiners, because time is tight, are afraid that the marking will not be completed as scheduled and give subsidies to their families. This kind of dereliction of duty is almost absurd. For example, a ridiculous thing happened in a department: one item was left behind, and the examiner commented on the paper as ham, and the examiner was an acquaintance, so he took the paper away. The examiner quickly said, wrong! This is a commodity that provides the required items. Why did they paste it on the paper by mistake? Luo Diju said angrily, you only ask ham for the house exam. I corrected the paper for them without even reading it. Who are they? It's obviously your boss! Hearing this, the housing official said, I told you the truth because I know you very well. Why does it have to be bureaucratic? Luo Diju said more angrily: I have worked hard for three years, and I can't bother you with articles. Who do you know? The room exam knew that it was wrong, so we had to let nature take its course and said that if we went to court, you wouldn't have the heart for our friendship's sake; If you say compensation. Compensation, how to compensate for this matter? As you know, I am a poor academician. There is only one mule in my stable. You can take it. The first person to lift the child took the mule away.
The officials who mark papers in the temple are called marking officials, because palace examination made policies in the name of the emperor. From the twenty-five years of Qianlong to the end of Qing Dynasty, there were eight readers. Eight people have to read about 300 papers in the specified two days, which is quite difficult for the first-and second-level officials who are pampered on weekdays. Besides, these people are ignorant ministers who climbed to the top by virtue of the imperial examination, and most of them are ignorant, which makes no sense. It is even more difficult to evaluate the content, but these people can find an easy way in the predicament, that is, take people by their words and learn without asking. This is especially true after Daoguang. Readers pay no attention to the quality of the article, but focus on the fault of writing, the length of a painting and the thinness of a painting. The candidates said with emotion: a broken word, a little defiled, is enough to lose the academician. Because of poor handwriting, you can't get grades. There are many examples where the word "work" comes first. Daoguang was ugly for nine years, and the title of the Korean exam was "An Bian Sui Yuan Shu". Gong Zizhen, a famous thinker and writer, quoted allusions in his article, telling the truth without hiding anything, and all the judges were shocked. Finally, the method of opening a letter is neither intermediate nor advanced. The selection of talents advertised by the rulers is just a cover. No wonder Gong Zizhen wants to send out a strong voice that I hope the weather will be fresh and not stick to one pattern.
The last link in the imperial examination is to choose the champion, ranking second. Usually, after reading palace examination's papers, the first ten volumes are submitted, and the emperor decides the top three. The first place is the champion, the second place is the second place, and the third place is the flower exploration. This is even more arbitrary in the hands of the supreme ruler. The emperor can be promoted or demoted for various absurd reasons. In the thirty-sixth year of Kangxi, Li Pan, the champion of Dingchou, was the "champion" of posthumous title in the same year. This big man has a martial arts style and an amazing appetite. When he entered the palace for the exam, he entered with 36 treasures, and all the Jinshi appeared before dusk as scheduled. The slow-thinking Li Pan stayed alone in front of the temple, and the prison guards repeatedly urged him to appear. Li Pan pleaded tearfully: Fortunately, my lifelong career will not promote each other on this day, thus becoming my fame. In this way, at the urging of the guards, the papers were not handed in until the fourth watch. I also ate 36 cakes a day. After marking, the examiner reported to Emperor Kangxi that Li Pan did not hand in his papers on time. Emperor Kangxi thought he was a painstaking person and decided to be the top scholar for a while. Jiang, who is also a flower explorer, once wrote a five-character poem for this purpose: Looking at Pengcheng County from afar, he is a famous person. Looks like crimson, knife and pencil like Xiao He. Plums are still born under the trees, and the edges of insects are flatter. Generally difficult to learn, thirty-six treasures. Since then, this great figure in the world has been called the number one scholar.
There are lucky people, and there are even more unfortunate people. In the sixteenth year of Daoguang, why is he famous for his knowledge and ability? His paper was admitted to the top ten. Later, because there was a big line in the paper (the beginning of the emperor's death was called a big line), in fact, this word was not connected, but the last word of the previous sentence and the previous word of the next sentence, but it was considered to be against the royal taboo, so it was not listed as excellent.
It seems more absurd to choose a name, but it is so in the scientific research in the late Qing Dynasty. After seven years of tongzhi in palace examination, Wang Guojun, a native of Wujin, Changzhou, was admitted to the top ten. Because Wang Guojun is homophonic with the king of national subjugation, Empress Dowager Cixi hated his name, so she put it in the top three. Later, he was sent to Yang Shan, Anhui Province, where he worked as a junior official for 20 years. Although he changed his name to Wang Songping, he was depressed all his life. Twenty years later, considering his outstanding talent, his boss was going to promote him to be the county magistrate of Yunnan, but he died before he took office. It can be said that he has been down and out all his life because of his name.
In addition to losing the first prize because of fame, there are also people who won the first prize because of fame. The 29th year of Guangxu coincided with the seventieth birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Shoupeng Wang, a native of wei county, was originally ranked lower. In order to win the favor of the Western Pacific, the examiners promoted Shoupeng Wang to the first place from behind, so that when the Western Pacific saw the proposed ranking list, he saw the word Shoupeng Wang at the first sight, which suddenly made him feel that his life must be as long as Peng Zu, who is famous for his longevity in ancient China legends. Sure enough, Empress Dowager Cixi praised the examiner and Shoupeng Wang. During the Beiyang period, Shoupeng Wang was the director of education in Shandong Province. Because of his good reputation, people know his lucky history. One day, a colleague asked him what it was like to kneel before class. Although it was many years later, he couldn't help but say excitedly: Surprised and happy! Of course, this honor completely surprised him.
In the Qing Dynasty, from Xu Bing in the third year of Shunzhi to Chen Jia in the thirtieth year of Guangxu, * * * held 1 12, of which 1 12 was the top scholar, except for a few who had certain accomplishments in calligraphy, most of them were mediocre. The reason why this reputation is so difficult is that the feudal imperial examination system is only a means for rulers to imprison people's thoughts and maintain their rule. Under the prestigious imperial examination, they regard the selection of scholars as a joke, which can't play the role of selecting real materials at all, and will inevitably create a group of corrupt Confucian scholars who plagiarize words and make things up in order to make money.