How did ancient people take exams?

As an ancient "college entrance examination", the imperial examination system can provide scholars with an excellent opportunity to show their talents and enter the official career. Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. If the scholars passed the college entrance examination, they would have a court examination presided over by the emperor of the dynasty in March of that year after they obtained the rural examination. The court examination, also known as listening examination, takes people who can try Chinese as candidates and takes essays as the test carrier.

The essay can be said to be the core of the court examination. Why do you say that? Just look at the Minghui Hall. This is how the Ming Hui Dian records the process of the court examination. As a guide, officials of the Ministry of Rites led Gong Shi to line up in the Imperial Palace in the north, and then the emperor presided over it. After saluting the emperor, the deacon "raises the policy questions", the serving officials "hand over the policy questions to the officials of the Ministry of Rites", and the officials of the Ministry of Rites issue papers.

An important way for ordinary scholars to enter official career. What impressed us most about the imperial examination system in Ming and Qing dynasties was the eight-part essay. Eight-part essay really occupies an important position in the imperial examination in Ming and Qing Dynasties, but it is not the only standard of the imperial examination. Especially after the senior high school entrance examination, the emperor did not take the eight-part essay, but took it. Officials in Ming and Qing Dynasties are definitely not pure examination machines, at least they should have some logic in governing the country.

Eight-part essay is called eight-part essay because it consists of eight parts, namely, theme, beginning, beginning, middle, back and conclusion. Because there are too many restrictions, it is criticized as a manifestation of institutional rigidity. Of course, the eight-part essay in the Ming and Qing imperial examinations will generally be the first. When eight articles failed, the examiner stopped reading the following articles. But in fact, the eight-part essay is just an introduction. There are many forms of examination, such as theory, judgment and case. Just like our college entrance examination. Mathematics is very important. But you should not only learn math, Chinese and English well, but also go a long way if you can't. Imperial examination is divided into state examination, provincial examination, imperial examination and palace examination. The first three are eight parts of the exam. If you are a scholar in the government and a juren in the countryside, you will be a scholar. When the exam is finished, we will enter the last link, which is the temple exam.

The text of the strategic examination can be said to be the core content of the temple examination. Ming Huijing introduced the process of temple examination in detail. The officials of the Ministry of Rites brought all the Jinshi into the hall, and then the emperor personally set the questions. Then the deacon wrote the title on the manuscript. The courtesy officer began to hand out papers and let Jinshi answer them. Scholars answered questions according to the emperor's requirements, and the exam results came out. The so-called policies are divided into policies and countermeasures. Among them, the emperor gave the examination questions, and the countermeasures were the candidates' answers. The answer is that the emperor has a ruler who is a scholar and relies on the emperor to select talents.

The general policy is that the emperor asks about the state affairs he cares about. For example, in the 13th year of Hongwu in Ming Taizu, the son of heaven was the mission entrusted by God to educate the people. However, some people quoted Wu Wang's Punishment of the Ancient philosophers, arguing that the ancient philosophers and kings could not achieve social stability only by education. You must rely on criminal law as an aid. We all know that Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty, so when he became emperor, he emphasized the rule of law. Those who accept bribes and abuse the law will be severely punished. The champion at that time understood Zhu Yuanzhang very well. His policy is that the ancient sages ruled the country with five punishments. So criminal law should be used today.