Why is the 200-year history of imperial examinations in Qing Dynasty a struggle between counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting?

Ten years of cold window, nobody cares, famous all over the world? Is this the imperial examination? Charm? . Since the implementation of the imperial examination system in Sui and Tang Dynasties, examinations have been used to select court officials. As Tian Shelang, you will be crowned Emperor of Heaven at dusk. It is no longer the patent of aristocratic children. As long as the children of the middle and lower classes have the ability, they can pass the imperial examination, and they can also become officials in the DPRK and become pillars of the court.

Therefore, with the implementation of the imperial examination system, learning to be excellent is an official? Become the only eternal goal of all scholars in the world. I have studied hard for decades, in order to be the number one scholar, to honor my ancestors, to be an official, and to be an official. ? Champions and? It has become the achievement that all scholars in the world want to achieve all their lives, because once palace examination is the first, it will not only be famous all over the world, but also be praised by the people? Wenquxing? , but also will be immediately awarded the six-product official position, or awarded from the six-product Hanlin compilation, or awarded from the six-product writing lang, secretary lang.

According to statistics, among more than 500 top scholars in China, a considerable number of them finally took up prominent positions. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, 29 top scholars whose deeds can be tested produced 1 1 prime ministers (Chang Yan, Qi Ying, Mu Zongchao, Li Cheng, Jia Gui, Li and Xu). In the Qing Dynasty, as many as 20 people were so tired of being a senior official among the top 1 14 scholars. In this way, it is the magnanimity of the scholar's official career and the scholar's desire for the position of scholar.

Of course, except for the top scholar, top scholar, flower-exploring, second-and third-rate students, their official careers are not much different. For example, famous ministers such as Su Shi, Su Zhe, Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong are all scholars, and their official careers are also very good. For example, Ouyang Xiu is an official who understands politics and has the same status as a prime minister. Wang Anshi's official position is the same as that of the prime minister. In short, as long as they can be admitted to the Jinshi in all previous dynasties, they can finally mix a seven-product top hat and become an official family.

It is precisely because the imperial examination can make the scholars in the world rank among the officials and become the upper-middle class of a dynasty, and the imperial court also needs to rely on the imperial examination to select talents who can help it run the country and secure the country. Therefore, the operation of the imperial examinations in previous dynasties was very strict, so we took the entrance tickets for the imperial examinations? Scholar? For this title, some people will never pass the exam because they want to? Scholar? He must try it three times in the county, government and hospital. As long as one fails, you won't get it? Scholar? Title. Sure, okay? Scholar? It is not enough to have the qualification to enter the next imperial examination. Jinshi? There is still a long way to go for the title of "Palace Examination", because after that, candidates have to pass three subjects, namely, provincial examination, general examination and senior high school entrance examination, and only by passing the Palace Examination can they get it? Jinshi? Title, also have the qualifications of real officials.

According to incomplete statistics, in this 1300-year long imperial examination, there are surnames to be found. A * * produced more than 700 top scholars, nearly 1, 654,38+0,000 Jinshi, with a million people. Think about it, there are only nearly 1, 654, 38+0,000, and so on. So, no wonder Su Xun, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, issued it? Mo Dao Deng Ke Yi, how old are you? This kind of feeling, because the imperial examination is really difficult, in a thousand years, only nearly 1 10000, the difficulty can be seen.

Of course, no matter how difficult the imperial examination is, scholars all over the world will not shrink back. They will still rush forward without hesitation. If you fail once, you fail twice, and if you fail twice, you fail three times. In short, even if they are 70 years old, they will continue to take exams until they pass them. But, to be honest, some people's talents are really not enough to support them to enter the Jinshi, but they want to be officials. What shall we do? Obviously, the only thing we can do is to cheat in the imperial examination and gain the status of Jinshi by cheating.

Cheating in imperial examinations is nothing new in past dynasties, and the means of cheating by candidates are endless. In order to ensure the fairness of the imperial examination and the high quality of selecting officials, the imperial courts have also promulgated a series of rules and regulations to prevent cheating in the imperial examination. It can be said that in the history of China's imperial examination for more than 1,300 years, from a certain point of view, it was a struggle of fraud and anti-fraud between the imperial court and the examinees, which reached its climax in the Qing Dynasty.

The prevalence of cheating in imperial examinations in Qing dynasty was more serious than that in previous dynasties. The cheating methods of candidates are the achievements of past dynasties, and the number and superb means are beyond the reach of past dynasties. Of course, the Qing court's prevention of cheating in the imperial examination was not as good as that of previous dynasties. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty attached great importance to the anti-cheating work in the imperial examination and regarded it as the key to the success or failure of the imperial examination. Shen Yan's prohibition, idleness, strict discipline and learning from scholars are regarded as important policies in the imperial examination. .

Here is to introduce the cheating methods of candidates in the Qing dynasty and the anti-cheating methods of the Qing court.

The first is the cheating method of candidates in Qing Dynasty.

First, bribe the invigilator. At that time, most cheating candidates would contact the invigilator in various ways, and then form an interest relationship with the examiner through bribery, so that the examiner could disclose the examination contents to himself in advance, or make a mark on the examination paper that only two people knew, and then let him release water during the selection process, so that he could successfully complete the examination and obtain the corresponding identity. In the Qing dynasty, there were countless incidents of bribing invigilators to cheat. For example, in the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi's Shuntianfu rural examination, Jiang, the examiner and deputy examiner, took bribes and was admitted to many uneducated bureaucratic children. Another example is Xin Mao in the 50th year of Kangxi, and Wu Bi and Cheng Guangkui, scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, bribed Zhao Jin, editor of the deputy examiner, to gain the status of a juren. But in fact, Wu Bi and Cheng Guangkui are both? Can't you write? People.

Second, entrainment. Similar to the cheat sheets we used in school when we were young, some cheating candidates will try their best to smuggle exam materials into the examination room. In the Qing dynasty, cheating candidates would put compulsory books such as the Four Books and the Five Classics in coats, robes, trousers and even hats and socks. Later, in order to prevent cheating, the court specially stipulated that coats, robes, trousers and even hats and socks must be single-layered. So when candidates see that this method is not feasible, they will find another way. They shrink and compress these required books and sew them into clothes and socks.

For example, the famous micro-engraved printed book "Notes on the Five Classics" in the late Qing Dynasty was specially used for cheating in the examination room. This kind of micro-book can easily be put under the boots, hidden in the sleeves or hidden at the bottom of the inkstone by cheating candidates (The Complete Notes of the Five Classics, discovered in Luoyang, Henan Province, has 342 pages of * * * 300,000 words and contains the Book of Changes and the Book of Songs. Although the content is rich and there are many words, it is really a microcosm. Its book is 65cm long, 48cm wide and15cm thick. Is it true?/You don't say. Pocket book? )。

From the end of Qing Dynasty, in order to facilitate the entrainment of candidates, someone deliberately invented this kind of micro-book, which shows that this kind of entrainment prevailed in Qing Dynasty. In fact, it is indeed true. 1 1 year, after Ganlong obtained the township entrance examination in Shuntianfu, people took a large number of military service for a surprise inspection. Later, the candidates in the examination room heard that there were soldiers checking, and many of them threw the materials out of the examination room. According to statistics, at that time, thousands of inclusions were found outside the examination room, and nearly 2,800 candidates escaped on the spot and could not be named. From the above things, we can see how common cheating was in Qing Dynasty.

Third, take the exam. Similar to today's? College entrance examination immigrants? , Qing system:? Where there is an imperial examination, the provinces have restrictions on the number of people taking the examination and the number of places to be admitted, and the admission rules are different? In other words, at that time, the Qing court had strict regulations on the number of students who took the provincial examination and the number of people who were admitted as jurors. For example, Jiangsu, a cultural province, 5.5; Yunnan is 53.8, Guizhou is 2 1 (unit: one in a million), from which we can see that the admission rate of juren in backward areas of Qing Dynasty is several times or even dozens of times that in developed areas.

Therefore, it is under such a disparity in admission rate that candidates from developed areas in the Qing Dynasty obtained the status of going to backward areas to take the imperial examinations through various means such as adoption, selling relatives, buying land, impersonating and bribing officials. Is this the so-called? Fake member? For example, Zhao Yi, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, was originally from Jiangsu. He was supposed to have an after-school exam in Jiangsu, but later he was based on? Business registration? I took the provincial exam in Shuntian and got a juren.

In the Qing dynasty, it was also common to take cross-examination exams. In the twelfth year of Jiaqing, Taihe, the deputy envoy of the General Political Department, played to Jiaqing. In recent years, scholars from southern provinces in Shanxi Province have taken exams one after another, and make-up exams have come one after another, including many who have obtained degrees and held official positions? Jiaqing pointed out: It's not just mixed exams in Shanxi, but also in all provinces. It can be seen that at this time even the emperor has tacitly realized that he will take the imperial examination.

Fourth, change the volume. To put it simply, cheating candidates bribe the invigilator and use the opportunity of copying or marking papers to exchange their own papers with another one that is sure to be tested, so that they can be admitted. For example, in the exam of Hunan Province in Jiaqing three years, Fu Jinxian, a tribute student from Ningxiang, colluded with Fan Shuncheng, the bookkeeper of the exam room, and changed other people's papers. As a result, Fu Jinxian became aware.

Fifth, take the exam. Similar to today's? College entrance examination gunman? . At that time, cheating candidates would try their best to send the examination questions out of the examination room (for example, in the twenty-third year of Qianlong, a candidate named Hai Chenggong sent the examination questions out of the examination room with pigeons), and then off-site gunmen would answer the questions for them, and finally return the answered papers to cheating candidates.

In the fifty-second year of Qianlong, the Ministry of Rites played: In the vicinity of Beijing Theater, traitors were known to harbor gunmen, especially the money-makers in the venue. Instead of raising a child, communicating with the field patrol military service and the boudoir army, leaking the news of the topic and throwing it out of the field with bricks and stones. There are words, or remote lampposts, or even firecrackers; Or the domestic pigeon harrier will be tied with a bell and put vertically as a sign, and put in the designated place for customs clearance and delivery in advance, or it will be thrown into the stadium by bricks and stones, which is the most harmful. ? At that time, there were many gunmen around the Beijing Imperial Examination. Cheating candidates often paid off the patrolling soldiers and then took the opportunity to pass the examination questions outside the examination room, or directly threw stones or used homing pigeons. Then the gunmen who ambushed around would help answer the questions and pass them to the examination room in the same way.

The above are several common cheating methods in the imperial examination room in Qing Dynasty. All kinds of cheating methods and superb means are dazzling and overwhelming.

Then talk about the anti-fraud measures of the Qing court.

First, use severe punishment to deter those who want to cheat or help cheat in the imperial examination. In the Qing dynasty, the punishment for cheating in imperial examinations was severe. Once the candidates are found to take the test, forge their names, entrain, plagiarize, pass small notes, etc. The invigilator can let them wear cangue numbers directly before the trial and display them publicly outside the examination room. At the same time, if they violate the above discipline in the provincial examination stage, they will immediately lose the title of student (scholar). In addition, after the exam, those candidates who cheat will be sentenced, and most of them will be sentenced to exile, that is, sent to exile. For example, in the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (1799), the court sentenced three young students, candidates and other people who participated in the examination to three months, and then sent them into exile. At the same time, they arrived at the place where they were sent, and they were beaten with a stick 100 and engraved on their faces? Change cigarettes into hair? Four words.

At the same time, the Qing court will also impose heavy sentences on invigilators who help candidates cheat, ranging from exile to death. For example, in the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, after winning the first place in the rural examination of Shuntianfu, it was found that the candidates were all rich children. Shunzhi was furious when he learned about it. After that, 18 invigilators and their colleagues involved in the case were all executed and abandoned, all their families were exiled to Ningguta, and all their property was confiscated. Another example is that in the eighth year of Xianfeng, after having obtained the township examination in Shuntianfu Middle School, the examiner, Bo Heng, a college student in Wenyuange, was ordered to be executed by Xianfeng for alleged fraud.

It is under such strict laws that cheating in the imperial examination can not be completely eradicated, but it can also prevent some candidates and invigilators who intend to cheat, such as the fraud case in Shunzhi for 18 years. At that time, people's hearts were shocked, and decades of shortcomings in the examination room were cleaned up. .

Second, implementation? Would you rather kill the wrong person? The spirit of, as long as there is a large-scale fraud in a certain place, or a candidate is reported cheating, a second interview will be implemented, that is, another question will be given and the exam will be re-taken. For example, in the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, there was a large-scale fraud in the rural examinations in Shuntian and Jiangnan. In view of this, Shunzhi decided to personally recommend people to Shuntian and Jiangnan the following year. What happened? 22 people were suspended and transferred from the exam? .

Another example is that in the fifty-first year of Kangxi, it was reported that the poor had violated the law in the exam. When Kangxi decided to have a second interview with him, he chose to escape. Later, Kangxi thought that there was something wrong with this exam, so he re-examined the new Gong family in Changchun Garden. As a result, five people lost the qualification of Gong Sheng.

Third, strict implementation? Search the volume? System. In order to prevent examiners from cheating, the Qing Dynasty recommended examiners' papers to bribers. Therefore, the Qing court stipulated that after the examiner recommended the papers, he should check the papers that were unsuccessful again to see if the talented candidates were unsuccessful. If the examiner thinks that the candidate is really qualified for admission, then? Submit it to our room for detailed reading. If you agree to take it, fill in the recommendation; If our office insists on its own opinion, it will be recognized by the examiner and vice examiner, and it should be in the middle of the paper, so we must explain the reasons? That is to say, the examiner will give the exam paper of the unsuccessful candidate who he thinks is talented to the examiner who is responsible for re-reading this exam paper. If the examiner thinks it's ok, make up the recommendation notes. On the other hand, if the examiner thinks that this person is not suitable for recommendation, it will be verified by the examiner and the deputy examiner. If everyone thinks that this person can be recommended, the examiner will write a letter of recommendation stating the reasons for recommending this person.

Of course, this recommendation is risky, because it has a clear statement: when the test paper is released, it will be evaluated fairly by the grinding official. If it is not in the middle, it is the examiner. If the housekeeper is stubborn, it will be discussed strictly as usual. That is to say, if you use this? Search the volume? Candidates recommended in the form of "I" can't pass the bureaucratic jargon, so the examiner will be punished. Of course, if you pass the exam but are stopped by the examiner, then the examiner will be severely punished.

But anyway. Search the volume? How strict is the system? In practical application, it really enabled the Qing Dynasty to get a group of really useful talents, such as famous officials, such as Shaoji and Zuotong. Search the volume? And was admitted as a juren.

Fourth, strict household registration audit, just in case? Take the cross-examination exam? The occurrence of events. First of all, the Qing dynasty stipulated candidates? Only when my grandfather has been naturalized for more than 20 years and his grave, fields and houses are well documented can he take the exam? That is, if you want to take the local exam, the candidate's grandfather must be naturalized here for 20 years, and there is a place to have a house, otherwise you are not allowed to take the exam. Of course, rules are dead and people are alive. Although the law stipulates this, as long as the local household registration officer is willing to modify the household registration, he can escape, right? Money makes the mare go? Sometimes money is really everything.

So in order to put an end to the above problems, the Qing court introduced it again? Guarantee? System, that is, when candidates begin to take the scholar test, they need to take money to ask Lin Sheng (a student, similar to the current public fee student) for a letter of guarantee, and at the same time they need to sign a letter of guarantee with four candidates. Without the guarantee of Lin Sheng and four candidates, candidates can't take the exam. After that, before the exam, the examiner will call the roll after calling the candidates' names. Someone guaranteed it? And the guarantor must answer? Someone guaranteed it? So that the exam can officially begin.

After that, once the candidates find out? Fake member? The problem is that the sponsored students will soon be deprived of their fame. At the same time, the four candidates who vouched for them will also be severely punished. First, you will be disqualified directly, then you will be beaten 80 times with a stick, and then you will be banned from taking the exam for 6 to 12 years.

Besides, in order to completely contain it? Take the cross-examination exam? Is the Qing dynasty still outside the imperial examination room after the incident? Audition suggestion? Mainly for the situation that southern scholars pretend to be northern scholars. At that time, candidates who took the exam in the north would be considered to have a southern accent? Fake member? , thus losing the examination qualification.

Fifth, strictly regulate candidates' clothing and various tools used in the examination room to prevent candidates? Entrainment? . In the Qing Dynasty, in order to prevent candidates from carrying clothes and tools with them, the Qing court specially stipulated that the clothes, robes, trousers, hats and socks worn by candidates must be single-layered. The hat is made of a single layer of felt, and all shirts and robes are made of a single layer. Leather clothes go in, felt clothes go in, pants, silk, cloth, leather and felt are all ok, only single layer is allowed. Single felt for socks, thin sole for shoes and felt for seats? .

At the same time, are there rules for the tools that candidates carry? The rolled bag is not allowed to be put in, the inkstone is not allowed to be too thick, the pen tube is hollowed out and magnetized by water injection, the carbon should be two inches long, the wax table should be tin, the plate should be single and the column should be hollow. Cake and cake should be cut separately. In addition, figures, wind ovens, teapots and other things are allowed to be brought into the basket when necessary, such as the wickerwork basket used in Beijing, which has a bold and solid handle and is easy to hide traitors. The bamboo or willow discussed today should be made according to the south-style basket, with exquisite lattice eyes and easy to find at the bottom? That is, the size and thickness of inkstone, charcoal, cake and wax table, the material of kettle, the style of pen tube, brush and basket, and the carrying of word rings, wind stoves and teapots are all strictly regulated. If there is a slight discrepancy, you may not be able to take the imperial examination.

In addition, in order to completely eliminate the entrainment of candidates, the Qing court also used severe penalties to curb the entrainment of candidates. Once a candidate is found to have cheated, without trial, the candidate is required to wear a cangue for three months, and the staff is 100. After the expiration, he will be criticized and punished, and the worst one will be expelled from the country. At the same time, in order to let the soldiers guarding the examination room do their best to search, as long as the soldiers who searched at that time found out an entrainment candidate, the court would reward him with a silver or two.

Sixth, make regular surprise inspections of the imperial examination room. No matter how to prevent it, there will always be times when secrets are sparse. Therefore, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty often sent his cronies to various examination rooms for surprise inspection to see if there were any candidates who had problems such as taking the test, entrainment and impersonation. If so, deal with it on the spot, cancel the examination qualification and wait for the next judgment of the court. For example, in the ninth year of Qianlong, after the provincial examination in Shuntianfu, Qianlong sent two trusted ministers to lead troops to make a surprise inspection. Find 2 1 person in the first game and 2 1 person in the second game. Then I saw this situation. As many as 2,800 people gave up the exam for fear of searching, and the outside of the Hiram's Hospital was covered with cheat sheets.

Generally speaking, compared with the previous dynasties, the measures taken by the Qing Dynasty against cheating in the imperial examinations were undoubtedly the most successful, as Zhao Erxun said? In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was the most solemn ceremony. Although the original system was mostly based on the old Ming Dynasty, the names of subjects were carefully protected to prevent abuse. The week of legislation, the success of people, far from the previous generation. In the Qing dynasty, although the cheating methods of candidates emerged one after another, the anti-cheating measures of the Qing court were even better. The Tao is one foot high, and the devil is ten feet high? Under the strict supervision of the Qing court, although cheating occurred frequently in the imperial examination room in the Qing dynasty, it was not as rampant as in the previous dynasty. The imperial examination in the Qing dynasty perfectly implemented the purpose of providing a steady stream of good ministers and generals for the Qing court.