In ancient times, the college entrance examination was also tricky. Why did the ancients do this?

The college entrance examination is a topic that concerns people's hearts. Today, all candidates are proving their efforts. In fact, there were exams in ancient times, and compared with the current college entrance examination, ancient times affected a person's life. Yesterday morning, the imperial examination system appeared in the Sui Dynasty, and the imperial examination was also a way to break the gate system and select outstanding talents. Of course, this undoubtedly creates opportunities for ordinary people, because reading can enter and leave the official career, and entering and leaving the official career can realize the value and ideal of life.

imperial civil examination

Of course, there have been many frauds in the modern college entrance examination, and ancient times are no exception. In this regard, the ancients also invented various cheating methods, such as "hiding", that is, bringing cheat sheets into the examination room. However, this vicious means is still easy to be found, and the court has cracked down on fraud very severely. Once discovered, they will not only lose the opportunity to take the exam, but may even pay the price of their lives. Since counterfeiting is risky, the ancients thought of another way, that is, using the regional differences of imperial examinations to go astray. In order to get into a better place, it was also called college entrance examination immigration in ancient times.

imperial civil examination

A very interesting thing happened when Ding Chou took the exam in Hongwu of Ming Dynasty for thirty years. After the exam, the list is displayed. There are 52 people on the list, among which Chen An, a student from Fujian, is the first. Strangely, these 52 people are all southerners, but none of them are northerners. Zhu Yuanzhang is naturally full of doubts about this. Does this just mean that the examination room was cheated? Otherwise, how could there be such a big gap? So Zhu Yuanzhang personally supervised the case.

imperial civil examination

But the examiner of this exam is Liu Sanwu, known as "Tan Tan Weng". He is a contemporary scholar, and the possibility of perverting the law is slim. After some investigation, it was confirmed that the level of the southern candidates was indeed higher than that of the northern candidates, but this result made Zhu Yuanzhang very unhappy. After all, the north and the south are his. Wouldn't it be unfair to the emperor if all the candidates in the north failed the exam? Since Bei Sheng can't be wronged, he can only be wronged by Liu Sanwu, who was exiled. This time, Zhu Yuanzhang personally presided over the court examination. As a result, it is conceivable that the northern candidates were admitted to 6 1.

imperial civil examination

Unlike in ancient times, the level of economic development and cultural development in many places are uneven. This also makes the situation of exams appear everywhere. Hungry people don't know how hungry they are. The good ones are scary and the bad ones are even scarier. This phenomenon has also appeared in Liu Zongyuan's "Send Xin Sheng Lulve", which wrote: "Zhao Jing is one year old and Gong Xiucai often opposes a hundred counties." Under visible light, the number of taxi drivers in Chang 'an area is equal to the sum of other areas 100 counties. Foreign scholars have also counted 28,933 scholars in the Song Dynasty, including 7 144 in Fujian.

imperial civil examination

Therefore, in order to make the imperial examination more fair, the understanding quota system appeared. This system means that candidates will take the provincial examination after passing the state and county examinations. The number of places allocated in different regions is also different, so there is the phenomenon of imperial examination immigration. For example, Bai Juyi, whom we are all familiar with, took advantage of this loophole. His ancestral home is Shanxi, he was born in Henan, but his household registration is Shaanxi. Of course, Bai Juyi's ability is beyond doubt. His move may be to avoid too many powerful opponents and stand out quickly.

imperial civil examination

Imperial examination immigration was not just a case, and the court began to take various control measures after learning about it. In the Song Dynasty, there was a stipulation that only those who owned local land could take the local imperial examination. At this time, we will say that there is a candidate named Zhang Zhongheng, a native of Chuzhou. There are only four candidates in Chuzhou, but there are 100 in Lin 'an. Therefore, Zhang Zhongheng began to use his brain to let his father adopt him to relatives in Lin 'an. Sure enough, he was admitted to Jinshi, but his fame was denounced and cancelled. The ancients really took great pains for the imperial examination, and even their ancestors didn't have to recognize them.

imperial civil examination

Of course, this unfair means of competition has always been strictly controlled. No matter which dynasty, talents were carefully selected. After all, the talents who came up were the pillars of the later court. Finally, I also hope that the students who took part in the college entrance examination today can fight a beautiful battle beyond their usual ability, and I also hope that you can be as dexterous as swords when collecting pens.