Wuchang, on the Yangtsze opposite Hankow, is the capital of the two
provinces Hupeh and Hunan. Here, every third year, the examination for
competitors from both provinces is held, and a correspondent of the
_North China Herald_, of Shanghai, describes the scene at the
examination at the beginning of September last. The streets, he says,
are thronged with long-robed, large-spectacled gentlemen, who inform
the world at large by every fold of drapery, every swagger of gait,
every curve of nail, that they are the aristocracy of the most ancient
empire of the world. Wuchang had from 12,000 to 15,000 bachelors of
arts within its walls, who came from the far borders of the province
for the examination for the provincial degree. About one-half per
cent. will be successful; thousands of them know they have not the
shadow of a chance, but literary etiquette binds them to appear. In
the wake of these Confucian scholars come a rout of traders, painters,
scroll sellers, teapot venders, candle merchants, spectacle mongers,
etc.; servants and friends swell the number, so that the examination
makes a difference of some 40,000 or 50,000 to the resident
population. In the great examination hall, which is composed of a
series of pens shut off from each other in little rows of 20 or 30,
and the view of which is suggestive of a huge cattle market, there is
accommodation for over 10,000 candidates. The observance of rules of
academic propriety is very strict. A candidate may be excluded, not
only for incompetence, but for writing his name in the wrong place,
for tearing or blotting his examination paper, etc. After the
examination of each batch a list of those allowed to compete for
honors is published, and the essay forms for each district are
prepared with proper names and particulars. The ancestors of the
candidate for three generations must be recorded, they must be free
from taint of _yamen_ service, prostitution, the barber's trade and
the theater, or the candidate would not have obtained his first
degree. With the forms 300 cash (about 1s.) are presented to each
candidate for food during the ordeal. The lists being thus prepared,
on the sixth day of the eighth moon (Tuesday, the 8th of September, in
1891), the city takes a holiday to witness the ceremony of "entering
the curtain," i.e., opening the examination hall. For days coolies
have been pumping water into great tanks, droves of pigs have been
driven into the inclosure, doctors, tailors, cooks, coffins, printers,
etc., have been massed within the hall for possible needs. The
imperial commissioners are escorted by the examination officials to
the place. A dozen district magistrates have been appointed to
superintend within the walls, and as many more outside, two prefects
have office inside, and the governor of the province has also to be
locked up during the eight days of examination. The whole company is
first entertained to breakfast at the _yamen_, and then the procession
forms; the ordinary umbrellas, lictors, gongs, feathers, and
ragamuffins are there in force; the examiners and the highest officers
are carried in open chairs draped in scarlet and covered with tiger
skins. The dead silence that falls on the crowd betokens the approach
of the governor, who brings up the rear. Then the bustle of the actual
examination begins. The hall is a miniature city. Practically martial
law is proclaimed. In the central tower is a sword, and misdemeanor
within the limits is punished with instant death. The mandarins take
up their quarters in their respective lodges, the whole army of
writers whose duty it is to copy out the essays of the candidates, to
prevent collusion, take their places. Altogether there must be over
20,000 people shut in. Cases have been known in which a hopeful
candidate was crushed to death in the crowd at the gate. Each
candidate is first identified, and he is assigned a certain number
which corresponds to a cell a few feet square, containing one board
for a seat and one for a desk. Meanwhile the printers in the building
are hard at work printing the essay texts. Each row of cells has two
attendants for cooking, etc., assigned to it, the candidates take
their seats, the rows are locked from the outside, the themes are
handed out, the contest has begun. The examination is divided into
three bouts of about 36 hours, two nights and a day, each, with
intervals of a day. The first is the production of three essays on the
four assigned books; the second of five essays on the five classics;
the third of five essays on miscellaneous subjects. The strain, as may
be imagined, is very great, and several victims die in the hall. The
literary ambition which leads old men of 60 and 70 to enter not
unfrequently destroys them. Should any fatal case occur, the coffin
may on no account be carried out through the gates; it must be lifted
over or sometimes through a breach in the wall. Death must not pollute
the great entrance. At the end of the third trial, the first batch of
those who have completed their essays is honored with the firing of
guns, the bows of the officials, and the ministry of a band of music.
Three weeks of anxious waiting will ensue before a huge crowd will
assemble to see the list published. Then the successful candidates are
the pride of their country side, and well do the survivors of such an
ordeal deserve their credit. The case of those who are in the last
selection and are left degreeless, for the stern reason that some must
be crowded out, is the hardest of all.
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