China: Understanding Its Past

2. Sons

Sons 2 Section Reading: School Examinations Activity: Examination Rules A s you have seen, the Chinese traditionally valued their sons more than their daughters. Sons carried on the family name, took care of aging parents, and performed the necessary rites to honor family ancestors. Sons of well-to-do families could receive an education, and if they were bright enough, eventually compete in government examinations. If they succeeded, they brought honor to their families because they were recognized as scholars eligible to become government officials. The Chinese placed these scholar-officials at the top of their status-bound society. In today’s literate societies students must take a variety of examinations to show what they know. In many countries these examinations determine the type of schooling students receive, their chances of entering colleges and universities, and their future careers. The Chinese were the first people to develop a complex examination system over a period of almost fourteen hundred years.1 This system reached its greatest complexity about a hundred years ago during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Civil service examinations in imperial China determined which men would govern China’s provinces and hold the most-honored positions in society. Although the Chinese valued educated men, most families were peasants too poor to let their sons attend school. If a boy showed promise of succeeding, his parents and family—if they could afford it—devoted time and attention to his education. Some young boys began learning to read and write as early as three. 1 Selecting the talented was practiced during the second century B.C.E., but the testing system became well established about 700 years later. Chinese is one of the hardest languages to read. To be functionally literate, a person must learn at least three to five thousand characters of a total of about fifty thousand. Each day a boy would memorize a few characters , beginning with the most common ones. As he memorized each character, he practiced writing it with a brush made of rabbit hair. His ink came from an ink stick he rubbed onto an ink stone holding a little water. Grinding the ink stick over and over again made the ink thick and black. As he slowly became more polished in using the brush adeptly, he took pride in his writing, for calligraphy was a highly regarded art form, reflecting character and refinement. From about the age of eight (seven in the Western method of counting age) until the age of fifteen, a boy attended private temple or village schools. If he came from a wealthy family, he was tutored at home. From the beginning of his schooling he studied the wisdom of Confucius, a great Chinese philosopher and teacher. He memorized The Analects and large sections of works edited by Confucius, along with works by scholars With a partner, list the rules you must obey when taking an examination at school. One way is to recall the procedure you must follow when you enter the room. Be ready to share your list with the class. 20 Chapter 1: The Family, State, and Society in Imperial China, 600 B.C.E to A.D. 1900 who wrote about Confucius. The boy also learned Chinese history and poetry and composed essays and poems having classical and historical allusions. This rigor took mental discipline and perseverance. It was thought that such an education instilled in him the proper attitudes toward life and made him a wise person. According to Confucius, only the wise could govern well. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, boys took entrance examinations that determined who could continue in school. The account below describes the final two-day school examination that determined who qualified to take the civil service examinations that decided who would govern China’s provinces. On the long-awaited morning of the first day, students from all over the province gathered in front of the examination compound. When the gates were finally opened, the candidates lined up to be inspected. Clerks searched them for books, notes, or money, which might be used to bribe clerks. If any such items were discovered , the inspecting clerk received a reward and the student was punished. Once the inspection was over, the candidates entered a large examination room and went to their assigned seats. The first session lasted a full day, from early morning until evening. Two days after this session, the results were announced. The second session was held the next day. Those...