Failure Stories: Interpretations of Rejected Papers in the Late Imperial Civil Service Examinations
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This article investigates the practice of returning marked papers to rejected candidates in late imperial Chinese examinations. The practice—common from the sixteenth century to the abolition of imperial examinations in 1905—established a sense of personal communication between examiners and examinees and was an opportunity for rejected candidates to benefit from the examination system. The failed papers returned to their authors enabled them to make sense of their performance by interpreting, when not misconstruing, examiners’ comments. The examiners sometimes praised the papers and blamed the decision to fail on other examiners. As a result, most rejected candidates tended not to challenge the examiners through official channels or take collective action against the examination system. Thus, in the late imperial examination system, the ways in which rejecting decisions could be negotiated and construed were no less important than the awarding of degrees to an extremely small proportion of participants.
Cet article s’intéresse à la pratique, particulière à la période impériale tardive, consistant à rendre leurs copies aux candidats ayant échoué aux examens. Courante depuis le xvie siècle et jusqu’à l’abolition des examens mandarinaux en 1905, cette pratique créait l’impression d’une relation personnelle entre les examinateurs et les candidats et était un moyen pour ceux qui avaient échoué de tirer profit du système. Les copies rejetées retournées à leurs auteurs permettaient à ces derniers de donner un sens à leur performance en interprétant, voire en dévoyant, les commentaires des examinateurs. Il arrivait que les examinateurs fassent l’éloge des copies et attribuent à autrui la décision de les rejeter. De ce fait, la plupart des candidats malheureux évitaient de contester les examinateurs par la voie réglementaire ou de manifester collectivement contre le système. Ainsi, dans le système des examens à la fin de la période impériale, la manière dont les décisions négatives pouvaient être négociées ou interprétées n’était pas moins importante que l’attribution de rangs académiques à une toute petite proportion de ceux qui concouraient.
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“In 1691, He Chuguang memorialized that … knowledgeable officials should be commissioned to investigate the failed papers. If there are papers without any markings, or rejected before having been read in their entirety, censors will be authorized to impeach the ward examiners for treating people unjustly because of their negligence. Once the papers have been fully examined, the failed papers must be returned to the education intendants to be distributed to the candidates, so that they will be able to look at them in person, which will be an occasion for them to be instructed. In this way, when reading the papers, the examiners will be fearful and do their utmost, and rejected candidates will have no reason to protest” 萬曆十九年, 何出光奏 …. 其落卷仍委精明官員逐卷查明. 如有空白無筆跡, 及覽未終篇而遂棄之者, 許御史參劾房考以為怠事屈人之罰. 查閱 明白, 仍將落卷發提學官分發各生, 使之親自省覽, 以為受教之地. 如此則考官 閱 卷者凜凜自盡, 而士子下第者可無後言矣. See Wang Qi 王圻, Xu wenxian tongkao 續文獻通考 (Taibei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1979), 45.17a; Zhongguo kaoshi shi wenxian jicheng, vol. 3 [Ming]), 248.
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Since as early as 1385, ward examiners would only read the answers from their assigned ward or pool of candidates, and then recommend the outstanding candidates for the chief examiners’ overall selection. See Elman, Cultural History, 189.
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He Xiaoyan, “Shilun Qingdai keju zhidu zhong de fa luojuan zhengce,” 7.
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He Gangde, Chuming meng lu, 92; Zhong Yulong, Kechang huiyi lu, 73.
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Failure Stories: Interpretations of Rejected Papers in the Late Imperial Civil Service Examinations
In: T'oung PaoSearch for other papers by Shiuon Chu in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This article investigates the practice of returning marked papers to rejected candidates in late imperial Chinese examinations. The practice—common from the sixteenth century to the abolition of imperial examinations in 1905—established a sense of personal communication between examiners and examinees and was an opportunity for rejected candidates to benefit from the examination system. The failed papers returned to their authors enabled them to make sense of their performance by interpreting, when not misconstruing, examiners’ comments. The examiners sometimes praised the papers and blamed the decision to fail on other examiners. As a result, most rejected candidates tended not to challenge the examiners through official channels or take collective action against the examination system. Thus, in the late imperial examination system, the ways in which rejecting decisions could be negotiated and construed were no less important than the awarding of degrees to an extremely small proportion of participants.
Cet article s’intéresse à la pratique, particulière à la période impériale tardive, consistant à rendre leurs copies aux candidats ayant échoué aux examens. Courante depuis le xvie siècle et jusqu’à l’abolition des examens mandarinaux en 1905, cette pratique créait l’impression d’une relation personnelle entre les examinateurs et les candidats et était un moyen pour ceux qui avaient échoué de tirer profit du système. Les copies rejetées retournées à leurs auteurs permettaient à ces derniers de donner un sens à leur performance en interprétant, voire en dévoyant, les commentaires des examinateurs. Il arrivait que les examinateurs fassent l’éloge des copies et attribuent à autrui la décision de les rejeter. De ce fait, la plupart des candidats malheureux évitaient de contester les examinateurs par la voie réglementaire ou de manifester collectivement contre le système. Ainsi, dans le système des examens à la fin de la période impériale, la manière dont les décisions négatives pouvaient être négociées ou interprétées n’était pas moins importante que l’attribution de rangs académiques à une toute petite proportion de ceux qui concouraient.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 497 | 97 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 76 | 8 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 128 | 14 | 0 |
