Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was a landlord class politician who emerged during the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. He understood the significance of talents in seizing power and consolidating power. Long before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he attached great importance to winning over intellectuals of the landlord class. A group of Confucian scholars led by Zhu Sheng, Song Lian and Liu Ji served under his tent and were highly respected. In order to welcome the upcoming national victory, in 2013, Zhu Yuanzhang issued the order to "set two civil and military disciplines to win scholars", requiring local officials at all levels to "encourage and inspire smart and brave men and wise and brave people to learn from time to time. When the election begins, they will be rewarded with the capital" (Volume 70 of "History of Ming Dynasty" and "Election System" 2), which unraveled the prelude to the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were divided into provincial examinations, imperial examinations and palace examinations.   

The provincial examination is a local examination held by the Zhili Department of the South and North Zhili Departments and the various provincial government departments. It is also called the town examination. It is held every three years and is held in the years of Zi, Mao, Wu and You. The location of the provincial examination is in the South and Beijing Prefecture and the provincial government departments. There are two main examination candidates, four candidates in the same examination, and one person is promoted. In addition, there are officials responsible for receiving papers, sealing, copying, reading, patrolling the gate, and searching for hostages.    

The exam is divided into 30%: the first is to test the meaning of the Four Books and the meaning of the classics. The second is to test one, five judgments, edicts, edicts, and internal medicine. The third is to test the five classics and historical strategies. The three exams are held on August 9, 12 and 15 respectively. Candidates must undergo strict searches and are not allowed to carry them. After entering the venue, each Kaisheng will be monitored by a number army to prevent cheating. The papers are handed over at dusk. If they are not finished, three candles will be given, and the papers will not be completed.

, you will be helped out of the examination room. After the candidate handed over the paper, he went through the procedures such as sealing, transcribing, reading, etc., and then sent to the main examination for the examination and reviewing. The review time is nominally ten days, but the time for real review is only three or four days. Because there are many test papers and cannot be read all over, the test tube often "stop reading the front court and the meaning of the book". If the three meanings of the "Four Books" written in the first place are appreciated by the examiners, you can become a juren in Chinese style.  

  The admission quota for the provincial examination was decided by the court. In the 17th year of Hongwu, the imperial edict "regardless of the quota, the actual tribute was paid." In the first year of Hongxi, the quota was stipulated, and each examination area ranged from ten to fifty. Later, it gradually increased. In the late Ming Dynasty, the number of people in Zhili in the north and south increased to more than 130, and the number of people in the various administrative departments was greatly increased.

  

The examination is a national examination hosted by the Ministry of Rites, also known as the Liwei, which is held in the capital in the second year of the provincial examination, that is, in the years of Chou, Chen, Wei and Xu. Those who take the examination must be Chinese-style Juren in the provincial examination. The examination is also divided into three events, held on the ninth, twelfth, and 15th of the second month. The content and procedures of the examination are basically the same as those of the provincial examination. Because the examination is an examination that is higher than the provincial examination, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty attach more importance to it. Therefore, the number of examiners with the same examination doubled compared to the provincial examination. The chief examiner, the promotion of the same examination level, and the supervisory examination are all held by officials of higher ranks.

The search and inspection when entering the venue were relatively wide in the early Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang once said: "Why should those who have already sing and come here with deer singing, but how can they be treated as thieves?" Therefore, the search and inspection method was not good at the time. By the end of Jiajing, the situation of the juren carrying it became increasingly serious. In 1 year, Jiajing "the mission was to add two censors to the censors to conduct the search and inspection. The offenders first had to be shackled (wear shackles) one month before the Ministry of Rites, and they still sent the court to convict, so they were severely banned." Shen Defu was quite moved in this regard. He said: "For the past forty years, although the imperial examinations have been strict and lenient, they took off their clothes and hats, and searched again and again, and they had no restoration of the country's first waiting for the military body." 

   There was no fixed quota for the number of admissions in the imperial examination in the early Ming Dynasty. The minimum number of admissions was only 32, and the maximum was over 472. The increase or decrease of the quota was "all requested to be settled in the final period." Chenghua was one year later, and 300 were generally selected. If another 50 or 100 were added due to the enquiries and the edict, it was a special case and was not a "constant system".    

In the early Ming Dynasty, the ritual examinations were selected, and some of them were north and south. In the 30th year of Hongwu, scholars Liu Sanwu, Ji Shan and Bai Xinda were appointed as the chief examiner of the examination and admitted 52 people including Song Cong, all of whom were from the south. After the list was issued, the northern candidates were dissatisfied and said that the examiner was from the south and that such scholars were favored by his fellow villagers. After Zhu Yuanzhang learned about it, he was very angry and sent twelve people including Zhang Xin to review. Some people also said that Zhang Xintuan was intentionally given a low-level test paper to the emperor for review under the instruction of Liu Sanwu. Zhu Yuanzhang became even more angry when he heard this and executed Bai Xinda and Zhang Xin. Liu Sanwu was spared from death when he was old and was exiled to the frontier. Zhu Yuanzhang personally reviewed the papers and admitted 60 people including Ren Bo'an.

All of them were northerners. At that time, people called it the "North and South List" or "Spring and Autumn List". However, after the incident, no regulations were made on the native place of the admitted person. Knowing that Hong Xi, Yuanqing, Renzong Zhu Gaochi, Cai, ordered Yang Shiqi to determine the admission quota of north and south, with men accounting for six tenths and northerners accounting for four tenths. During the Zhengtong period of Xuande and Zhengtong, it was divided into the South, North and Middle Books. Among the 100 places, fifty-five were selected in the South and thirty-five were selected in the North and Tenths. In the early years of Jingtai, this regulation was once flown out, but it was restored soon. Although the proportions changed a little later, the principle of "dividing the land" did not change.

  The palace examination is the highest level of the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty. It is named because the examination hall is in Fengtian Hall or Wenhua Hall. Anyone with the Chinese style of the imperial examination can participate. The palace examination is "the emperor personally set the court", so it is also called the court examination. The time of the palace examination is March 1st according to the regulations of the imperial examination. From the eighth year of Chenghua, it was changed to March 15th.  

  The content of the palace examination is very simple, only the current situation is planned. The test questions are generally pre-planned by the cabinet and submitted to the emperor the day before the exam. The palace examination is limited to one day, and the paper must be handed over before sunset. After the paper is completed, the paper recipient will be sent to the Mi-Captain Officer with the test paper. After the Mi-Captain Officer, the paper administrator will be transferred to the Dong Pavilion immediately, and the paper reading officer will be reviewed by the paper reading officer.  

   The palace examination is personally presided over by the emperor, and the emperor is the chief examiner, so those who review the examination papers can only be called the document reading officer. The document reading officer is selected from senior court officials who are from Jinshi. According to the regulations of the early Ming Dynasty: "After the palace examination, the paper will be read the next day, and the results will be released the next day." In a day, a few document reading officers with a small number of people must evaluate hundreds of test papers. The task of the document reading officer is that as long as three papers are selected from the test papers to determine the candidates for the first three, other grades are irrelevant.    

  The rankings of the palace examination in the Ming Dynasty were divided into one, two, and three. The first and first three were called [the top scholar], [the second eight], [Tanhua], and were given the Jinshi to be ranked first; the second and second ones were given the Jinshi to be ranked first; the third and third ones were given the same Jinshi to be ranked first.  

   At that time, the scholars and officials were also commonly known as the first place in the provincial examination as [Xieyuan], and the first place in the imperial examination as [Huiyuan]. With the first place in the palace examination as [Zhuangsheng], the first place in the palace examination, it was collectively called Sanyuan. Winning three yuan in a row is a good story in the imperial examination.   

  In the Ming Dynasty, only Xu Guan (later Huang) from the Hongwu period and Shang Lu during the Zhengtong period were the two who won the three Yuan Dynasty.     

  After the announcement was made, the emperor gave the Jinshi banquet at the Ministry of Rites, which was called the "Enrong Banquet". Then, these Jinshi were awarded official positions respectively.

After the palace examination, Shujishi must be selected.

 

The selection of Shujishi began in the Hongwu year. However, the selected Shujishi was not exclusive to the management of the Hanlin Academy. In the second year of Yongle, Shujishishi was exclusive to the Hanlin Academy, so the selection of Shujishi was called the selection of the museum. The candidates were trained by a teacher, and the teaching was served by officials of the Hanlin Academy or Zhanshifu Office with high qualifications. After three years of study, the outstanding stayed in the Hanlin Academy as editor and review, and the rest served as ministers and censors, which were called the Sanguan. People from Shujishi were promoted.

Soon after Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the court formed a situation where "no Jinshi would not enter the Hanlin, nor did they enter the cabinet unless they were Hanlin", and even "the Minister of Rites, Minister of the Southern and Northern Ministry of Rites, Minister of the Secretariat and Right Minister of Personnel were not appointed." Therefore, "When Shujishi first entered, he was already the prime minister." He made a plan to make more than 170 prime ministers in the Ming Dynasty, and nine out of ten were born in the Hanlin. Therefore, "Ming History·Election Records" said that the Ming Dynasty "the imperial examination was considered as prosperous in the previous dynasty, and the Hanlin was prosperous, and there was nothing that the previous dynasty would have been."

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