In ancient China, there were many restrictions on readers, especially in the scientific expedition, first of all, women could not participate in the scientific expedition, otherwise Zhu Yingtai would not have to dress as a man, and those who had entered the slave rank could not participate in the scientific expedition, nor could their children, which fundamentally cut off the possibility of turning over for the slave.
Such a system sounds harsh because it serves feudal rulers, but there is also a good point, that is, the imperial examination has no age limit for participants. No matter how old you are, as long as you have the ability to answer questions, you can participate in the imperial examination, and in the Qing Dynasty, advanced age and the first were still regarded as an honorable thing.
However, in ancient times, the imperial examination was originally difficult, many young people have repeatedly failed the test, and the elderly whose memory has deteriorated are even more difficult to obtain results, but after the accumulation of multiple dynasties, there are still many elderly people who have achieved good results in the examination. For example, the Yin Shu and Yin Ji brothers in the Middle and Tang Dynasties, the two of them repeatedly failed to pass the test when they were young, and they did not succeed in the examination until they were more than old. In the late Tang Dynasty, there was a "five-old list", and the five candidates admitted to the same subject were all elderly, and these examples greatly encouraged the elderly candidates across the country.
Volume 1 of Liu Tingjie's "In the Garden Magazine" records such an incident: an old xiucai in Hebei province failed to pass many tests, and then he was discouraged and never took the exam again. Later, his son was also admitted to Xiucai, in order to take the imperial examination, he sold the family's field property, lao Ma was very angry when he found out, thinking that his son wanted money to pay off gambling debts, and when he caught up with his son, he found that his son was going to take the exam.
Fellow travelers advised Lao Ma, since they have all gone so far, let's go to the exam together, this time the chief examiner is very sympathetic to Lao Xiucai, Lao Ma was persuaded to take the exam, and then entered the list with his son. The father and son were very happy, so they invited their friends to celebrate, and someone at the table deliberately asked the old horse who he hoped to be if only one of him and his son could go to high school. After pondering for a long time, the old horse said that my son is still young, and the meaning of the words is that he hopes that high school is himself, and everyone at the same table laughs.
This example is enough to illustrate the importance of the imperial examination in the hearts of the ancients, especially for the elderly candidates in ancient times, the examination of meritorious names is an unforgettable event until death. Volume IX of Zhao's "Miscellaneous Records of Xiaoting" lists many elderly people who have entered the soil and the first, Jiang Chenying was already seventy years old when he took the exam in the Kangxi Period, Wang Shidan was also fifty-nine years old, and the younger Gong Hongli, He Shijin Hu Xu and others were also fifty-eight years old. Liu Qizhen, the most famous elderly examinee of the Qianlong Dynasty, was eighty years old, and Shen Deqian was sixty-seven years old, most of whom went to the Hanlin Academy to take up positions, and the imperial court did not be dismissive because of their age.
Jiang Chenying was a kangxi thirty-six years of exploration, he was very good at ancient Chinese, even if he did not give up learning when he was young, he did not give up learning, and wrote "History of Ming. Criminal Law Chronicles. Kangxi had long heard of this person, but also admired his name, before the palace examination Kangxi asked if there was a person with the surname Jiang in the first ten of the examination, the chief examiner found Out Jiang Chenying's examination paper for the emperor to see, Kangxi was very appreciative after reading it, and then he took the initiative to mention his noun to the third of the first class. After that, he successfully entered the Hanlin Academy, and since then, he has soared to the top, and his legendary encounters have also been circulated in the folk.
Shen Deqian's high school is also very legendary, he is good at writing poetry, is a famous poet in the Qing Dynasty, compiled "Ancient Poetry Source", "Tang Poetry Beijie" and other heirlooms. Because his achievements in poetry are very high, his name has long been spread all over the world, and there are many disciples, but he has no luck in the examination, and he has failed many times in the examination, qian Chenqun wrote in the "Shinto Stele" made by Qian Chenqun for Shen Deqian: "Over the years, the science test has been more than thirty times, and the township test has been seven times."
In the fourth year of Long, he finally passed the jinshi and ranked eighth in the second division. Qianlong personally asked qianlong to see him, and also praised his poetry, and after entering the Hanlin Courtyard, he often accompanied Qianlong around and helped Qianlong write imperial poems. Under the support of Qianlong, he went all the way from editing to cabinet bachelor, and then became a ceremonial attendant, and finally he resigned from his official post and returned home to Qianlong to go down to Jiangnan and often received him.