All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources of information and is detailed at the end of the article.
Fan Jin, a poor sour talent in his fifties. He began to take the exam in his twenties, and he took the exam for more than 30 years, but he never succeeded.
The family is poor, can't eat well, can't wear new clothes, is scolded by his father-in-law every day, and is looked down upon by his neighbors.
It wasn't until he was 54 years old that he finally won the seventh place in Guangdong in the township examination.
At this moment, Fan Jin was so excited that he clapped his hands and laughed loudly and said, "I'm hit! I'm hit! Hahahaha!" Then he fell directly to the ground and fainted.
The onlookers were taken aback, and hurriedly helped Fan in and poured him a few sips of boiling water.
He got up, clapped his hands again, and laughed, "Oh! I'm hit!" and laughed, and without saying anything, he ran out the door, completely forgetting who he was and where he was.
Lifting people in the exam actually made Fan Jin go crazy with excitement directly, and now it seems a little unbelievable. But if Fan Jinzhongju is replaced by our current official position, maybe you are crazier than him.
The gold content of lifting people
As soon as the good news of Fan Jinzhongju spread, the threshold of Fan Jin's house was broken. People from all walks of life came to offer gifts, wanting to send money and things to please this new talent.
The local celebrity Sijia Zhang Shen even came to visit in person, gave fifty taels of silver, and called Fan Jin a brother, saying that he would give him his own property to live in.
The neighbors who once looked down on him came to flatter one by one, and his father-in-law also changed from domineering to flattering and submissive, which shows how high the status of the person is and how much gold he has.
Lifting people, simply put, is the person who won the list in the township test.
The township examination is held once every three years, and there are tens of thousands of talents who apply for the examination nationwide, and those who can rank among the top 1,200 are lifted, and the proportion is only about one in 1,000.
What position is Fan Jinzhong equivalent to in modern times?
According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, people can first choose to enter Beijing to take the examination, and strive to further enter the middle and high school examinations to obtain higher Jinshi qualifications.
Jinshi can be directly appointed as an official, and his responsibilities and status are much higher than those of lifting people.
Even if you can't pass the exam, you can return to the local area. They can hold honorary positions such as prefects and prefects, serve as magistrates, and receive lucrative salaries.
Those who have the strength may also serve as court officials such as magistrates and general judges, managing the judiciary and hearing cases.
These positions are very impressive in terms of status and income today. A prefect is equivalent to the mayor of a city, and a prefect is like the governor of a province.
The magistrate and the general judge are the highest judicial officials in the local area, and actually have the status of provincial vice ministers.
In addition, they can also be exempted from taxes, exempt from military service, exempt from taxation, do not have to pay any agricultural taxes, and do not have to participate in the imperial court's conscription and military service. The degree to which people are courteous can be seen.
Therefore, for Fan Jin, who was born in a poor family, it can be said that he changed his life in high school, and it is no wonder that Fan Jin was directly overexcited and went crazy.
Imperial examination system
Fan Jin completely changed his fate because of his status as a lifter, allowing us to see the charm of the imperial examination system. It gives civilians a chance to turn around and change their fate through their own efforts.
The imperial examination system in the mainland can be traced back to the Sui Dynasty.
According to the lessons of history, Emperor Wen of Sui established a selection method that combined the recommendation system and the examination system, breaking the monopoly of the power of the scholar clan and giving more civilians the opportunity to enter the official career through the imperial examination.
By the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system was further improved. Tang Taizong canceled the hereditary system of Shiqing Shilu, so that all talents in the world have a fair and just opportunity to directly participate in the imperial examination.
This brought great hope to the scholars and also promoted the development of education.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the rise of Baguwen, the imperial examination system developed to its heyday. The examination is divided into three levels: annual examination, general examination, and palace examination.
As long as there are aspiring civilians, they can start to participate in the county examination at the most basic level, hoping to get an official position through promotion at all levels.
It can be said that the imperial examination system fully embodies the concept of "meritocracy". It gives everyone an equal opportunity to change their destiny through their own efforts and strength.
This also invisibly promoted the popularization of education and had a profound impact on the development of ancient society on the mainland.
And Fan Jin is a vivid commentary on the pros and cons of the imperial examination. He represents the thousands of poor scholars who rely on the imperial examination to change their lives, and also represents some shortcomings that are bound to exist in the process of the imperial examination.
It is precisely because of the existence of the imperial examination system that people like Fan Jin who came from poor backgrounds also have hope of turning over. He was not afraid of hardships, pursued his ideals with indomitable spirit, and finally changed his fate through his own efforts.
But at the same time, we also saw that the imperial examination blinded Fan Jin's eyes, making him indifferent to his former benefactors and relatives, and only thinking about success in his career.
epilogue
Fan Jin's story allows us to see both the brilliance of the imperial examination and its dark side.
His experience has become a window for future generations to reflect on the pros and cons of the imperial examination, and it has also become a metaphor for us to reflect on the various shortcomings existing in today's society.
If the imperial examination was once a beacon of hope for thousands of scholars, then we should also reflect on reform and re-examine some of the traditions that have existed for thousands of years from a contemporary perspective, so that they can evolve with the times and truly benefit society.
bibliography
[1] Gu Hongmin. On the "Fan Jin Phenomenon" in the Eight Strand Imperial Examinations[J]. Journal of Jinzhou Normal University (Philosophy and Social Science), 2002, 24(3):127-128.
[2] Fan Jin's prototype.Guangming.2011-07-19 [Cited 2022-07-23]
[3] Wu Jingzi. Confucianism[M]. Beijing: Beijing United Publishing Company, 2015,8: 21-32.
[4] Zhongju.Handian [Citation date: 2018-09-27
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