The Hakka people attach great importance to reading to get ahead
Since ancient times, the Hakka people have advocated culture and martial arts, and paid attention to cultivating and reading the family. Therefore, the Hakka people attach great importance to studying and taking the imperial examination. However, due to the restrictions of guest status, the difficulty of successfully participating in the imperial examination is by no means what modern people can imagine. (Note: The following Hakka people refer to people with Hakka status at that time, and cannot be simply equated with the Hakka people mentioned now)
According to the Qing Dynasty's academic regulations, children who take the exam, and those who have a nationality to return, must return to their hometown for the examination. If there are only alienated clans in their place of origin, there are no fields or houses in their place of origin, and they have settled (naturalized) in the local area for more than 20 years, they can take the test with a "host nationality" and learn about the situation from their place of origin, and they are not allowed to cross the examination between the two places. If there is a violation of the regulations and cross-examination, it will be strictly investigated and punished.
The imperial examination system of the Qing Dynasty
Although there were many restrictions, it finally opened the door for Hakka to take the exam. However, the ideal is plump and the reality is skinny. Since Hakka people take the exam locally, they must occupy the admission quota of the local examination, so although the Hakka people have lived in the local naturalization and settlement for more than 20 years, there is no difference from the local person, but in the eyes of the local indigenous people, the Hakka people have always been foreigners, and the local reference is to move their "cheese", so they try all means to prevent the Hakka people from taking the exam locally.
For the Hakka family, because they have already moved their families or even their families away from their place of origin, it is simply impossible to return to their place of origin for the exam, and if they want to take the local exam, they are unreasonably obstructed by local natives, and the result is that both ends fail. The Hakka people's journey to change their fate through reading books has not yet begun, so even if there is only a glimmer of hope, they will strive for and even fight a hundred times. Today, I will introduce to you a "child student impersonation scientific expedition case" that occurred in Gaoming, Guangdong during the Qianlong and Jiaqing years of the Qing Dynasty.
Gaoming County Chronicle that records Xie Guozuo's case
In the eleventh year of Qianlong, Xie Yuantuo, originally from Jiaying, Guangdong (present-day Meizhou, Guangdong), brought his family to Nanzhuangwei, Gaoming County, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, and settled in Nanzhuangwei, present-day Foshan City, Guangdong Province, and purchased land property. Sixteen years later, in the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762), Xie Yuan went to Yamen to list Xie Changqing's household name and began to pay money and grain.
In the thirty-second year of Qianlong, it had been twenty-one years since Xie Yuan's family had settled in Gaoming, and Xie Yuan's son Xie Guozo applied to take the exam in Gaoming on the grounds of being a resident in the local area for more than 20 years. However, it was strongly obstructed by local indigenous students Tan Ying and others, and Gao Mingzhi County at that time ruled that Xie Guozo was not allowed to take the local exam, so that he could return to his hometown for reference. The first time you fight, you fail!
Qing Dynasty Yamen
In the thirty-fifth year of Qianlong, the county did not work, so Xie Guozuo went to the inspector Yamen this time to complain and ask for an examination in Gaoming County, the place of residence. Not surprisingly, this appeal was once again obstructed by indigenous students Tan Ying and Cui Mengyuan, demanding that "Xie Guozo and others be admitted to the examination." As a result, the inspector Yamen still ordered Xie Guozo and others to return to their hometown for the examination, and at the same time, the inspector Yamen also asked Gaoming County to "strangle the stone and always obey". Fight the second time, lose again! And obtained a piece of the "Forbidden Alien Examination Monument".
Forty years after Qianlong, Xie Guozuo, Xie Guorui, Xie Tianpet and others, who were still not dead, once again gathered more than a dozen people to Gaoming County and Zhaoluo Dao's Yamen to file a complaint. Zhaoluo Dao Yamen's reply was to reject the request and uphold the original judgment! The third time I fought for it, it still ended in failure! This time, they didn't let Gaoming County strangle the stone, but Xie Guozuo and them almost suffered from flesh and skin.
If the board is beaten, the skin will open the flesh
In the forty-third year of Qianlong, Xie Guozuo, who was not satisfied with the verdict, filed several complaints, but all of them were rejected. In the 45th year of Qianlong, Gaoming County erected another "Monument to the Prohibition of Foreigners and False Examinations" because of this case.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, Qianlong Ye finally passed the throne to the Jiaqing Emperor after being emperor for sixty years. By the first year of Jiaqing, Xie Guozo had been rushing to sue for nearly 30 years in order to fight for the qualification to participate in the local children's examination, and the result was without exception, all of them were Xie Guozuo losing the lawsuit and upholding the original judgment! In the first year of Jiaqing, Gaoming County erected another "detailed stele for political envoy Chen Dawen to forbid the fake nationality and riding the examination" because of this case, making it clear that "there is no hope to take the test in the place of residence, and if you dare to fool around, you will definitely investigate it, and each of them will never violate it."
The political envoy Chen Dawen forbidden the fake to ride the examination of part of the content of the inscription
This case can be said to be a microcosm of the repeated setbacks encountered by the southward migrant residents in their reading and enterprising. The root cause of Xie Guozuo's repeated defeats lies in his guest status and the Qing Dynasty's academic rules for admitting places according to regions. Of course, in the case of Xie Guozuo, there is also a factor of favoritism of the local government towards indigenous students.
Poor guest Xie Guozuo originally wanted to pass the imperial examination and return home, but unfortunately after 30 years of traveling, he did not even win the qualification for the local examination. The famous history did not do it, but left the name on the three stones, although it is not a heroic name, but it also let future generations know the difficulties of the guests in those years.
Reference: "Guangxu Gaoming County Record"