On the sixth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, Yao Xiji, a member of the Taizhou Mansion in Jiangsu Province, gathered his friends and went to the provincial capital of Nanjing to receive the silver for the examination issued by the imperial court, and prepared to rush to the capital to take the test. The deadline for trial registration is the first day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar, and according to the distance estimate, they must leave at the end of October, otherwise it will be difficult to arrive on time.
On the same day, Yao Xi first went to the provincial Xuezheng Fu Bangyan Mansion to meet him, Mr. Fu is the most famous gentry in Taizhou, after Yao Xi was selected in the exam, Mr. Fu has always helped him a lot. When Mr. Fu heard that Yao Xi was going to Beijing for the examination, he specially summoned him, gave him 10 taels of silver as a travel fee, and told him to prepare well and strive to achieve good results in the examination.
Yao Xi thanked Mr. Fu again and again, and Mr. Fu helped him, which made him full of confidence in the test. Yao Xi and his entourage came to Nanjing and went to the Yamen of the political envoy to collect the test fee according to the regulations, and each person was given 10 taels of silver. Although the plate fee is not much, it is also a lot of help for people from ordinary backgrounds such as Yao Xi. After receiving the pan silver, Yao Xi and his party bought ferry tickets and prepared to take a boat to Anhui to enter Beijing.
Life on board was simple and unbearable, and Yao Xi and his party could only sleep on the deck and eat their own dry food. Due to the large number of people, the boats are often overloaded, the sailing speed is slow, and the river is turbulent, and the whole voyage is bumpy. Fortunately, Yao Xi came from a wealthy family and cultivated his skills at home, so he would not be as difficult to deal with as other people. After many hardships, Yao Xi and his party finally arrived in the capital on the fifth day of early December.
According to the regulations, they must obtain an admission ticket in Suncheonfu before they can officially enter the examination. After completing the check-in procedures, Yao Xi came to the tatami mat and slept until dawn to recharge his strength for the upcoming meeting. During the trial, he lived in an inn in the capital, and his living expenses were mainly paid by the money sent by his family. The examination lasted for three days, and Yao Xi finally finished third in the second class of high school, and achieved a good result in Huiyuan.
After the examination, Yao Xi prepared to return to his hometown and go to Shuntianfu to receive the road guide, so that he could reimburse the expenses during the examination in various Yamen. The road guide procedures were completed, and Yao Xi embarked on the journey home with a joyful mood. A meeting test allowed him to realize his wish since raising people, and also let him see the dawn of his career. When he returned home, Yao Xi's heart was full of gratitude for the imperial examination system, and thoughts for his family and teachers.
The imperial examination system in the Qing Dynasty did give many ordinary children the opportunity to change their fate, but the price paid for passing through layers of barriers and realizing their career ideals was also amazing. Although the fees and road guides issued by the imperial court helped to solve the difficulties of the students, they accounted for a very small proportion compared to the expenses of the entire examination process. It is often their families and local gentry who really shoulder the heavy responsibility of going to Beijing to take the exam.
The operation of the imperial examination system is also inseparable from the promotion and participation of the entire society. Therefore, when we evaluate the imperial examination system in the Qing Dynasty, we should not only see the opportunities it provided to the children of ordinary people, but also realize that what supports this opportunity is the collective efforts of the entire society.