There is a joke circulating in the anecdotes that "Yunnan does not point out the elements", which seems to have become a "magic spell" hanging over the heads of Yunnan students. This seems to be the case: from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the 1,300-year-long history of the imperial examination, Yunnan has never produced a single title.
However, in the history of Yunnan, there are still 3 champions, but their identities are relatively special, and they can be called "special" champions.
What's going on? Let's start at the beginning.
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Yunnan produced the first "Champion".
His name is Li Qidong. Li Qidong, Ziyuan Uncle, born in 1503, was born in Lucheng, Chuxiong, Yunnan. Li Qidong was young and studious, had the ability to never forget, and wrote beautiful articles. When he was admitted to Longgang Academy, the prefect Zhu Hongshu read his examination paper and praised him in amazement as a "dragon slayer".
In 1531, Li Qidong participated in the Yunnan Township Examination and won the third place. In 1532, Li Qidong went to the capital to participate in the examination, and the title of the golden list was able to participate in the temple examination. In the temple test, Li Qidong was proposed to be the first place in the first division, which was the title. According to the news, Yunnan students gathered at the Yunnan Guild Hall to celebrate the first title in the history of Yunnan.
However, when the Jiajing Emperor was reviewing the list of results of the palace examination, he did not know what kind of psychology he had, and actually demoted Li Qidong to the first place in the second class on the grounds of "Yunnan Border Side". As a result, Li Qidong rubbed shoulders with Zhuangyuan and became a "Zhuangyuan" who was not a Zhuangyuan.
Time passed quickly, and it was the Qing Dynasty.
In 1895, Luo Chengjun, who was born in Shuige Village, Yitonghe Town, Admiralty, Huize County, Yunnan, took part in the temple examination. The Guangxu Emperor was touched by the words "Yin You Qisheng", "Lord Sorrow and Humiliation", "Lord Humiliation of Subjects" and other words in Luo Chenghua's examination papers, and hand-picked him as the first place in the first division.
At this point, Yunnan finally has a real champion, right?
It's not that simple. Just as Yunnan was rejoicing over the emergence of a champion, Sichuan objected, calling Luo Chenghua a Sichuanese.
It turned out that Luo Chengjun was indeed born in Huize County, Yunnan, and his original surname was Li. Due to the poverty of the family, the early death of the mother, the father and son depend on each other, and life is very difficult. Later, Luo Tenghuan and his wife, a native of Zizhou, Sichuan, came to Huize to do business such as red and green paper. His father adopted him to Luo Tenghuan as a son and changed his name to Luo Chenghua. Mr. and Mrs. Luo Tenghuan brought Luo Chenghua back to Zizhou, Sichuan Province, to live and study.
Sichuan and Yunnan began to compete for Luo Chengjun's household registration. As a result, because Luo Chengjun studied in Zizhou and Chengdu, he was classified as a native of Sichuan Zizhou. In this way, Sichuan, which has not produced a title in two hundred years, has a title for the first time in the world. After Yunnan lost touch with The Champion again, it continued to live without the Title.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, due to the needs of the New Deal, the imperial court conducted the first and last economic special examination in Bohol Hall in 1903. The examination of the special economic science is different from the general examination examination, which is not known for its eight shares, but is mainly based on the strategy of helping the people and governing the country, and pays more attention to the application of what it has learned.
A total of 186 students from all over the country took the exam, and 27 were admitted.
Among them, the first-class candidate is called Liang Shiyi, who is from Guangdong. Empress Dowager Cixi suspected that he was of the same ethnic group as Liang Qichao and disqualified him from admission. Another candidate, Yang Du, was also disqualified from admission because he was a Hunan normal student suspected by Empress Dowager Cixi of being a member of Tang Caichang's party. Due to Empress Dowager Cixi's suspicious spirits, only one person was admitted to the top five of the first class. He is Yuan Jiagu from Shiping, Yunnan.
At this point, Yunnan has finally come out of shape, right?
However, Yuan Jiagu received the "Economic Special Branch Yuan" instead of the traditional imperial examination. Therefore, the list of Qing Dynasty Wen zhuangyuan did not include Yuan Jiagu's name. In 1903, the Qing Dynasty held a traditional temple examination, which was won by Wang Shoupeng, a native of Weixian County, Shandong.
Of course, in the minds of Yunnan people, Yuan Jiagu has made up for the gap of "Yunnan does not point out the yuan" and is a "unique yuan".
[References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, History of the Ming Dynasty, Guangxu Donghua Records Volume, etc.]