In the third time in the "History of Ru Lin", Fan Jinzhong saw the scientific examiner for the first time after the examination, and the scientific examiner asked him how old he was, and he said: "The child's life book is written as thirty years old, and the child's actual age is fifty-four years old." "Good fellow, falsely reported the age of twenty-four, this is worth it, once found, can not immediately cancel the name of merit, empty joy?" But Fan Jin directly told the chief the truth, what was going on? It turned out that there had been a problem of false age reporting in ancient China for a long time, and even this abnormal phenomenon had become normal.
Since the Song Dynasty, there has been a serious phenomenon of "official year" in the imperial examination and official archives. The so-called official year, as opposed to the real year, refers to the age in the official resume or file, this age is declared by the official himself, but for some practical interests, because some official positions have age restrictions, too old will often affect the development of the career, so the official himself falsely declares the age, resulting in a large gap between the official year and the real year.
The phenomenon of official years has attracted the attention of the academic community, and CNKI searches for the keyword "official year", and many papers will appear. Taking the Ming Dynasty as an example, from the Wanli period to the Chongzhen period, the phenomenon of falsely reporting the age in the imperial examination has been very common, even reaching 80% or 90%, that is to say, almost everyone will under-report the age of the false report, as young as one or two years old, and as many as ten years old. Because the Ming Dynasty literature is still very rich, many people have genealogies, epitaphs, etc., and the difference in age can be found by comparison.
In addition to under-reporting age, of course, there are also additional reports, such as some too young to take the exam, may report a few years more, the "Book of Etiquette" said that forty and Shi, a very smart child, twenty years old to take the exam, and then give him a local officer, obviously too young, so for the age of entry, there is still a minimum degree of restriction. In other cases, if you are too old, you may be given some special preferential treatment according to certain regulations, and in this case, you may also be a few years older in order to enjoy the relevant treatment.
When concealing age has become a common phenomenon in the examination of the imperial examination, many people have seen it strangely, and even has become a common rule, and the literature records that Yun: "Cover the customary practice of filling in one year less ear when taking the exam." It can be seen that filling in one year less when taking the exam has become a potential rule, that is, even if there is no demand for practical interests, the average candidate will fill in one year less when taking the test.
Even the emperor was not surprised by this. Yu Fan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, was summoned by the emperor, who asked him how old he was, and he said, "Thirty-five years old." The emperor asked, "Is it a real year?" "Meaning, are you thirty-five years old, your actual age, or the age of the official report?" It can be seen that the emperor has long been aware of the phenomenon of the official year, and it is not strange to see it. The diary of Deng Huaxi, an official of the Qing Dynasty and Fengjian Dynasty, recorded a question and answer with the emperor, and when the emperor asked him about his age, he said: "Fill in sixty-seven in the official book of courtiers, and seventy years old." He directly confessed to the problem of falsely reporting his age, but this must have been said when he confirmed that he would not be punished for saying so. Therefore, if we look at Fan Jin directly explaining his false age to the chief without fear of being punished, we will know the reason.
Therefore, the birth year recorded in some Dengke records and official archives cannot be completely based on, and it is best to find other more reliable data to compare.