TAKING A DEGREE IN CHINA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6938, 30 October 1900, Page 2

TAKING A DEGREE IN CHINA.

. — +—. (London 1 Evening Standard.) ' , " Knowledge is power." The proverb is Western, but in China alone it is commonly and actually the case. The trader, the labourer, the soldier are scorned and held in national and general contempt. In the scholar are focussed all Chinese ideas of honour and greatness. "Chu ham jin neng " — " Employ the able and promote the worthy" is the keynote of the system, whereby for some thousand years all the posts in the Government pf the Celestial Empire have been filled by competitive examination. ., By his knowledge and success in the Imperial examinations for the Triple Degree the poorest boy dn China •may become a mandarin. The system comprises a series of examinations the greatest in the world. Beside the Imperial examinations of China the sum total of University examinations in the Western World sink; into insignificance, both in nut—band character. They are open to all Chinese, save monks, actors, and menials. The tests are threefold, roughly correspond!; ng to the Western matriculation, intermediate, and final examinations. The subjects of the papers comprise the whole recognised Chinese literature. And the extent of Chi- ' nese classics is sufficient to stagger humanity when confronted with them cm setting forth to become master thereof. The whole of these the student is required or suppqsed < to to memory. The first examination is held in about seventy centres in each of the eighteen provinces of the | Empire. At each centre between 1000 and i 2000 candidates present themselves for exj animation for the degree of "Budding | Genius." Of the 2,000,000 candidates, only i one per cent successfully pass the ordeal. ! . . As the day draws near, the streets I are thronged with long-robed, large-spec-jtacled gentlemen, to the munber of seme 10,000 or 15,000. In their wake follow armies of camp-followers — traders, painters, i scroll sellers, tea-vendors, candle merchants, j spectacle-makers, servants, and relatives ; and friends. The population of the provincial capital is swelied for the exam siivation period by fully 50;000 strangers. While (the nflmes of the competitors" are being je ce : ved by the'auih.vriiies, preat preparations are bing nwde in ihe examination hall. It is in reality a miniature city, enclosed by a lofty wfvll, topped with prickly 'thorns. Collies ore employed pumping wa'er into the great tank*, herds of pigs are stalled, ar.d provisions in vast quantities stored. Butcrers, cooks, doctors, taiior ! . printers, undertakers take up their quarters in the vnriou* lodges of the rxnminntion arena. The thousands of narrow cells, about ps big as horse- stalls, for the canciida'es are cleaned for 1 heir cominor inmate-'. Th» furniture is simple — a board for a seat, and a sloping board for f desk. The candidates having been identified and numbered, are locked in their cells. The themes are handed out, and the contest begins. For thiVy-six hours, two nights and a day, '-'the competitors address themselves, to their task's, "food being brought to them at internals. . On the morning of the second day. the paper's are collected and the inmates of the halL go out for a day's .well-earned rest. After an interval of twelve hours all are back again in their places. Doors are again locked, fresh questions handed out, and thirty-six more hours' toil follows. Again there is a brenk of a day, and then another, and the final spell of thirty-six hours' scribbling and thought. In these three sections the contest is comprehended. The physical and mental strain is terrible, and candidates have been known to die in their cells. The examination comprises essays on the sacred books, histonv. nc.et.ry, and the whole gamut of Chinese writings. . . . To prevent any suspicion of partiality in the awards, the papers of the candidates are copied out by official scribes, so that the examiners have no clue to the authorship of the essays. But the Imperial are conducted with scrupulous fairness ; they are about the only thing in China which is above suspicion.