History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 181 Annual Examination Begins

Guo Yun: "I don't know. What I heard is that Black Whirlwind refused to eat or drink, and the museum had no choice but to transport him back to the mountains."

Wei Yao nodded: "It came from the mountains and forests, and returning to the mountains and forests is just like people returning to their hometowns. We should be happy for Black Whirlwind."

When she said the word "happy," she gently shook Liu Zhenzhu's hand.

Wei Yao can see through Liu Zhenzhu's thoughts. The young woman has developed feelings for Cui Zhi and is worried about him. She wants to confess her feelings to Cui Zhi, but she is also afraid of being rejected and becoming distant from him.

Liu Zhenzhu smiled, grasped her friend's hand tightly, and took Guo Yun's hand with her other hand: "Don't worry, I won't let anything interfere with my studies. We must work hard, and the three of us must get into the top nine in the year exam!"

"Work hard! Get into the top nine in the annual exam!" Wei Yao and Guo Yun said in unison.

On October 30th, the first annual exams for students at Hengzhou Primary School began.

Speaking of the examination of the Book of Poetry, it can be divided into the examination in the early years and the examination in previous years. The examination in the early years refers to the examination of candidates who were only tested on the "Airs of the States" section, while the examination in previous years can be participated in by students from previous years (who must not have reached adulthood). The examination content covers the entire meaning of the Book of Poetry.

Regardless of which type of exam they participate in, all students must have ranked in the top nine at least once in the spring, summer, or autumn quarterly exams to be eligible.

Cui Xueguan, one of the examination districts, converted two large rooms where the poetry club practiced poetry into examination halls. In the slightly larger room, four students were arranged in each row. They came from Lingqiu and Fanzhi counties.

Wei Yao and her fellow students were in a slightly smaller examination room next door, with three students in each row. The candidates from the fourth row onwards were all from Sanggan County.

The chief invigilator of this examination was Director Yi of the State Academy, and there were two deputy invigilators: the director of the Mu Family Academy and a provincial official surnamed Zhou from the State Prefecture.

The ten proctors who assisted in the examination were all from the state academy. Xi Jiao and Yuan Zizhi, who had been studying at Cui Academy, were also proctors. To avoid suspicion, they all assisted in the examination, such as collecting and distributing papers, in the large examination room next door.

I won't go into further details.

The annual exam consists of six questions, with each question requiring two and a half hours to answer, for a total exam period of three days.

At exactly 7:00 AM, the first question was given out.

The room was quiet, with only the slight movement of the proctors and the sound of papers being spread out. The three proctors at the head of the table sat calmly and observed the entire room.

The first question was only a dozen words long, and you had to read it to the end... Analyze the rites and music system involved in the chapters of the "Airs of the States" section, and annotate the poem titles.

With only two and a half hours allotted for answering the questions, Wei Yao calmly wrote down her answers while mentally reviewing them.

First, let's state the title of the poem... "Guan Ju".

Then, regarding the passage concerning etiquette... "The watercress grows unevenly, flowing to the left and right."

The analysis is as follows.

"It is said that the water chestnut (荇) means to receive and the stream (流) means to seek. The empress and concubines had the virtue of the ospreys, so they were able to share water chestnuts and prepare all kinds of things to serve the ancestral temple."

The Book of Rites, in its chapter on Sacrificial Rites, states: “Sacrifice must be performed by husband and wife in close harmony, so that officials from both inside and outside the court can be appointed. When officials are appointed, all the necessary items are prepared. Pickled aquatic plants and fermented land produce are all the small items that are prepared.”

The Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou) states in the section on the Minister of Heaven that the Nine Concubines are in charge of the laws governing women's education. In all sacrifices, they assist in the offering of jade, select the empress to present the offerings, and remove the sacrificial vessels.

The "Tian Guan Zhong Zai" also states that the Shi Fei is in charge of sacrifices, the Nü Zhu is in charge of the Queen's internal sacrifices, and the Nü Shi is in charge of the Queen's ceremonial duties.

"As can be seen from the above, in ancient times, empresses and virtuous women could all serve in the ancestral temple, and the sacrificial offerings included water plants such as duckweed."

Having written this far, Wei Yao considered herself to have completed one answer.

In layman's terms, what she wrote was how to prove that the line "The watercress grows unevenly, flowing to the left and right" from the poem "Guan Ju" contained the ancient ritual meaning of empresses preparing "watercress" as a sacrificial offering. Wei Yao's compelling evidence came from the classics "The Book of Rites" and "The Rites of Zhou." The grading standard would certainly favor those who answered more questions.

Wei Yao continued writing the second answer.

It still comes from the poem "Guanju".

This relates to the system of rites and music, and the poem reads: "...a graceful and virtuous lady, befriended by zither and lute, and delighted by bells and drums."

Start parsing.

The letter reads: “The virtuous woman’s assistance to the empress and concubines in sharing watercress demonstrates their shared sentiments and aspirations.”

It is said that those who are virtuous should be accompanied by the music of bells and drums.

The commentary states, "The zither and lute are played in the hall, and the bells and drums are played in the courtyard. This means that when people are sharing watercress, music is played by both the upper and lower classes, which is a grand ceremony."

These three sentences, combined with the previous answer, could barely explain that the playing of zithers, bells, and drums occurred during a sacrificial ceremony. However, writing it this way would certainly not earn her a good grade from the examiner; she would need to provide supporting textual evidence from other classical texts.

Writing too much would take too much time; she only needed to cite the record in the "Great Archery Ceremony" chapter of the Book of Rites!

"The Great Archery Ritual states that the musicians are stationed east of the eastern steps, with the sheng and qing facing west. To their south are the sheng and zhong, and the jian drum is west of the eastern steps. West of the western steps, the song and qing face east, and to their south are the zhong and xiao, which are located between the jian drum."

Thus, the ritual and music system contained in the poem "Guanju" is fully described.

Wei Yao's third answer comes from the poem "Ge Tan," which describes the clothing of court officials and commoners in ancient times.

The fourth answer is the poem "Juan Er". In this poem, the "gong" vessel alone can be used to deduce the etiquette of the village banquet. Wei Yao provides evidence from the "Chun Guan" and "Di Guan" chapters of the "Zhou Li" and the "Li Qi" chapter of the "Li Ji".

Time flies by in every word, sentence, and paragraph.

At noon, the papers were collected on time.

Every candidate felt their head was heavy, but they didn't have much time to rest. The cook brought them food, they ate quickly, went to the outhouse, and by 1-3 pm, the afternoon exams began.

At the same time, Sili, Qing, Qi, and Yan provinces were also holding their annual examinations. Although the examinations were held at the same time, the questions were set by each province separately. Moreover, due to the different educational standards in various regions, only the prosperous counties in each province carried out the formal annual examinations under the new school decree. As for Luoyang, the political center of the Great Wei, there were very few schools holding the examinations, only the Imperial Academy and the Palace Academy.

During the years since the capital was moved, the court had been discussing changing the "Imperial Ancestral School" to the "Four Gates Primary School". However, due to the dragging out of the war, the concentrated reports and debates on the regulations of the Imperial Academy, the Imperial College, the Mingtang, etc., the Imperial Ancestral School retained its old name.

In Luoyang, truancy among the imperial family's sons was rampant, and today they were all dragged here by their elders by the ears to take the exam. At noon, some of the纨绔 (sons of wealthy families) were soundly taking a nap, while others were splashing ink on each other with their brushes. By the time they saw the proctors all stand up and bow to the person who appeared at the door, it was already too late.

Emperor Yuan Hong and Crown Prince Yuan Ke entered, followed by Prince Pengcheng Yuan Xie, Prince Guangyang Yuan Jia, Prince Rencheng Yuan Cheng, and General Yu Lie.

The loudest snoring child was Yuan Cheng's nephew, Yuan Shixian. But this child wasn't the most shameful. The most shameful were Prince Yuan Yue, Yuan Yu, and Yuan Dengming, the daughter of the Prince of Guangyang. These three had just run back from outside, each covering their faces, tiptoeing and crouching, and squeezing past the Prince, the Crown Prince, and His Majesty from back to front to return to their seats.

The chief examiner was Cui Guang, a court official, and among the other examiners was Yuan Fan, who was going to Pingcheng to issue a commendation order.

Yuan Shixian was awakened by Yuan Yongping.

Yuan Shixian was initially dazed, but when he realized that the people standing at the front were His Majesty and the Crown Prince, and that his uncle had also come over, he immediately wiped the drool from his mouth and came to his senses.

After reviewing the exam questions, the emperor asked Cui Guang, "You've studied for a year, and this is the kind of question you're asking?"

Cui Guang lowered his head. If anyone could answer even half of this kind of question, he would have his name read backwards!

(End of this chapter)