Top scholar's examination papers

An ancient Chinese scholar's examination papers stored in a museum in East China's Shandong Province has been attracting a large number of visitors recently,mk making it a hot topic online. The paper, consisting of 2,460 characters, is flawless and neatly written, even more so than printed fonts.

The top scholar's examination papers from Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) are a treasure belonging to the Qingzhou Museum and the only existing Ming Dynasty top scholar's examination papers in the country, making it a very valuable artifact. 

According to museum workers, during the Dragon Boat Festival this year, there was a significant increase in visitors coming to take a look of the scholar's examination papers. The papers have sparked admiration and awe online.

Many netizens expressed their amazement at the paper, with comments such as, "Very impressive, the handwriting is neat and flawless, and each word looks like a pearl!" and "The neat appearance is a bonus; only the top scholars can write so adroitly." Others have noted that just looking at the characters without understanding the content would still make them top-ranking papers.

Over 400 years ago in the Ming Dynasty, a young scholar named Zhao Bingzhong (1574-1626) confidently entered the examination hall and completed the most important papers of his life. At the age of 25, Zhao was at the peak of his youth.

Scholar Zhao Bingzhong used insightful languages to analyze the social contradictions of the time, and he proposed a series of reform suggestions, focusing on "putting the people first."

When Zhao participated in the palace examination in the 26th year of Emperor Wanli reign (1598), it was a tumultuous year, with internal struggles over the position of the crown prince and external conflicts. When Wanli Emperor came across Zhao's extensive, eloquent and insightful papers, he immediately awarded him the top spot.

After carefully studying the papers, a visitor remarked, "If this were in today's college entrance examination, it would definitely be a full-score paper, with very upright values."

How difficult was it to become a top scholar in ancient times? A scholar in the Ming Dynasty had to endure 10 years of rigorous study, pass the preliminary, provincial, and metropolitan examinations, and then compete with 300 outstanding rivals during the final palace examination, presided by the emperor. 

Curator Xu of the museum told local media that parents would often bring their children to the museum to learn from Zhao's examination papers at the end of each academic semester, with thousands of visitors daily.

Global Times