Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/198

174 10,000 aspirants, for the rank of keu jin, or "elevated men." This is a most eventful and trying period, and many an anxious heart beats high with expectation of mounting another step of "the cloudy ladder." The imperial chancellor, and the chief officers of the province, unite together in examining the candidates. The literary arena is provided with several thousand small cells, into which the competitors are introduced, and guarded by soldiers, so as to prevent collusion or communication, till the trial is over. The examination takes place in the eighth month of the year, and the days of trial are the ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth; on the first of these days the candidates enter, and three schedules are handed over to them, containing seven texts from the classical writings, and three themes; upon each of the former they have to write a prose composition, and upon each of the latter a poetical effusion, for the inspection of the examiners: a scribe stands ready to copy their productions with red ink, and sets a mark on both the original and the transcript, in order that the officers may not discover to whom the pieces belong. After the completion of the essays, they are sent in for inspection, and if the slightest fault be committed, or a word improperly written or applied, the individual's mark is immediately stuck up at the office gate, by which he may understand that it is time to walk home, as he will not be permitted to proceed to the next trial.

The second day is like the first, and the defaulters are struck off as before; so that the number is greatly reduced by the time the third trial comes. At the close of this, the papers are closely inspected, and a few selected as the most intelligent, whose names are