In ancient times, it was not easy to win the first prize. It must go through five stages: boy students, college exams, rural exams, general exams and court exams. Palace examinations are usually presided over by ministers appointed by the emperor. The first place is the champion, the second place is the second place, and the third place is the flower exploration; Those who passed were all Jinshi. Once the top students in high school, wearing red clothes, beating gongs and drums and beating gold, riding a horse to swim the streets, can be described as smoking shit-rushing forward and rushing back, which is very impressive. In the old days, there was a couplet that vividly described the situation before and after the champion:
In the famine of the old year, rice was helpless. You can't take credit, you can't borrow money, and many relatives at home and abroad don't give you gifts in time.
Fortunately, Lu Yi is expected. Won the champion of the five classics, and also raised his surname and name. No matter how Zhang Hesi celebrates with Menqing, they all come to add to the icing on the cake.
What's more, the champion was recruited by the emperor as a Xu, worth a hundred times, and many of them were filial to their ancestors and enjoyed prosperity. Much more imposing than the current "style", "wrist" and "star"!
In the feudal dynasty, most of the top scholars were "eight-part essays". According to historical records, there were 503 champions in Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. If you add 48 champions from Liao Jin, Zhang Dashunyuan and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there will be 55 1 champion in the whole country (excluding Wu He's female champion). According to historical records, the first scholar in the history of China was Sun, the champion of Renwu in the fifth year of Tang Wude (622); The last champion was Liu Chunlin, the champion of Chen Jia Branch in the 30th year of Guangxu (1904). The youngest junior champions are Su Gui, who won the first prize in Yonghui in seven years, and Guo, who won the first prize in Xianheng in four years. Both of them are under eighteen. Yin Shu, the oldest scholar in the Tang Dynasty, took dozens of exams in his life. I didn't recommend myself to be a champion until I was in my seventies, but I gave up my long-cherished wish of being the first!
Second, the female champion
There was a female emperor Wu Zetian in the history of China, but there were few female champions. There are quite a few legendary female champions: during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Chen Ruisheng, a female writer, wrote a novel called Rebirth. In the story, Meng Lijun, the heroine, disguised as a man, was admitted to the champion, then became prime minister, and finally met and married her lost fiance, Huangfu Hua Meng; The female champion in the four-tone ape play in the Ming Dynasty described the story of a girl named Huang Chuntao who disguised as a man and won the top prize in the exam ... Of course, these "Mulan" female champions are all characters shaped in literary works; Huang Chongjia, a native of Gulinqiong (now Qionglai City, Sichuan Province), was the first person in history to be called the "top female scholar", which spread widely.
According to Bian Shi in Yuxi and Annals of the Ten Kingdoms in the Spring and Autumn Period, a female poet named Shu appeared in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. She lost her parents in childhood, but she is very talented. In order to go out conveniently, she disguised herself as a man from childhood, studied hard, studied hard, played the piano, played chess, wrote poems and painted. In the first year of Tang Xizong Jiang Wende (AD 888), Wang Jianling captured Lin Qiong, then entered the city and stayed there for several weeks. On one occasion, Huang Chongjia burned a "well fire" (that is, natural gas) for evening self-study, accidentally caught fire, destroyed the house and was sent to the county prison. In order to get rid of the disaster, she presented a poem praising Zhou Yao: "I said that I live in seclusion in Lin Qiong, and I am looser and more loyal than me." Something as clear as a water mirror tripped him up in a wild crane in a deep cage. "
When Zhou Yao saw the praise of her "clean as water" in the poem, he loved her talent and pitied her youth, so he released her and left her in the mansion. Later, he transferred her to Chengdu as a manager in the tent of meeting to join the army. No one in the room knows that she is a weak woman. After Zhou Yao offered to accept her as a son-in-law, Huang Chongjia declined politely, but wrote a poem "Farewell to a scholarly wife and daughter". The last four sentences read: "I am upright, upright, upright. If the shogunate is honest, the original day will soon become a person. " After exposing the truth, he resigned and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion. At that time, people admired her talent and called it the "female champion". In the Ming Dynasty, Xu Wei's No.1 Scholar was all based on the story of Huang Chongjia. Up to now, Chongtuo Mountain in Huojing Township, Qionglai City still preserves the "Tomb of Huang Chongjia, the champion of Wang Shu".
Strictly speaking, only Fu Shanxiang, a 20-year-old woman during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, really took part in scientific research and became the "top female scholar" in history. It is recorded in the Examination of Clearing Banknotes that a topic in scientific research is taken from the Analects of Confucius, "Only women are difficult to raise". Contrary to public opinion, Fu Shanxiang's theory of "striving for' difficult support' and drawing on the help of virtuous women since ancient times" attacked feudal male chauvinism and Confucius' wrong view of discriminating against women. Under the circumstances at that time, Fu Shanxiang dared to oppose the fallacy of "men are superior to women" and refute the conclusion of Confucius, an eternal saint. Her spirit and courage were greatly appreciated by Hong Xiuquan, and she was personally selected as the number one scholar. She was crowned with a wreath and a dress, and she swam the streets for three days with the sound of gongs and drums, which was a sensation.
Times are changing, society is progressing, and the imperial examination era has long since ceased to exist. Today's era is the era when top scholars come forth in large numbers. Not to mention "360 lines, each line is the champion", but there are countless college students, graduate students and doctoral students who are similar to the champion in ancient times, and they may be countless!