October 4th｜Traveling in Beijing: Rowing Captain: Was the ancient imperial examination the fairest upward path for the "leeks"?

List as a spectator

This trail study tour

We will lead you to visit the Beijing Confucius Temple and Imperial College Museum

What is Confucius like? A pedantic and cowardly nerd, or a hexagonal warrior who is good at both literature and martial arts and makes good use of his brain? What did Confucius pursue throughout his life? How do you view Confucius's life summary of " At fifteen, I set my heart on learning ... At seventy, I follow my heart's desire without breaking the rules " ? Why did a scholar who was not well-received at the time experience ups and downs in the next two thousand years?

Don’t rush to enroll your children in Chinese studies classes. There are too many fake ones on the street. Those that don’t teach etiquette, archery, driving, music, calligraphy, and mathematics are all fake Chinese studies classes.

In ancient times, was the imperial examination the same as the university entrance exam? No, it was the civil service exam, or the kind where you could become an official if you passed the exam. Was there a lot of cheating in the imperial examinations in ancient times? A lot, and most of the time, the referees were also athletes. The chief examiner is my uncle, are you angry?

Team leader

Special contributor and speaker of Xunji Lecture Hall

The first generation of military fans, second-hand poets, third-rate crosstalk fans, four major modern navy enthusiasts, five Ling young men, six pieces of bath scrubbers. The main lecture columns are "The Spear That Never Sets - British Royal Navy" and "Xunji Xiaojiang".

Event Highlights

 

Confucius Temple

In ancient times, the Imperial Academy was known as the highest institution of learning. It was the central government school in ancient China after the Sui Dynasty, also known as the Imperial Academy or the Imperial Temple. The Beijing Confucius Temple and the Imperial Academy were first built in the Yuan Dynasty, following the ancient system of " temple on the left and school on the right " , and were used as the place for the emperor to worship Confucius and the highest institution of learning in the central government. Confucius was once revered as the " Great Sage Teacher " , so the Confucius Temple was also called the Temple of the First Teacher. The two groups of buildings were built along the central axis and were symmetrical in the traditional Chinese architectural style, forming a complete set of ancient buildings.

The glazed memorial archway of the Imperial College is a famous attraction that tourists must visit. It is the only memorial archway in the country that was built specifically for education. It is a symbol of ancient China's respect for literature and education, and the only glazed memorial archway in Beijing that does not belong to a temple. It is also called the " Dragon Gate Memorial Archway " and the " Four Pillars, Three Doors, and Seven Tops Archway " . Behind the archway in the middle, there is a statue of the Dragon King. For thousands of years, today's tourists and ancient students have entered in droves, taking the auspicious meaning of " carp leaping over the dragon gate " .

Sadly, " the carp leaping over the dragon gate " is one of the national characteristics of today. Carpmen always hope to become dragons one day, and then go back to eat carp. The imperial examination system for thousands of years is the same. Candidates study hard and hope to become officials and become superior people, and to change from the ruled class to the ruling class. As for the poor brothers who were ruled with you before, sorry, what does it have to do with me?

In the eyes of modern people, the imperial examination system is the fairest system in ancient times. However, under the so-called " fairest " , there are also many unfairness. The strange cheating methods are only the lowest kind. The real cheating is to have someone help you cheat. If you are born in a good family or have a good name, it is not difficult to become the top scholar.

In addition, are the scholars, juren, and jinshi in ancient times really equivalent to today's college students and graduate students? Of course not. Today, there are no people who become wealthy after being admitted to college. It seems that there are no people who go crazy like Fan Jin after being admitted to graduate school. It seems that there are no people who go crazy like Fan Jin after being admitted to graduate school.

After understanding the not-so-good imperial examination system, we will also learn about the great sage and teacher - Confucius. Confucius, who was able to fight an ox, stalk a cunning rabbit, and hold the gate of the country, was not a nerd who only studied knowledge. He had many aspects that we are not familiar with. From a declining aristocrat to the " great sage and teacher " , what kind of ups and downs did Confucius experience more than 2,000 years ago? The Jiagu League, traveling around the countries, and giving lectures at the Xingtan ... teaching without distinction, teaching the six arts, and passing on classics, this time we will interpret Confucius and Confucian culture from other perspectives. " Great Harmony under Heaven " and " Governing with Virtue "... What profound influence did Confucius' political thoughts have on later generations? Why did Sun Yat-sen say that he was the successor of Confucius' thoughts?

Confucianism founded by Confucius has been a helper of monarchical centralization since its birth. Only by understanding this can we understand the essence of Confucianism, which is also the essence of traditional Chinese literati. Their highest ideal is to " get the king to do the right thing " and to be the " emperor's teacher " . Confucius traveled around the countries with his disciples just to become a " national teacher " . Later, his student Zixia really became the national teacher of Wei Wenhou. Chinese literati all have a " national teacher dream " , which has been consistent for thousands of years.

In addition to the imperial examination system and Confucius' life, there are many extremely precious historical relics in the Confucius Temple. CCTV's "National Treasure" program once visited the Sichuan Museum and let us see the fragments of the Later Shu Dynasty's stone scriptures that have been passed down for longer than the Later Shu Dynasty. It turns out that there is also a set of Qianlong Stone Scriptures consisting of 189 stone tablets in the Confucius Temple. Because it is engraved with 13 classic works of Confucianism, it is also called the Thirteen Classics Stele Forest.

The reason for the engraving of the Qianlong Stone Classics is the same as that of the Houshu Fragmentary Stone Classics. Both are because the Confucian classics have gone through thousands of years, and there are many errors and omissions in the middle. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Heng, a scholar from Jintan, Jiangsu, spent 12 years to standardize and copy and organize 630,000 words of Confucian classics. His handwriting was neat and meticulous, and the whole set of books was presented to the court. Emperor Qianlong was very pleased after receiving it. After asking experts to proofread this batch of books, he started to carve them into stone tablets as a model for reference and study by readers all over the world. It is a standard textbook for the National People's Congress in the late Qing Dynasty.

Registration Information 

Event Time  

● October 5 , 2024 (Saturday)

Event Location

Beijing · Confucius Temple Imperial College

Confucius Temple and Imperial College Museum: No. 15 , Guozijian Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing

* The specific meeting place will be sent to your mobile phone by our customer service staff about three days before the group starts. Please pay attention to the push notifications.

* After successful registration, you must go to the gathering place and participate in the event together. After the event, you will be dismissed at the same place.

Number of participants

●No more than 30 people

●Children under 6 years old are not recommended to participate. Minors aged 6-14 years old must be accompanied by a guardian

●Refuse to drop in temporarily

Activity Fees

The fee includes: explanation by expert lecturer; tour guide service throughout the trip; audio guide.

The fee does not include: round trip travel before and after the meeting; other personal expenses.