The Jiangnan Examination Hall (, Jiangnan Gongyuan), near the Confucius temple, is located in the southern part of
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
Province, China. It is the largest examination hall for
imperial examination
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
in
ancient China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
.
History
Jiangnan Examination Hall (Jiangnan Gongyuan) was first built in the 4th year of the
Xiaozong Xiaozong can be the name of the following Chinese emperors:
* Emperor Xiaozong of Song China (reign: 1162–1189)
*Hongzhi Emperor of the Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, rulin ...
reign (
Qiandao era) of the Southern Song (1168). Nanjing was made capital in the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
. Jiangnan Examination Hall was used as the examination hall for both the
provincial level examination (''juren'') of
Jiangsu Province
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
as well as
Anhui Province and
metropolitan examination (''jinshi''). After the capital was moved to Beijing in the
Yongle period, the formal capital became Nanjing Had. Jiangnan Examination Hall was heavily expanded with more than 20,000 buildings. In the early
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, Nanjing was the capital of
Jiangnan
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...
province, so the Examination Hall continued to use the name of Jiangnan Examination Hall.
Examination
In the Qing dynasty, the imperial examination included 112 subjects in all; there were, in total, 58 examinees from Jiangnan Province (includes Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai today) who passed the provincial imperial examination held in the Jiangnan Examination Hall and then became the Number One Scholar in the final imperial examination. And those 58 examinees of which 49 were from Jiangsu and 9 were from Anhui took up 51.78% of the total number of the Number One Scholar of the national level.
Around the Examination Hall there are two enclosures surrounded with walls full of thorns. They were designed to avoid cheating, and called "Thorns Wall".
Location and size
East from Yao’s Lane, west to Gongyuan West Street, north near Qinhuai River and south to Jiankang Road, the Examination Hall used to cover an area of 300,000 sqm. It is one of the main architectural complexes in the Confucius Temple District. T’ai-tsu also built a government-run brothel by the side of
Qinhuai River
The Qinhuai River () is a tributary of the Yangtze with a total length of 110 km. It flows through central Nanjing and is called "Nanjing's mother river". It is the "life blood" of the city. The Qinhuai River is divided into inner and outer river ...
, which faced the Examination Hall across the river. The brothel was once named as Old Court or Fule Court, which was built for the gifted scholars and the beautiful ladies. The district of Qinhuai River once prospered because of Examination Hall, Fule Court and Confucius Temple. Only a
Siheyuan-type building is left now, which was used as a museum about that time. Inside, there is a picture of building models which shows the magnificence of Examination Hall during its flourishing age.
The Examination Hall was listed among the third batch of Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Units in Jiangsu Province in 1982. In 2002, the ancient buildings of Jiangnan Examination Hall were classified into Gongyuan Inscriptions, and it was listed in the provincial units of cultural relics protection under the name of Jiangnan Examination Hall.
Famous people
Famous people in the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty such as
Tang Bohu,
Zheng Banqiao,
Wu Jingzi,
Shi Nai'an,
Weng Tonghe
Weng Tonghe (; 1830–1904), courtesy name Shuping (), was a Chinese Confucian scholar and imperial tutor who lived in the Qing dynasty. In 1856, he obtained the position of ''zhuangyuan'' (or top scholar) in the imperial examination and was subs ...
,
Li Hungchang
Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...
and "Number One Scholar"
Zhang Jiang in the late Qing dynasty all took the imperial examination here.
History museum
A history museum in Jiangnan Examination Hall, is located in the 1st Jinlin Road, Confucius Temple, Nanjing. It is the only professional museum that reflects the content of Chinese imperial civil examination system in China. The museum, open both day and night, is also a place of studying the imperial examination and an institution for collecting cultural relics and historical data about the imperial examination.
Transportation
The building is accessible within walking distance east of
Sanshanjie Station of
Nanjing Metro
The Nanjing Metro is a rapid transit system serving the urban and suburban districts of Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu Province in the People's Republic of China.
Proposals for a metro system serving Nanjing first began in 1984, with appr ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Jiangsu topics
Buildings and structures in Nanjing
Imperial examination
Ming dynasty architecture
Qing dynasty architecture
Museums in Nanjing
Song dynasty architecture