''Zhuangyuan'', or ''jangwon'' in Korean and ''trạng nguyên'' in Vietnamese, variously translated into English as principal graduate, primus, or optimus, was the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the

Imperial examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

, (in the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

) and (in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

) in imperial China,

Gwageo The () or ''kwagŏ'' were the national civil service examinations under the Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1897) periods of Korea. Typically quite demanding, these tests measured candidates' ability of writing composition and knowledge ...

examinations in

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

and

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

era Korea, and Vietnam. In China, Fu Shanxiang is known as the first (and last) female zhuangyuan ''(nü zhuangyuan'') in Chinese history, but under the

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (1851–1864), was a theocratic monarchy which sought to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The Heavenly Kingdom, or Heavenly Dynasty, was led by Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka man from Guan ...

, not the regular imperial exams. After the Taipings captured the city of Nanjing, they offered an exam for women in January 1853 in which Fu attained the highest score. In Vietnam, the first de facto ''trạng nguyên'' was

Lê Văn Thịnh Lê Văn Thịnh (Chữ Hán: 黎文盛, 1038 – 1096), courtesy name Mậu Phu (茂夫), was an official in the royal court of the Lý dynasty. Ranking first in the first imperial examination of the Lý dynasty, Lê Văn Thịnh was appointed tut ...

, a

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...

scholar. He was the chief negotiator who persuaded the Song to return the 6 districts of Quảng Nguyên (today

Hà Giang province Hà Giang (, ) was formerly a Provinces of Vietnam, province in the Northeast (Vietnam), Northeast region of Vietnam. It was located in the far north of the country, and contains Vietnam's northernmost point. It shared a 270 km long China-Vi ...

) to Vietnam. Nevertheless, the first Vietnamese person to be ''trạng nguyên'' was in fact Khương Công Phụ under Chinese Tang Dynasty. The first female trạng nguyên ''(nữ trạng nguyên'') was

Nguyễn Thị Duệ Nguyễn Thị Duệ (阮氏叡, 1574 – 1654) courtesy name Ngọc Toàn (玉全), pen name Diệu Huyền (妙玄), Đào Hoa Am (桃花庵), was a Vietnamese Imperial Queen consort, consort and scholar, referred to as the first female doctorate ...

, who later become a consort of the

Mạc Mạc (chữ Hán: 莫) is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Ma or Mo in Chinese and Mua in Hmong language. It is unrelated to the "Mac" prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages. Mac / Mc is an anglicised variation ...

Emperor Mạc Kính Cung. She had previously been a consort of the Lê Emperor Lê Thần Tông, and would serve as an official in the

Revival Lê dynasty The Revival Lê dynasty ( 茹黎中興; Hán-Việt: 黎中興朝 ''Lê trung hưng triều''), also called the Later Lê Restoration in historiography, officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed between ...

after the fall of the Mạc dynasty. Under

Nguyễn Dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

, the title ''trạng nguyên'' was not officially abolished, yet its standards were too high that it was virtually unachievable.

In China

In total, there were 596 zhuangyuan in ancient China.

Noteworthy ''zhuangyuan''

Chen Wenlong Chen Wenlong (, 9 March 1232 – 17 January 1277) was a scholar-general in the last years of the Southern Song dynasty and early Yuan dynasty. He became the city god of Fuzhou and Putian. Biography Chen was born on 9 March 1232 (the 16th Day o ...

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 sub ...

* Hong Jun * Fu Shanxiang,

, the first and only woman to become a ''zhuangyuan'' * Mo Xuanqing, was the youngest Zhuangyuan in the imperial examinations during the Tang dynasty *, (?-658),

''dali qing'' (chamberlain of the Court of Judicial Review), highly regarded for his candid advice to Gaozu and Taizong, the first ''zhuangyuan'' in history. * Tang Gao, became the Zhuangyuan in the ninth year (1514) of the Zhengde Emperor's reign during the Ming dynasty *

Wen Tianxiang Wen Tianxiang (; June 6, 1236 – January 9, 1283), noble title Duke of Xin (), was a Chinese statesman, poet and politician in the last years of the Song dynasty#Southern Song, 1127–1279, Southern Song dynasty. For his resistance to Kublai K ...

, was a scholar-general in the last years of the Southern

. For his resistance to Kublai Khan's invasion of the Song, and for his refusal to yield to the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

despite being captured and tortured * Zhao Bingzhong, the only zhuangyuan with his examination paper kept until now * Yu Minzhong, who served as chief grand councilor for part of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. * Lin Hongnian (1805–1885) * (1876–1898), the last military ''zhuangyuan'' in Chinese history. * (1872–1942), the last ''zhuangyuan'' in Chinese history. * Xu Shilin, a mythological figure who attained the Zhuangyuan, demonstrated great filial piety to his mother,

Bai Suzhen Bai Suzhen ( zh, t=白素貞), also known as Lady Bai (), is a one-thousand-year-old white snake spirit and the title character of the ''Legend of the White Snake'', one of China's "four great folktales". The legend has been adapted into seve ...

, a white snake spirit imprisoned under

Leifeng Pagoda Leifeng Pagoda is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002. Since then, ...

In Vietnam

In total, there were 56 trạng nguyên in ancient Vietnam.

Noteworthy ''Trạng nguyên''

(黎文盛, 1038 – 1096), the first de facto ''trạng nguyên'' of Vietnam's independent era. * Huyền Quang(玄光, 1254-1334), real name Lý Tải Đạo, a politician and later Buddhist monk who lived during the reign of Emperor

Trần Nhân Tông Trần Nhân Tông (7 December 1258–16 December 1308), Vietnamese name, personal name Trần Khâm, temple name Nhân Tông, was the third emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1278 to 1293. After ceding the thron ...

during the

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: triều Trần, chữ Hán: ikt:朝ikt:陳, 朝wikt:陳, 陳), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a List ...

. He was considered to be equal with the first six patriarchs of the Zen Buddhist tradition. *

Nguyễn Hiền Nguyễn (阮) (sometimes abbreviated as Ng̃) is the most common surname of the Vietnamese people. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as ''Nguyen''. By some estimates 30 to 39 percent of Vietnamese peopl ...

(阮賢, 1234-1256), the youngest to become a ''trạng nguyên'' at 13 years old, later died at 21 years old. He also many times become an envoy to meet the

Mạc Đĩnh Chi Mạc Đĩnh Chi (; 1272–1346) was a renowned Vietnamese Confucian scholar who was the highest-scoring graduate in the palace examinations at the age of only twenty-four. He served three Trần dynasty emperors—first Trần Anh Tông until ...

(莫挺之,1272–1346) a scholar and envoy who served three emperors of the

, as well as the ancestor of the emperor Mạc Thái Tổ. * Nguyễn Trực (阮直, 1417–1474), the first ''trạng nguyên'' of

Later Lê dynasty Later may refer to: * Future, the time after the present Television * ''Later'' (talk show), a 1988–2001 American talk show * '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a British music programme since 1992 * ''The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts'', or ...

Phạm Đôn Lễ Phạm (范) is the fourth most common Vietnamese family name. It may be rendered as '' Fàn'' in Chinese or ''Beom/Pom/Pem'' (범) in Korean. It is not to be confused with Phan (潘), another Vietnamese surname. Origin Phạm is the Sino-V ...

(范敦禮, 1457–1531), also known as "Trạng Chiếu" (''trạng'' of segde mats). * Lương Thế Vinh (梁世榮, 1441–1496) a mathematician, Buddhist and poet who lived during

Lê Thánh Tông Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗; 25 August 1442 – 3 March 1497), personal name Lê Hạo, temple name Thánh Tông, courtesy name Tư Thành, was an emperor of Đại Việt, reigning from 1460 to 1497, the fifth and the longest-reigning empero ...

's reign. *

Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (chữ Hán: 阮秉謙; 1491–1585) was a Vietnamese administrator, confucianist, poet, prophet and later a saint of the Cao Dai religion and of the new religious movement known as School of Teaching Goodness. Biog ...

(阮秉謙, 1491–1585) a ''trạng nguyên'' under Mạc dynasty, known for the ability to predict future. *

(阮氏叡, 1574-1654), the first and only female ''trạng nguyên''. * Nguyễn Đăng Đạo (阮登道, 1651–1719), a ''tể tướng'' ( Grand Chancellor) under Later Lê Dynasty. *

Trịnh Tuệ The Confucian court examination system in Vietnam (Chữ Hán: 科榜越南, ) was a system for entry into the civil service, which was modelled after the Imperial examination in China, based on knowledge of the classics and literary style from 1 ...

(鄭橞; 1701–?), the last person to achieve the title ''trạng nguyên''. *

Phan Đình Phùng Phan Đình Phùng (; 1847January 21, 1896) was a Vietnamese revolutionary who led rebel armies against French colonial forces in Vietnam. He was the most prominent of the Confucian court scholars involved in anti-French military campaign ...

(潘廷逢, 1847–1896), a revolutionary against French colonialism. * Nguyễn Phong Di (阮豐貽, 1889–?), the last de facto ''trạng nguyên'' of Vietnam.

In modern culture

In modern Chinese, zhuangyuan is used to refer to anyone who achieves the highest mark on a test, or, more generally, to anyone who is at the forefront of his or her field.《现代汉语词典》，商务印书馆，第五版， In mainland China, the term is most often used to refer to the highest score at the provincial level for either the social sciences (文科) or physical sciences (理科) track of the annual ''

gaokao The Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities and Colleges (), commonly abbreviated as the Gaokao (), is the annual nationally coordinated undergraduate admission exam in mainland China, held in early June. Despite the ...

'' college entrance exam.

In China

Noteworthy ''zhuangyuan''

In Vietnam

Noteworthy ''Trạng nguyên''

In modern culture

See also

References

Further reading