Overview
The provincial civil-service examination, or xiangshi, was a major stage in the Qing examination system through which qualified candidates could obtain the juren degree. Banner candidates participated under arrangements that changed considerably over the dynasty. The history of their provincial examinations cannot be understood without distinguishing Manchu, Mongol, and Han Military affiliation, language requirements, and the shifting rules governing eligibility.
Historical Background
Volume 108 of the Draft History of Qing, in its treatise on selection and appointment, records that in the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651) the court permitted banner descendants to participate in the provincial and metropolitan examinations under prescribed conditions. Early arrangements included differences among categories of candidates and, at certain times, separate examination procedures or lists. Subsequent reforms modified these distinctions. In Kangxi year twenty-six (1687), the court ordered banner candidates to undergo examinations alongside Han candidates, while provisions relating to archery and other qualifications remained relevant.
Sources and Interpretation
It would therefore be incorrect to describe the entire banner provincial examination system as an examination exclusively in Manchu, or to suppose that all registered banner residents automatically qualified. Historians reconstructing an individual bannerman's education must establish the year of his examination, his registered category, the applicable examination regulations, and whether he actually achieved a juren qualification. The provincial examination also needs to be distinguished from the metropolitan examination, the palace examination, and separate translator examinations, each of which represented a different stage or route toward official advancement.
Sources and Bibliography
- Qing history research resource
- Qing history research resource
- Historical text at Wikisource
- Historical text at Wikisource
Links reproduce references supplied with the Chinese editorial manuscript; they do not establish that every individual statement has undergone independent archival verification.
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