Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them

by Mrs. Archibald Little

There are very strict rules as to who may compete at examinations. Barbers are not allowed to go up; and a barber's son having passed brilliantly in Hupeh province a few years ago, his degree was taken from him because of his father's business. On this all the barbers of the principal cities of Hupeh struck work—a terrible position, for no Chinaman can endure life without frequent resort to a barber to shave afresh the front part of his head, and comb and plait his long queue.

But not only must your father not be of low occupation, but you must most emphatically be native born.

The Peking Gazette of February 20th, 1891, records that "the number of provincial graduates being limited, and the right to compete for the degree of chüjen being strictly confined in each province to those, who have attained the standing of natives thereof either through birth or domicile, the intrusion of outsiders is jealously resented, and much contention frequently takes place as to the origin of a successful candidate. The Censorate recently received a petition numerously signed by graduates from Kweichow, in which they represented that a number of persons had attained degrees in their province under circumstances which urgently called for an investigation. The Governor, from whom a report was called for on the subject, admits that the graduates to whom exception had been taken are not natives of the province, although they are, he adds, either domiciled there, or the descendants of officials who have not been able to return to their native places. The province, he explains, was originally the home of the aborigines, and strictly speaking contains no native population of Chinese. The first provincial examination was held in the year 1537, but even then the number of Chinese settlers was very small. During the beneficent rule of the present dynasty influential families have flocked in from other provinces, and literature has received a marked impetus; but the formality of becoming domiciled subjects has very rarely been attended to. Indeed, had a hard-and-fast rule been adopted in the matter, there is good reason for believing that Kweichow would never have emerged from its state of barbarism. The last quarter of a century has witnessed repeated disturbances in the province, which interfered seriously with the regular conduct of the examinations. A great change has recently taken place for the better; but still there are numerous cases where people have become domiciled and have completed the necessary term of residence without having made a formal report of the circumstances to the authorities. The memorialist concludes by suggesting that five of the accused graduates should be debarred from competing next time at the higher examinations, and that the law respecting property qualification and a term of residence extending over twenty years should be strictly enforced for the future."

Again, on April 10th, 1891, "the Governor of Fengt`ien brings forward a grievance on the part of the farmers attached to the Collectorate of Rent Department, a branch of the Imperial household at Moukden. These farmers have hitherto been debarred from competing at the examinations on what would seem to be insufficient grounds, and have asked that their status be thoroughly gone into and definitely established. It appears there are four classes of employés attached to the Collectorate of Rent; namely, the foremen of agricultural labourers, the agricultural labourers themselves, labourers attached to the households of the foremen in a menial capacity, and foundlings brought up in what presumably is an orphanage. The two classes first enumerated are borne on the regular banner-roll by themselves. In a memorial presented to the Throne in 1862 it was requested that permission be given to the foremen to compete and that menials and foundlings be debarred. Nothing was said about the agricultural labourers, and the authorities did not in consequence feel justified in allowing them to enter. These latter have, however, produced regular stamped title-deeds showing that they are the bona-fide holders of banner-land. Strictly speaking, such title-deeds ought never to have been issued to them; but as they bear date as far back as 1791, and as it has been proved that they are actually borne on the same roll as the foremen, it would seem as if there were no distinction between them and the ordinary bannermen. Memorialist would point out that in 1825 the same question was raised with regard to the labourers tilling ecclesiastical lands under the Moukden Board of Revenue, and that it was then decided that all such, who were borne on the regular banner-roll, and whose record was without stain, should be allowed to compete. They accordingly would request that the matter be referred to the Board of Rites for consideration, and they trust the Board will see its way to remove the present restriction.—Let the Board of Rites consider and report."

Yet in spite of all these restrictions "while the students were rushing into the Wuchang examination-hall for a recent competition an errand-boy nine years old was trampled to death and horribly mutilated. The crowd was so dense that it was impossible to extricate the body until the space was cleared."

The literati are generally charged with being the most reactionary body in China. Yet we find "Chang-chih-tung and the Provincial Examiner of Hupeh asking for permission to allow the latter to proceed by steamer to conduct the examinations at Chingchow and Ichang. They describe very graphically the extreme inconvenience and discomfort of the native modes of conveyance, the long delays beating up against the stream, and the risk their papers and other belongings run of being lost or damaged by water. The Examiner mentions that on former trips, when the roads have been flooded, several of his coolies have been drowned by mistaking the paths, and all the inhabitants having fled before the water no accommodation was to be had for man or beast. To proceed by steamer would in every way be a saving, no risk would be run, the journey would be accomplished in two or three days, and the students be saved the vexatious delays they have had to undergo in former years while awaiting the arrival of the Examiner, who has met with delays and difficulties on the road.—Granted."

OUTSIDE CONFUCIUS' GRAVE.

Alas! when all is over, when men have got the right to compete and have competed successfully—are, for instance, among the ninety-six chosen out of fourteen thousand—what then? According to the Peking Gazette of September 22nd, "ten years ago the Governor of Honan asked that no expectant officials should be sent to the province for a period of two years, in order to relieve the stagnation which prevailed in the lower ranks of the Civil Service. The present Governor states that immediately after the expiration of the above period crowds of expectant officers again began to pour into the province, the evil having been greatly intensified by the renewal of the system of purchasing office. At the present moment there are 60 expectant candidates for the posts of Taotai, Prefect, and Senior Magistrate; over 70 for those of Sub-Prefect and Assistant Sub-Prefect; more than 300 aspiring to be Department and District Magistrates; and 1,020 waiting for minor appointments in the Civil Service. The stream of arrivals continues month after month, and utter congestion is the natural result. Considerable retrenchment is being carried out in the provincial administration, and the great majority of these expectants have little prospect of temporary and much less of permanent employment. A process of weeding out the less meritorious could not fail to be attended with invidious consequences, and all the memorialist can suggest is that the measure introduced by his predecessor should be reinforced for a further term of two years. This will, he hopes, work off to some extent the present redundant supply of official aspirants, and, being applicable only to Honan, will not materially interfere with the funds raised for coast-defence purposes from the sale of the office.—Referred to the consideration of the Board of Civil Office."