鳳儀書院-History

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History Historic Sites A Blessed Trip through Time Imperial Examination Materials

Fengshan County Magistrate Cao Jin’s visit to the Academy

During the Qing dynasty, FengshanCounty Magistrate Cao Jiu embarked on many construction projects, including, most famously,the construction of the Cao Gong Canal. The statues here re-create Cao leading a procession to the Fongyi Academy.Joining in the procession areshih-ye (assistants to officials), holders of a sign showing “Keep Clear” and a sign showing “Be Silent,” and a person opening the way by hitting the gong.The procession is received by the director of the Academy.

Practicing martial arts

During the Qing dynasty, there were also imperial examinations for martial arts.The preliminary military examination was divided into indoor and outdoor tests. The outdoor test was conducted in the order of horseback archery, archery and martial arts and strength (drawing a hard bow, brandishing a sword and lifting boulders), followed by the indoor test upon passing the outdoor one. To attract talents, the exam was open to both civilian martial arts students and soldiers of the Green Standard Army.

A lecture at the Academy

There were two parts of the operation of the Academy: the director was responsible for running the Academy while the dean was tasked with teaching.There were two types of students: tong-sheng – that is, those who had completed their private school education and were about to sit for the preliminary examination; andsheng-yuan, those who had passed the preliminary examination and were preparing for the provincial examination. There was a wide age gap between the students, ranging from small children who had just started their education, to young people who were full of vigor, to older students who had taken the preliminary exam many times already.

Fengshan cattle market

Cattle were the main driving force behind an agricultural society, and the cattle market was an official marketplace. The statues here depict how people back thentraded cattle, tested their strength, and inspected the animal’s teeth in the cattle market. The market was held on a regular basis and was managed by a market head. A contract had to be made for trading cattle along with a handling fee, and the cattle were branded to indicate that they were traded legally.