Preservation of China’s National Treasures Gathering Momentum

June 15, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, Current Affairs, History, Travel)

With a recorded history dating back 5000 years and having one of the largest land masses in the world, it is not surprising that China is well-endowed with varied scenic wonders and a great variety of cultural relics and antiquities that will delight and overawe discerning visitors on a discovery tour of mankind’s longest continuous civilisation. This is despite the fact that  a large number of these man-created cultural and historical relics had already been destroyed in the course of time due to ravages of nature, human conflicts and past failures to maintain some of these as national treasures for the benefit of posterity. Fortunately for China and the world, the saving grace is the abundance of accumulated cultural properties that  are safely buried beneath the ground awaiting discovery to see the light of day again. Although some of these artifacts have already been dug up, much more still remain unknown and undiscovered. In addition to these, a considerable amount of other valuable and rare cultural legacies can still be found in shipwrecks lying below the nation’s territorial waters. All these hidden reservoirs of buried treasures, if and when eventually excavated, will further boost China’s already rich national heritage and cultural standing among nations. Time is on China’s side.

As China becomes increasingly more prosperous since the 1980s, greater national financial resources have been allocated to the preservation and discovery of important historic and cultural relics, both on land and off shore. The resultant successes are evident for all to see. As time goes by, other lesser national monuments and historic relics spread across its vast landscape will also be carefully preserved and restored to their former glory and this will make the country even more alluring to both foreign and domestic tourists. Ever since this country became more tourism-oriented more than three decades ago, foreigners from all over the globe have been flocking there to savour the manifold attractions that this ancient , and seemingly mysterious, land has to offer. Within a relatively short time, China’s tourism and its amenities and facilities have grown tremendously to cater to differing tastes and preferences of their disparate visitors, both from within and overseas. China is now the third most visited country in the world, after France and United States, and is expected to top the list by around 2020.

Another remarkable achievement of China is that, after replacing Taiwan in the United Nations in 1971, it now has 38 World Heritage Sites (WHS) conferred on it by Unesco, a cultural agency of the United Nations. This coveted award covers both natural and man-created attractions which are of unique and universal value to all mankind. They must be preserved and maintained in accordance with the exacting criteria and strict conditions laid down by Unesco and subject to its periodic inspections to ensure their due compliance. Failure of a nation to do so will result in a particular WHS status being forfeited. To date, China‘s 38 WHS are behind only Spain’s 41 and Italy’s 44. However, China also has 30 other sites under consideration by Unesco, more than the number of applications already submitted by any other country. As the third largest country in the world and being an older civilisation than most other countries, my view is that it is only a matter of time before China will earn the accolade of becoming the nation with the highest number of WHS in the world.

In my post of May on the relatively remote Anhui 安 徽 Province in China, I praise this province for winning three WHS, one for scenic beauty and the other two for being well-preserved ancient folk villages surpassing numerous others there and elsewhere in China. They were the reason my family and I spent a delightfully captivating and eye-opening holiday there recently. In this article I will share with you four of these historic villages and unusual monuments, with the hope that you, too, will be inspired to visit these gems of Anhui. Two of these Ming and Qing villages, Xidi 西 递 and Hongcun 红 村, are WHS, the third is a superb collection of rich and famous people’s mansions and the remaining one is celebrated for its unique commemorative archways (pailou 牌楼), unmatched anywhere else in China.

The first sight of Xidi, with its more than 125 well-preserved folk dwellings, clan halls and ancestral shrines, was a feast on my eyes. It was as though I was immediately transported back to the old China of several hundred years ago. All the houses have the distinctive white walls and black roof tiles which enhance their charm and architectural appeal. These houses were built almost back to back to each other, separated by very narrow lanes that sunlight could hardly penetrate. Sewage drains with unpolluted mountain water still run through these back lanes to add to the village’s medieval ambiance. It is a thriving and busy village, with many older folks seated on low stools eating and gossiping, seemingly unperturbed by the throngs of camera-carrying tourists of various nationalities staring at them. Some houses were built as dwellings cum shops, and some of the villagers were still selling traditional hand-made foods, snacks, arts and crafts and souvenirs which are peculiar to this region. Xidi was originally a clan village, with everyone sharing the surname Wang. They still dominate the village today. We spent several hours traversing this stone-paved village, imbibing the ancient feel of the residences of both the humble and the more exalted among them. The mansions of the rich merchants and the retired mandarins are large and elaborately appointed, divided into several sections with open-air courtyards and gardens. They were adorned with exquisitely decorated stone carvings on the exteriors and intricate gold-leaf wood carvings on the doors, columns, beams and wood beds inside, with scenes from historical novels like the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the West Chamber, Journey to the West or with flowers and birds motifs. The rich and famous of old China certainly knew how to live well! The spacious Clan and ancestral halls were the most important landmarks in the village, and important events like weddings, New Year celebrations, funerals, ancestral veneration ceremonies took place here. Xidi truly deserves to be a WHS as it is one of the best preserved ancient villages in China.

Some 10 km away is the other WHS, Hongcun, which has more than 137 old folk residences and communal buildings. For reasons which I failed to fathom, it attracted less tourists than its rival Xidi. It is the more laid-back and less noisy of the two. Its houses and other significant buildings are more neatly laid out and there is a more refined appearance about it. Situated on an elevated altitude, the whole village resembles a pretty picture postcard, with its ancient arched bridges, lotus-filled ponds with gently flowing water, and surrounded by verdant greenery and low-lying hills at the rear. It strikes me as the ideal place for dreamy poets and scholars  to contemplate the meaning of life and to be inspired to compose their best intellectual outpourings! With such a natural and idyllic backdrop, it is no wonder that several of the famed Chinese period films, such as “Crouching tiger, hidden dragon”, were shot on location here. Another interesting aspect of this village is that it is shaped like an ox. The residents liken the hills as its “head”, the two tallest trees on the hill top as its “horns”, the village dwellings as its “body”, the meandering stream that runs through the entire village as its “intestines”, the crescent-shaped ponds at its centre as its “stomach” and, finally, its four arched bridges as its “four feet”. My family and I were completely mesmerised by Hongcun, and we rounded up our memorable visit there by dinning in an 18th century inn that reminded me of the ones I had seen in many a Chinese period films. This village is undoubtedly the most pristinely serene of all the ancient villages that I had so far set foot on in Anhui and elsewhere in China.

The specially created Qian Kou 潜 口 Museum of Ming and Qing residences of well-known Anhui merchants, noted scholars and high-ranking mandarins are both unique in concept and a miniature display of representative architectural styles of houses found in this province. The twenty properties from several counties of Anhui were purchased by the local government from private owners with public funds. They were then physically removed and reassembled in their original structure and appearance at their elevated new home in Qian Kou village. These disparate properties span 15th to 19th centuries. Situated on a hillside and dotting all over the hill slopes, it was a wonderful sight to behold. They give one a good opportunity to compare Ming and Qing architectural styles and building art and the special distinguishing features about them. Just like their counterparts in Xidi and Hongcun, these houses were well built and differently adorned to reflect  the differences in tastes and preferences of the house owners of these two dynasties. Those belonging to the rich merchants tended to be more opulent and loud, with more visible symbols of wealth and somewhat lacking in classical charm, while those of the scholars and mandarins projected classical simplicity and understated elegance. I hope this  successful and innovative initiative of the Anhui government will inspire other provincial governments to set up similar projects in their own provinces to benefit those interested in the history and culture of different parts of this large country.

Tangyue 棠 樾 Village was the country estate of the illustrious Bao family spanning 15th to 19th centuries. Over these centuries, some of its outstanding family members had excelled in public services, scholarship, business and in upholding the Confucian concepts of filial piety, moral rectitude and female chastity. This village is unique in two ways. First, It has the only female ancestral hall in the country to honour one of the family’s female forebears for her exemplary virtue of female chastity. Secondly, the august Baos were conferred an unprecedented seven commemorative archways by the reigning Emperors for their exceptional achievements in the fields of human endeavour mentioned above over an extended period of 500 years.

These two attractions are sufficient magnets that draw numerous Chinese and foreign visitors to this otherwise quiet Anhui village. The female ancestral hall has interesting and moving wall paintings depicting the long years of widowhood of this virtuous lady who bore her fate with fortitude and self-sacrifice and painstakingly bringing up her children successfully to add lustre to the Bao family. Be that as it may, the main reason visitors flock to Tangyue Village is to gaze and marvel at the seven commemorative archways, spread neatly and majestically along a winding path. Measuring about 7 or 8 m high, these richly adorned stone archways have inscriptions reciting the life and achievements of the personage so honored and the year in which it was erected by royal command. These were conferred upon the Bao family members in recognition of their loyal and significant services to the state, high scholarly attainments, moral rectitude and integrity, filial piety, female chastity and for supporting charitable and other public causes generously. In practice, only the Emperor himself can sanction the erection of a commemorative archway, usually on the petition of the local government where the recipient of the honour resided. Once the petition is granted, the recipient would, at his own expense and in compliance with the format approved by the local authority, erect the archway. In exceptional cases, which applied to one of the seven Bao family archways, the Emperor would personally approve the allocation of  public fund for this purpose. As a further royal favour and esteem for this family, the Emperor had commanded that Court officials of all ranks must dismount from their horses before proceeding to view these Tangyue archways. The Bao family’s record of attaining seven commemorative archways had never been equalled or surpassed by any other family in Chinese history.

Besides these four contrasting historic landmarks I have mentioned above, there are many other ancient villages and towns in Anhui province that will also be of interest to visitors, not forgetting the world-famous Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), one of China’s foremost tourist spots, which is only about one hour by road from these places covered in my article. I hope you will find time to visit them like my family and I did. It was a delightful experience which I will remember for many years to come.

Lam Pin Foo

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Which Chinese County Had the Most Zhuangyuan (Premier Scholar) During the Imperial Examinations Era?

May 1, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, History)

If you pose this question to people who are familiar with Chinese culture, including many Chinese themselves, chances are they would spontaneously name various culturally developed counties in Jiansu or Zhejiang province, where the sophisticated cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou are situated. Others might point to Henan or Shaanxi province, which are the cradles of Chinese civilisation and both have had a long tradition of learning and scholarship, while some might favour parts of Hebei province, whose leading city, Beijing, was not only the capital of the powerful and prosperous Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties but also reputed for its reservoir of literary talents as its inhabitants. These answers, although consistent with logic or common sense, would nonetheless be off the mark.

Besides these highly cultured and accomplished regions of China, where else could possibly lay claim to such an outstanding literary feat in this land of Laozi, Confucius and Mencius? The correct answer is tiny Xiuning County, in the seemingly insignificant and obscure Anhui Province, a relatively poor and economically backward part of East China, both in history and even in the prospering China of today. Nowadays, Anhui’s main sources of income are derived primarily from tourism, agricultural produces and some light industries. What it lacks in economic and technological resources, mother nature has endowed it with scenic wonders, such as the world-renowned Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) and Jiuhua Mountain, one of the five sacred Buddhist highlands of China, as well as scores of well-preserved ancient towns and villages, with their numerous Yuan, Ming and Qing folk-dwellings, rich and influential people’s mansions, clan halls and artistically decorated commemorative ancient archways. Three of these rare Anhui landmarks, namely Huangshan, Xidi Village and Hongcun Village have all been conferred the coveted World Heritage Sites status by UNESCO, a cultural offshoot of the United Nations. They were the reason my family and I spent a memorable and eye-opening holiday there recently.

To put it in perspective, Xuining County has chalked up a formidable 19 Zhuangyuans in all, a record unmatched by any other Chinese county, big or small. It took them almost 700 years to attain this well-earned accolade, starting from the 13th century Song Dynasty right up to the close of this unique and much emulated examination system in 1905, 6 years before the demise of the Qing Dynasty and the birth of China’s Republic era. To gauge how incredibly difficult it is to attain the title of Zhuangyuan, a candidate must pass the highest of the three levels of triennial Imperial Examinations to become a Jinshi (Finished Scholar, equivalent to present day PhD degree). All successful Jinshis would then be invited to sit the final examination, which would be conducted at the Imperial Palace, presided by the Emperor himself. The candidate who topped this examination would be conferred the title of Zhuangyuan (Premier Scholar). In every century, no more than 33 of them would be created, one in every 3 years. The new Zhuangyuan would forthwith be given a respectable official rank in the Imperial Civil Service, and would be groomed to reach the top civil rank unless he later committed serious blunders or misconduct incompatible with his standing as a gentleman and a Confucian scholar. In rare cases, when the Emperor was so impressed with the learning and talent of the bachelor Zhuangyuan that he would invite him to be one of his sons-in-law, which the overjoyed Premier Scholar would be obliged to accept with deep gratitude and honour. A Zhuanyuan would bring glory not only to his own family, but also reflected honour to all his clansmen.

In selecting a Premier Scholar in the Jinshi and in the ultimate palace examination, the candidates would, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, be tested on “Five Studies”, namely, military strategy, civil law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and geography and, finally, the Confucian classics. The subjects would undergo changes in the subsequent dynasties and a permanent format finally emerged during the Qing Dynasty. The candidates’ names and antecedents would not be known to the board of examiners so as to ensure fairness and to eliminate possibilities of partiality or bias towards any of them.

What are the major factors that had enabled a relatively unknown and insignificant county like Xiuning to achieve the singular honour of having produced the highest number of Zhuangyuans in the country? Chinese historians and cultural experts have pinpointed three contributory factors:

  • First, during the turbulent eras of the Western Jin and Tang dynasties, many Northern Chinese, among them were Court officials, scholars, artisans, farmers and merchants, fled their homes and moved southwards to seek a safe haven to start a new life there. Many found the rural and mountainous setting of the remote Anhui province an ideal place for a more peaceful living and were determined to make a success of it in their adopted land. They brought with them the more advanced Central Plains culture, productivity and business acumen. These planted the seeds of their future success not only in the field of education but also in producing enterprising and legendary Anhui merchants, many of whom made their enormous fortunes in the rich cities elsewhere in China but spent their retirement in the grand mansions of their adopted land. Prior to the arrival of these new immigrants, some tenured Northern government officials had, on retirement, opted to make Anhui and Xiuning their permanent homes and had brought with them Confucianism and incorporated it as an integral part of the mountain culture.
  • Secondly, the non-Han minority Jin State had conquered all the territories of Song Dynasty in Northern China, and the Song Court and its loyal supporters were compelled to move South and founded its new capital in the culturally vibrant and prosperous Hangzhou, which was then one of the foremost cities and places of learning in the country. Hangzhou, being only 200-odd km from Anhui and Xiuning itself, had also benefitted the latter because of regular exchanges of visits and knowledge between the elites of both territories. Furthermore, not a few retired Hangzhou government officials and scholars, both during the Song and Yuan reigns, were motivated to retire to Anhui, and Xiuning, because of their more tranquil and peaceful environments which were more suited to a quiet life of a retired gentleman and Confucian scholar.
  • Finally, many successful Anhui merchants had made excellence in education an overriding goal for their sons to achieve in life and hoped that they would ultimately shine in the Imperial Examinations and bring glory to their families and clans. To this end, they would spare no efforts and financial resources to employ well-known teachers locally and from Hangzhou to come to Xiuning as resident tutors to their own sons and sons of their extended families too. In addition, these generous merchants would also invite promising sons of their village clansmen to enjoy the privilege of such an exclusive education at no cost to their parents, thus spreading opportunities for learning more widely. This mode of education would enable the pupils to imbibe the essence of Confucian education, a prelude to officialdom, and help inculcate their life-long love and affinity for learning and education. It is therefore not surprising that the Xiuning Zhuangyuans comprised a good mixture of the children of both prominent and poor families.

To commemorate and publicise Xiuning’s praiseworthy record of becoming the champion county of Zhuangyuans in China, it has in its Haiyang Town set up an interesting and informative Chinese Zhuangyuan Museum. It gives a very comprehensive history of the centuries old Chinese Imperial Examination System and its evolution over a long period of time. There is also a list of the names and brief biographies of the most prominent as well as the less edifying Premier Scholars among them over different periods of time. This Chinese system, the first in the world, had been copied by several Asian and Western countries when formulating their own public service examination systems, with necessary modifications to suit their particular needs and requirements. This museum is well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to the Yellow Mountain and to the historic towns and villages in Anhui province.

Xiuning County’s abiding love affair with education and learning has continued into the present time. Its students still excel themselves in nationwide school examinations and for admissions into nationally important universities and other tertiary institutions. Their achievements have caught overseas attentions. In early 2008, Britain’s world-famous British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) produced five documentaries on its television network on the life of pupils of schools in China. The three top schools featured were all located within Xiuning County! This county, which has a relatively small population of about 270,000 and a total land area of 2,125 sq km, has consistently punched above its size and weight in vast China, as far as education and scholarship are concerned.

The above article brings to mind another article on the Chinese Imperial Examination system, which I wrote in 1996, and was published in Singapore’s Straits Times, a leading English language national daily. I would like to share it with my readers by reproducing it immediately after this posting.

Lam Pin Foo

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Ancient Chinese Examination System Made Relevant

April 30, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, Current Affairs, History)

This article first appeared in the Singapore Straits Times on 16 March 1996.

There are few countries that can surpass China in its long tradition of according the highest respect and honour to scholars. The epitome of this tradition is the awe and reverence in which China’s premier sage and scholar, Confucius (551-479 BC), is held by successive generations of Chinese everywhere. His teachings permeate every aspect of Chinese life, 2,500 years after they were first enunciated.

In its long recorded history that spans over 5,000 years, China had traditionally placed scholars at the top of the social hierarchy. This was followed by farmers and labourers, with the merchants occupying the bottom rung. In Imperial China, the most worthwhile calling was to be a civil servant, which was dominated by men of letters steeped in the Confucian tradition. On the other hand, the merchant class was despised as money-making was equated with exploitation and therefore anathema to the Confucian value system.

While Chinese history is replete with instances of military adventurers and other “lesser breeds” mounting the dragon throne through military successes, it was inevitably the scholar-bureaucrat who was called upon to administer the affairs of state and to formulate policies in the emperor’s name for compliance throughout the extensive empire. They were recruited primarily from amongst the literati – men with a classical education who became the custodians of the Confucian value system. It requires its adherents to have moral rectitude and integrity. In a society where every facet of community life came under the state purview, civil servants enjoyed more powers and prestige than corresponding positions in the armed forces and the private sector.

The story is often told of Liu Bang, Founder of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), who once boasted that, as he had conquered China on horseback, he could rule the country without the help of Confucian scholars. He was promptly cautioned that this would mean disaster; and that, to govern China effectively, the services of Confucian scholars were indispensable. This sentiment is echoed in the Doctrine of the Mean, one of the Confucian classics: “When men of right calibre are available, government flourishes; and when they are not, it declines.”

As early as the Zhou Dynasty (1026-221 BC) rudimentary methods already existed for selecting talents for the state bureaucracy. However, recruitment based solely on competitive written examination was first introduced during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) and became well established during the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD). According to historian Northcote Parkinson, author of the famous book called Parkinson’s Law and one-time Professor of History at the University of Malaya in Singapore, the Chinese examination system was once so extensively copied by the other nations, including the West, that few people realised its Chinese origin. It predated the beginning of the European competitive written examination system by more than 1200 years. France was the first to study the Chinese system and introduce it in 1791. Germany followed in 1800, Britain in 1855 and United States in 1883. It was adopted in Korea, Thailand and Vietnam even earlier.

The principal advantage of the Chinese system was that it enabled the selection of civil servants on merit, rather than on the nepotic or corrupt basis that is usually a tempting alternative. Prof Parkinson contended that, whatever the faults of the competitive written examination, it certainly produced better results than any other method that had been attempted since. The competitive examination system had gripped the imagination and excitement of the Chinese people since its inception.

Many parents would make great sacrifices in order to ensure that their children have a good education which would prepare them adequately for the Civil Service. Such a practice would, of course, not appear strange to today’s East Asian parents, many of whom are firm believers in the Confucianist emphasis on education. What better testimony to this than the flourishing tuition industry, one of the most dynamic throughout East Asia?

The passing of competitive examinations was crucial to success in officialdom. It was not uncommon for candidates to spend years, sometimes even decades, in order to pass these examinations. Those in dire financial circumstances were supported by their families, or even by the entire village. A succesful scholar would bring great honour to his family and village.

The traditional Chinese regard for scholarship percolates beyond China, and has spread to the homes of the Overseas Chinese and to other East Asian countries. In Singapore, Chinese Singaporeans’ benefactions to education abound. Among those who will always be remembered for their munificence include Tan Kah Kee, Tan Lark Sye, Aw Boon Haw, Lee Kong Chian and Runme Shaw. The latter two were also founders of the Lee and Shaw Foundations, which still actively support education in Singapore today.

As in many other East Asian countries, the Singapore Government and people are imbued with the Confucian respect for education. A large amount of public funds have been expended on improving the education system. Schemes are developed to encourage continual educational improvement, such as the ability to withdraw the Government CPF funds for the purpose of further education.

While Singapore’s civil service is a legacy of colonial rule, the Confucian heritage has played an important role in making it among the finest in the world. Today, it attracts a good proportion of Singapore’s top talent pool into its fold. Much that is hailed, and at the same time controversial, about the Singapore scholarship system, has antecedents in the Chinese imperial Examination system. For instance, Singapore’s elite civilian Government service, the Administrative service, is today selected primarily from among Scholars. Administrative officers, some 200-strong, occupy key positions at Ministry headquarters such as permanent Secretary, deputy Secretary, divisional Directors and deputy Directors. A scholar fresh from University could begin his career as an Assistant or Deputy Director, whose views would be considered by his Permanent Secretary and Minister. By his late thirties or early forties, the most able administrative officers would have made it to permanent secretary. A few have even been picked for political office and elevated to ministerial positions.

On the positive side, such an accelerated track enables the Government to motivate and retain the best and most ambitious of the annual crop, thus assuring political leaders the continual availability of top quality advice and implementation. The counter argument has, however, always been the unfairness and elitism of selecting so many of the nation’s top civil servants largely on the basis of academic results early in life.

Whichever side one falls on this debate, one cannot help but see the striking similarity between Singapore’s system of scholar-administrators and the Chinese imperial Examination system. The latter was clearly also a system where the top office-holders in government were selected on the basis of examination performance. Another common thread was social mobility.  Just as top positions in the Singapore Civil Service are open to all eligible candidates regardless of their social background, religion or race, top candidates in Imperial China also came from all regions and walks of life. Just as many of Singapore’s prominent civil servants are sons of clerks, shopkeepers and taxi drivers, many of the emperor’s leading advisers had similarly modest antecedents.

What are the special features of the Chinese examination system?  The Chinese competitive examination system had undergone changes in each dynasty. The system described below is that of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

  • First, the would-be scholar must pass a County Examination and earn the title of Xiu Cai (Cultured Talent), probably comparable to a Bachelor’s degree.
  • The next hurdle would be to get through the Provincial Examination.  The successful candidates would then become a Ju Ren (Exalted Man), corresponding to a Master’s degree.
  • The Metropolitan Examination was conducted in the Chinese capital, Beijing, triennially. It was spread over three days of three sessions each.  The candidates must be knowledgeable in Confucian classics and the works of the other sages such as Mencius.  They would write a total of fifteen essays of classical themes including the art of government and current political problems. In addition, they would also compose a poem of eight couplets.
  • The examination would be held in a gigantic examination complex, with a tiny cell allocated to each candidate. He would write, eat and sleep in it until the ordeal was over.
  • Those successful (about three per cent of the candidates) would be conferred the title of Jin Shi (Finished Scholar), equivalent to a Doctorate degree.
  • The final lap was for all Finished Scholars to be invited to sit a Palace Examination, to be conducted with aplomb and ceremony in the august presence of the Son of Heaven. They would compose an essay in a single session, on a political or administrative subject to be personally selected by the Emperor.
  • The examination scripts of the top ten candidates would be submitted to the Emperor, who had the ultimate prerogative to either confirm or alter the examiners’ recommended rankings.

There had been isolated instances where the emperor did revise the rankings, sometimes for whimsical reasons. The Emperor would personally announce the names of the top three candidates. They would be conferred the most coveted titles of Zhuangyuan (Premier Scholar), Bangyan (Second Scholar) and Tanhua (Third Scholar) respectively. They would be groomed for the highest civil offices in the land. All the other Finished Scholars would be offered a variety of lesser appointments in the various provinces.

Two Southern Chinese provinces, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, had the distinction of having produced the highest number of Zhuangyuans than any other province. Among the Zhuangyuans who had become household names in China are:

  • Guo Zhiyi (a renowned Tang Dynasty general who combined brains with brawn)
  • Wang Wei ( a celebrated Tang Dynasty poet)
  • Liu Gongquan (a leading Tang Dynasty calligrapher)
  • Wen Tian-xiang (the revered Song Dynasty Prime Minister and patriot)
  • Shen Kun (a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty who hailed from Xiuning County in Anhui province)
  • Vung Tunghe (a Qing Dynasty high official and personal tutor to two emperors)
  • Liu Chunlin (the last Qing Zhuangyuan who died a pauper but was highly venerated)

The Chinese Competitive examination system was abolished in 1905. What brought about its demise?

By the late 19th Century the Qing Dynasty was already on the verge of collapse because of rampant corruption and incompetence. It had refused to introduce political, educational and other reforms that were badly needed to make China strong again. This led to aggressive foreign military interventions and the imposition of unequal treaties on China by the victorious powers. They also carved China into their respective spheres of influence with extra-territorial privileges.

The Qing Government then began to introduce the necessary reforms in a desperate attempt to prevent the disintegration of China. Scholars were sent abroad to study in western and Japanese universities. Upon their return, some were given important positions at Court in preference to Confucian scholars. Chinese universities, with syllabi based upon the western model, were established in large cities to cater to the emerging needs of China. Consequently, the importance and prestige of the Imperial Examination system declined as it had become outmoded, leading to its abolition.

How would one appraise the contributions of the Chinese examination system? In its more than 1,300 years of history, it had, on the whole, served China well, despite its many shortcomings. It enabled the nation to recruit the best talents into government administration, more than any other alternative systems could perhaps have achieved. However, because of its inability to adapt to the changing needs of China in the 20th Century, an era of industrial and technological revolution, it had outlived its usefulness and had to be replaced.

What implications does the demise of the Chinese examination system have on Singapore’s system of scholar-administrators? In one word, the answer is probably “relevance”. The imperial system declined because it continued to adhere rigidly to a syllabus of classical texts, when the world clearly required administrators who knew more than that. Similarly, Singapore’s system of scholar-administrators will continue to work well (charges of elitism and unfairness notwithstanding) as long as there continues to be a high correlation between academic performance and success in administration. The Government’s present system of awarding scholarships for a variety of academic disciplines and broadening their exposure through further scholarships in public and business administration at Masters level, is an excellent means of ensuring that Singapore has scholar-administrators who are exposed to the latest ideas in the governance of complex institutions and whole countries. It is unlikely that Singapore’s scholar-administrator system would follow the demise of the Chinese imperial system. As Singapore moves into the information age, the ability to grasp and analyse information would become all the more critical. These skills are the precinct of the scholar. Like it or not, many of these skills do become apparent by the time students are in their late teens.

There is, however, such a thing as a late developer. The challenge for the system would thus be one of fine tuning, of finding ways to identify those who might not have excelled at a crucial examination at 18 or 21, but who can nevertheless make a vital contribution to Singapore’s governance.

Lam Pin Foo

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China’s Immense Wealth of Buried Cultural Treasures

February 24, 2010 at 1:00 am (Chinese Culture, History)

The December 2009 discovery of the mausoleum of the celebrated Cao Cao in Henan province’s Anyang City excited everyone in China and created a stir among foreign historians and archaeologists too. This is hardly surprising because Cao, one of China’s most controversial statesmen and brilliant military strategists of the Three-Kingdom era (184-280 AD), is reputed to have constructed 72 decoy tombs in order to thwart any future attempts by any grave raiders to desecrate his final resting place and to steal the treasures buried with him for his needs in the afterlife. His very colourful life and famous exploits have been vividly captured and romanticised in one of  China’s best known classical novels, the 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and he became a household name in China. This discovery has been proclaimed by the media and some cultural experts as the greatest archaeological find since the unearthing of the terracotta  army in 1974 in Xian, which protects the yet to be excavated burial chamber of the First Emperor, who built China’s Great Wall more than 2200 years ago. Even before Cao’s 740 sq. m mausoleum, with an assortment of 250 artifacts found therein, has been officially authenticated and opened to the public, the province’s government officials and tourism authorities are optimistic that his tomb will soon become a cash-tree, as it were, and will generate up to an annual windfall of 420 million yuan, in close competition with the revenue created by the terracotta army in Xian.

Despite the national rejoicing over the discovery of the elusive Cao burial chamber, many well-known historians, scholars, archaeologists and anthropologists have cast doubts as to its genuineness. Their main dissenting views can be summed up as follows:

The tomb was earlier raided by tomb robbers before the archaeologists found it, and some of the artifacts in it had already been removed by them. It is possible that some of the remaining artifacts could have been tampered with, including the stone tablets bearing Cao’s posthumous title, King Wu of Wei,  which could have been forged ingeniously so as to deceive even the experts as had happened in some disturbed tombs of other prominent people. These stone tablets are said to offer the strongest evidence that the tomb must belong to Cao himself.

The discovered burial chamber does not correspond with the descriptions of Cao’s in historical records. Also, none of the stone tablets mentions his name and no memorial mourning album was found, which would have been the practice for such an important figure of that period.

While one of the skeletons in the tomb is claimed to be of Cao’s age and of the period, experts believe that as the remains are not in good condition because of long burial, it would be extremely difficult to extract DNA samples from them. Furthermore, it is not known that there are living lineal descendants of his who could undergo DNA tests to either confirm or reject the authenticity of this discovery. To trace any possible descendants that Cao might still have will be an uphill, if not impossible, task.

These experts also have reasons to believe that Cao was not buried in Anyang, but in Bozhou in Anhui province, where he was born. Some experts are convinced that the discovery has been hyped up prematurely by sensational media publicity and by the opportunistic local government authorities in order to promote the expected increased tourism and the revenue windfall this will bring.

Finally, it is significant that China’s authoritative Institute of Archaeology has maintained a guarded stand that it is too early to confirm that the unearthed tomb is truly Cao’s until all the available evidence have been exhaustively analysed and firmly established.

Despite China having the longest continuous civilisation in the world dating back to 5000 years, there are not that many truly ancient monuments and other historical edifices in their original state of preservation left in this vast country. This is because most of these were either destroyed by ravages of nature, frequent wars or due to human neglect in the course of time. Be that as it may, the saving grace for China and that of mankind is that its immense wealth of historical cultural heritage has been largely preserved beneath the ground awaiting discovery to see the light of day again. For the record, the most extravagant mausoleums are those of its numerous reigning monarchs and others belonging to lesser royalties and prominent personages throughout the ages. All of these would have contained valuable funerary items. However, not that many of these prominent tombs have, to date, been found  and for  those that have already been located, the Chinese government is in no hurry to excavate them until the state of technology has become sufficiently advanced for them to undertake such a task so as to ensure the safe preservation of the artifacts in these tombs for the benefit of all.

Take the tombs of the emperors and various kings as an example. China’s First Emperor’s burial place, with its inestimable wealth of funerary treasures, has not yet been opened up. Neither have those of the rulers of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), when China was at its peak of prosperity and was probably the richest and most powerful nation on earth. The experts are of the view that, based on the grandeur and artifacts-rich tombs of minor royalties that surround the not yet excavated mausoleum of the 6th Han emperor Jindi, his mausoleum, and that of his successor, Emperor Wudi, could well match the First Emperor’s in scale and extravagance. Of the emperors’ tombs of the nation’s last two dynasties, namely Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911), only that of the 13th Ming Emperor Wanli’s has already been dug up and has since become one of the top tourist attractions in China. The array of high quality and rare artifacts in this tomb had long ago been removed to a museum for display, but the replicas of these can still be seen on site. Situated in the outskirts of Beijing, it is one of the thirteen royal mausoleums crisscrossing a vast expanse of land, all with grand structures surrounding each of these tombs. Needless to say, they were all constructed strictly in accordance with the best fengshui principles, China’s art of geomancy.

The worldwide interest created by the discovery of the tomb of Cao reminds me of a related article that I wrote in 2002, which was published in Singapore’s Sunday Times, under the caption, “What lies beneath”, and I should like to share it with my readers. It is posted immediately after this article.

Lam Pin Foo

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