three generations must be recorded, they must be free
from taint of _yamen_ service, prostitution, the barber's trade and
the theater, or the candidate would not have obtained his first
degree. With the forms 300 cash (about 1s.) are presented to each
candidate for food during the ordeal. The lists being thus prepared,
on the sixth day of the eighth moon (Tuesday, the 8th of September, in
1891), the city takes a holiday to witness the ceremony of "entering
the curtain," i.e., opening the examination hall. For days coolies
have been pumping water into great tanks, droves of pigs have been
driven into the inclosure, doctors, tailors, cooks, coffins, printers,
etc., have been massed within the hall for possible needs. The
imperial commissioners are escorted by the examination officials to
the place. A dozen district magistrates have been appointed to
superintend within the walls, and as many more outside, two prefects
have office inside, and the governor of the province has also to be
locked up during the eight days of examination. The whole company is
first entertained to breakfast at the _yamen_, and then the procession
forms; the ordinary umbrellas, lictors, gongs, feathers, and
ragamuffins are there in force; the examiners and the highest officers
are carried in open chairs draped in scarlet and covered with tiger
skins. The dead silence that falls on the crowd betokens the approach
of the governor, who brings up the rear. Then the bustle of the actual
examination begins. The hall is a miniature city. Practically martial
law is proclaimed. In the central tower is a sword, and misdemeanor
within the limits is punished with instant death. The mandarins take
up their quarters in their respective lodges, the whole army of
writers whose duty it is to copy out the essays of the candidates, to
prevent collusion, take their places. Altogether there must be over
20,000 people shut in. Cases have been known in which a hopeful
candidate was crushed to death in the crowd at the gate. Each
candidate is first identified, and he is assigned a certain number
which corresponds to a cell a few feet square, containing one board
for a seat and one for a desk. Meanwhile the printers in the building
are hard at work printing the essay texts. Each row of cells has two
attendants for cooking, etc., assigned to it, the candidates take
their seats, the rows are locked from the outside, the themes are
handed out, the contest has begun. The examin