Beijing Gongyuan

Built in 1415, the 13th year of Yongle reign in Ming Dynasty, Beijing Gongyuan was the former site of the Ministry of rites Yamen in Yuan Dynasty. It faces south and has five Ying gates. Gongyuan is the original examination hall, that is, the place to learn from others. People from all over the country came here to take the exam. It was like offering a famous product to the emperor, so it was called Gongyuan. The Ming and Qing Dynasties Gongyuan is located in the area of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Jianguomen, Beijing, so it is called "Beijing Gongyuan" and also referred to as "Gongyuan" by modern people. In the early years of the Republic of China, the imperial examination system was abolished, and Gongyuan buildings were used for other purposes. Nowadays, the traces of the ancient examination hall have disappeared, leaving only the place name of "Gongyuan Street".

Beijing Gongyuan

Built in 1415, the 13th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Beijing Gongyuan was the former site of the Ministry of rites Yamen in the Yuan Dynasty. It faces south and has five couplets. There are two gates and five couplets, Longmen, mingyuanlou, Zhigong hall, neilongmen, Jukui hall, Huijing hall, shibafang, etc. The largest area: East Gongyuan street in the East, West Gongyuan street in the west, Jiannei street in the south, and dongzongbu Hutong in the north, including Toutiao, ertiao and santiao of Gongyuan.

Brief introduction of Gongyuan

Gongyuan is the original examination hall, that is, the place to learn from others. People from all over the country came here to take the exam. It was like offering a famous product to the emperor, so it was called Gongyuan. Gongyuan was established in Tang Dynasty. The Ming and Qing Dynasties Gongyuan is located in the area of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Jianguomen, Beijing, so it is called "Beijing Gongyuan" and also referred to as "Gongyuan" by modern people. Now there are Gongyuan East Street, Gongyuan West Street, Gongyuan Toutiao, Gongyuan two, Gongyuan three and other road names and place names. In the early years of the Republic of China, the imperial examination system was abolished, and Gongyuan buildings were used for other purposes. Nowadays, the traces of the ancient examination hall have disappeared, leaving only the place name of "Gongyuan Street".

The layout of Beijing Gongyuan is rigorous. The walls are high and the environment is gloomy. The court and government office are tall and strict, and the examination shed is very simple. There are three outer walls: outer spine wall, inner spine wall and brick wall. There are more than 9000 test sheds, arranged according to the thousand character essay. There are watchtowers at the four corners of the Academy, which mainly play a monitoring role. There is a brick gate in the East and West brick walls respectively. There is a memorial archway in the gate. In the gate, there is Mingyuan building. The building has three eaves, Xieshan cross shaped roof, and the four corners of the building are open with a ticket door There are seven public halls, five buildings in front of the building and five in front of the building. There are East and West warehouses on both sides. There are wooden bars on the East and West gengdao respectively. There are fifty-seven companies (rows) for each of them. There are sixty-one official and student rooms in the East Wenchang and forty companies (rows) for small rooms in the northwest corner Famous hall, garrison hall, supervision and test hall, as well as brush printing, transcription, acceptance, seal and other places. Candidates must go through strict procedures such as roll call, search and examination, and collect papers when they enter the Academy. They are also pressed by the army and look like prisoners.

Beijing Gongyuan is not only the place for the national examination, but also the place for shuntianfu (Beijing) rural examination. The local examination is held every three years. In autumn, it is called "Qiushi" or "Qiuwei". It has nine days. On the ninth, twelfth and fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, there are three performances, each lasting three days. The national examination is also held every three years. In spring, it is called "spring examination", also known as "Chunwei". It also has nine days. On February 9, 12 and 15 of the lunar calendar, there are three events, three days each.

History of Gongyuan

Ming Yongle 13 years (1415), Beijing Gongyuan

Completed, the former site of the Yuan Dynasty Ministry of rites yamen, sitting south, gate 5 Ying. There are two gates and five couplets, Longmen, mingyuanlou, Zhigong hall, neilongmen, Jukui hall, Huijing hall, shibafang, etc. There is a pagoda tree in front of the Mingyuan building in Ming Dynasty, which is called Wenchang pagoda. In 1463, an unprecedented fire broke out in the imperial examination hall of Beijing. The censor locked the door and was not allowed to go in and out. More than 90 examinees were burned to death, and countless people were injured.

In the second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1574), when Zhang Juzheng was Prime Minister, he learned the lesson of the fire in the Tianshun period, expanded the Gongyuan, built 13000 examination sheds, and changed the wooden examination grating into a house with brick walls and tile roofs.

In the 27th year of Qianlong (1762), two brick gates were added to the south wall, and the gate and two gates were expanded.

In the early years of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, due to the increase in the number of examinees, the number house (examination room) was congested, so the hospital site was expanded to the north, with a total of 15000 examination sheds in 114 companies (rows). At this time, it covers the largest area, starting from Gongyuan East Street in the East, Gongyuan West Street in the west, Jiannei street in the South and dongzongbu Hutong in the north, including Gongyuan Toutiao, Gongyuan two and Gongyuan three.

In 1900, after the Allied forces of the eight powers invaded Beijing, they killed German Minister klindr near the Gongyuan, and this place was managed by the German army. The German army demolished the houses every day and sold off the building materials. In a few months, they became a ruin. As a result, the examination could only be held in Kaifeng, Henan Province.

After the abolition of the imperial examination in 1905, the Qing government planned to build Jianguo society building in the former site of Beijing Gongyuan. The German architect Roth Kegel, who hired the "Beijing Tianjin Yinghua style department", made a design imitating the German parliament building in Berlin. However, due to the high cost, it ran aground and left only a blueprint.

In the early years of the Republic of China, there was no time for the government to take care of it. In 1921, a "model shopping mall" was built on the Gongyuan site. However, due to the sluggish business, the merchants gradually left and most of them were converted into dwellings. In 1927, Zhang zuolin's last Beiyang government, in order to raise military salaries, demolished the remaining Gongyuan "commercial street" and auctioned materials, leaving an empty space.

In 1941, the Japanese puppet government built a "Shrine" on the open space to worship the dead. In order to get in and out of the "Shrine", the "Qiming gate" was dug in the southeast old city wall, which is the beginning of today's Chang'an Street.

After liberation, the naval headquarters of the Chinese people's Liberation Army was set up here. In November 1953, after the approval of the "key points of the draft plan for the reconstruction and expansion of Beijing", the construction of Beijing city was carried out according to its functional areas. In 1956, the Navy headquarters moved to the current site, while the former site of Gongyuan was moved by the Academy of social sciences.

Today, many buildings such as the building of the Chinese Academy of social sciences have been erected in the ancient examination hall, and the original appearance of the imperial examination hall in Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties can no longer be seen.

Trifles of Gongyuan

A tribute test in Suo yuan

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the invigilators in Beijing Gongyuan were very strict. When they entered the gate of Gongyuan, they had to be searched strictly to prevent "entrainment" on the examinees. The so-called "entrainment" is to hide the answers or outlines of the examination. If there is entrainment, it will be sent to the Ministry of punishment for severe punishment. When the examinee enters the test shed of the examination room, the door will be locked. It is called "Suo Yuan Gong Shi" because the periphery of Gong Yuan is surrounded by thorns. So it's also called "locked spine tribute test". Each candidate has a test shed, a charcoal fire and a candle. When the examination questions are sent out, the drum sounds in the Mingyuan building, and the examinees start to ponder over the eight part essay. Since there was no clock at that time, we used incense as the time.

The lesson of fire

Beijing Gongyuan's "lock yard tribute test" is most afraid of fire, but fire often happens, so there are many large tanks in the courtyard to hold water for fire fighting. But a drop in the bucket is nothing. There were many fire incidents in Gongyuan. For example, in the autumn test in the third year of the Ming Dynasty (1438), the fire broke out on the first day of the first test. The most serious one was in 1463, the first night of the spring exam, in which more than 90 candidates were burned to death. Ming Yingzong gave each of the dead a coffin, buried in the open space outside Chaoyang Gate, and erected a monument "the tomb of the world's elites", which is known as Juren tomb. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng, the prime minister, mainly changed Beijing Gongyuan into wooden houses with brick and tile structure. So that the fire performance is enhanced. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, the Gongyuan was renovated. When it was completed, Emperor Qianlong went to inspect it himself. In the poem, there is a saying: "from now on, we will not be short of scholars.".

Ancient locust in Wenchang

Next to the Mingyuan building of Gongyuan is an ancient pagoda tree of Yuan Dynasty. It is said that this is the place where Wenguang shoots bullfighting, so it is called "Wenchang pagoda". Its root is on the east side of the road, and its trunk bends to the west, so its crown is on the west side of the road. This locust grows like Wolong. It is said that this locust is related to the examinee's literary movement. Therefore, candidates have to worship, in order to ascend the dragon's gate, so the Huaihe is the famous Huaihe in the capital.

Lei Yu Tiao Gong Yuan

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was a Henan examinee who, because of his poor family, took the exam day and night with two legs. Because he came late, his residence was full of people. An old man living near Gongyuan in Beijing took him in.

Three days before the imperial examination, it suddenly began to rain cats and dogs. There was a thunder, and then a golden white carp jumped out of the cloud and landed on the street where Henan examinees were staying. After a while, there was another thunder, and the carp soared into the air and flew straight to the Gongyuan examination hall So an old man said that this is "carp leaping from the dragon's gate".

Three days later, He'nan examinees were in high school. The examinee had a good conscience. The first thing he did was to visit the old man who helped him and set up a large memorial archway for him.

Since then, the carp alley has been well-known. During each examination, Ju Zi, who gathered all over the country, gathered in the carp alley to get a good start.

Plunder by the Eight Allied forces

In the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1900), the Allied forces of the eight countries invaded China

Chinese PinYin : Bei Jing Gong Yuan