Chapter 168: Looking at treasures is easy, looking at words is difficult.

After collecting the exam papers, can grading begin?

No, it’s still early.

To prevent cheating and reduce grading errors, there are many things that still need to be done.

Once the examiners collect the papers and carry the boxes back to the room, they first need to check each paper one by one to see what you wrote in your exam. “The Analects of Confucius,” right? Put it here. There’s also one on “Spring and Autumn Annals,” put it here.

After categorizing the papers according to the specialized books, once this work is done, the examiners can start writing the record book, making a preliminary count of how many people and how many papers.

After finishing the record book, the examiners carry the boxes to the sealing office, where there are over ten sealing officials specialized in sealing.

Sealing means pasting the names.

They apply paste to the space where you filled in your name on the exam paper, cover it with sealing paper.

After completing this task, they need to “write the serial numbers and seal the record,” roughly like paper number one, paper number two… then stamp it to indicate that the task has been completed.

The sealing officials wipe off the spit, put the papers in the box, two people lift it and go to the copying office.

There are more officials in the copying office, usually around twenty to thirty people, and their job is the same:

Copying assignments.

They take a paper and copy it.

Sounds simple, right?

In fact, it’s not simple at all.

The officials in the copying office can be considered as the preliminary screening personnel for the exam papers.

In other words, before your exam paper even reaches the examiners, it might have been thrown out as garbage and is waiting for the janitor to deal with it…

Copying officials have to copy without changing a single word.

After copying, the word count must match. If, after copying, you realize, “Oh no, where did these three extra lines come from?” or if you accidentally dropped two lines from the original, then you’re in trouble. Before anyone notices, you better quickly copy it again.

If you get caught, be prepared for punishment…

The point is, aside from not changing a single word, you also have to read the article with your eyes, see if this person has inserted any personal information into the text.

For example, in an article, it says:

“My father is Li Gang, do you know Li Gang? Knowing him is enough, just pick me, and there will be rewards afterward.”

Then someone comments:

“I know the Fish Tail God. Although my family is poor, I have a powerful backer, such as resolving fish tails and summer fish tails. They are all our relatives. You decide what to do.”

This kind of personal promotion is called “self-narrative of pedigree,” as if boasting about knowing someone important and benefiting from it.

When copying officials find such articles, they are happy. They make a clucking sound, take a sip of tea, and throw the paper aside.

This is great, one less paper to copy. It seems like there’s no need to work overtime until three in the morning.

After copying, they write their own names.

This is understandable; personal responsibility. If there’s an error in the copy, it should be clear whose butt needs to be kicked. It prevents confusion when looking for the responsible person later on.

By the way, when copying assignments, you need to use a red pen. If you dare to use a black pen, you’ll get a beating. The handwriting should be good, use regular script. If you dare to bring out your cursive, be prepared to be scolded for your sloppy writing.

After copying is done, and after rubbing their sore arms, the officials organize the qualified papers. The 100 or so papers with personal information or irregular writing can be thrown aside; there’s no need to send them to the review office.

The people at the review office are eager, brothers, we’ve been waiting for several days, and they’re finally here.

Review, review, the responsibilities are just these two words: to compare and read, that is, to compare the written content.

The reviewing officials need to carefully compare the copied text with the original, checking for omissions, inversions, and also to see if the copying officials inserted any personal information.

In case the copying officials have been bribed…

Reviewing is also a way to prevent the copying officials from engaging in private activities.

This stage is quite time-consuming, usually done by two people working together. One compares the red copy with the black one, and the other compares the black copy with the red one, word by word, carefully reviewing.

If any copying errors are found or if the copying is too artistic and only the copying person can recognize it, congratulations to that copying official; now pack your bags and head to Liaodong. You might catch the first snowfall of the Jianwen era.

Oh, by the way, let me remind you, from now on, you are a clerk, not an official.

Collecting papers, sealing, copying, and reviewing are the basic processes before grading. Throughout this process, there are supervisors.

At the beginning, these processes were slow, sometimes taking half a month. Later, when they investigated, they found out that there were too many old folks and scoundrels.

One by one, with their failing eyesight, they would bring the papers close to the candle, not able to see the words clearly and almost setting the papers on fire. Some of them with questionable morals would waste time criticizing and not do any real work.

So, the court ordered: select carefully, officials aged forty and below, ranging from fifth to seventh rank, with good conduct.

The criteria were: middle-aged and not lacking in virtue.

This also had its benefits. Always lifting boxes, in the words of the old folks, was a bit tacky. In case of a bone fracture or something, if it’s counted as a work-related injury, the court would be grateful…

Contrary to what many people imagine, the examiners don’t receive and review the exam papers answered during the imperial examination; instead, they receive the red-font copies formed through copying. These copies don’t have the examinee’s name or any markings.

During the evaluation, Fang Xiaoru, Yao Guangxiao, and Yang Shiqi are the main examiners, assisted by officials selected from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. Their status is equivalent to examiners.

The exam papers aren’t handed directly to the main examiners for processing. Instead, they are first given to the assistant examiners for review. Only the ones they approve are recommended to the main examiners.

In other words, exam papers rejected by the assistant examiners may not even be glanced at by the main examiners.

However, that was in the past.

Yang Shiqi was well aware that Zhu Yunwen wasn’t looking for talent solely based on the classics and the words of sages. But for the assistant examiners, their standard for evaluation was based on the classics and the words of sages.

The emperor and the assistant examiners applied completely different standards. In desperation, Yang Shiqi and Yao Guangxiao had to focus on those papers considered trash by the assistant examiners, preparing to recycle them for further use.

In ancient times, grading exam papers was all about essays, not ABCD multiple-choice options; you had to compare and determine right from wrong.

The evaluation of essays was a difficult task for examiners; it wasn’t like in later generations where you could glance over a few essays, think for a moment, and then confidently assign a score.

Ancient people said:

“Writing an essay is easy, evaluating it is difficult. Writing an essay is like governing, evaluating it is like understanding people. In governing, you focus on what is close to your nature, and what you are familiar with forms your strengths. Understanding people involves endless variations and is exceedingly difficult to learn. Without comprehensive knowledge and a calm mind, how can one avoid confusion?”

In Tang Xianzu’s “The Peony Pavilion,” in Act 41, in the scene “Duan Shi” (The Delayed Examination), the chief examiner Miao Shunbin also expresses:

Looking at treasures is easy, looking at words is difficult.

Although various Ming Dynasty records, archives, and personal biographies do not clearly document the standards for evaluating essays, their evaluation was not purely subjective, based on personal preferences. Instead, it had three fundamental criteria.