The Hanlin Academy
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From 1647 onwards, probationers were required to study either the Manchu language or the Chinese Classics. The number of probationers taking the Manchu course, however, declined as time went on. In the reign of Yung-cheng, only about fifteen scholars were ordered to read the Manchu course, the rest, about forty, took the Chinese course.9 In the next reign (Ch'ien-lung), the aggregate number of probationers studying the Manchu course was about ten each year, and even this small number would sometimes be reduced, as those who took long sick leaves would change to study the Chinese course after their return.10
The qualification for taking up the Manchu course was physical rather than literary. Only the young and the good-looking with a pleasant voice were selected. Presumably, the reason for such a choice is that probationers studying the Manchu course would have more contacts with the Emperor and senior officials than the others. They were the persons likely to be selected as masters of ceremony in official ceremonies. In the pursuit of the course, the probationers would be called upon to study the "History of the Liao dynasty, the Chin dynasty, and the Yüan dynasty" (Liao Chin Yüan shih), "the Sacred Edicts of the Emperor Hung-wu, the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty" (Hung-wu pao-hsün), the "Daily Exposition of the Meaning of the Book of Great Learning" (Ta-hsüeh yen-i jih-chiang) and the "Commentaries of the Four Books" (Szu-shu chieh-i).11
12
Probationers doing research work on the Chinese texts took lessons in Chinese Classics, history and poetry. Together with those reading the Manchu language, they had to sit for a final examination after three years of study. Probationers studying the Manchu course were tested on their ability to translate from Chinese to Manchu and vice versa, whereas those reading the Chinese Classics were each ordered to compose a poem of set form or a piece of irregular verse and to write an argumentative discussion or an eight-legged essay.13
Notice that the final examination of the probationers laid emphasis on the literary skill of writing essays and poems rather than on administrative knowledge. This was because of the need to distinguish "real" from "false" talent among the candidates. Themes on administrative problems, useful though they might be in testing the practical knowledge of candidates when they were original,