These passages are taken from the book
THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT A MANUAL OF CHINESE TITLES, CATEGORICALLY ARRANGED AND EXPLAINED, WITH AN APPENDIX. BY WILLIAM FREDERICK MAYERS, Author of "The Chinese Reader s Manual," ttc. etc.THIRD EDITION. REVISED BY G. M. H. PLAYFAIR, H.B.M. CONSUL, NINGPO. SHANGHAI : KELLY AND WALSH, LIMITED, HONGKONG YOKOHAMA SINGAPORE.
with some alterations of Chinese Pinyin and simplified Chinese.
467. Kao Shi, 考试 The Chinese system of competition for civil and military degrees, which furnish successful candidates with a passport to the public service, is organized in three principal gradations, under the following names :
Xiang Shi 乡试， the Provincial Examinations, held as a rule triennially, in the autumn, followed by the Hui Shi 会试, or Metropolitan Examination, held at Peking in the ensuing spring, and Dian Shi 殿试, or Palace Examination, at which the final award of degrees is obtained.
Special examinations, granted in celebration of auspicious public events, are denominated En Shi 恩试, or Examinations by Imperial Grace, in addition to the regular triennial occasions. The "classes" of graduates at the Xiang Shi and Hui Shi respectively are termed ko 科 and Jia 甲, whence the meaning of " literary graduation" has come to be applied to these terms combined in a single phrase. The following are the ranks successively obtained under this all-important system :
468. Tong Sheng 童生. -- STUDENTThe students of each district throughout the Empire undergo a series of preliminary examinations, before the Magistrate of their own district, the Prefect within whose jurisdiction they are placed, and the Literary Chancellor of the province, before qualifying for entrance at the triennial provincial competition. A certificate of merit from the District Magistrate enables the candidate for literary honours to term himself Tong sheng, which may be regarded as equivalent to Student. The candidate who is ranked first on the Magistrate's list has the distinguishing title of An Shou 案首. A person before competing for the right to term himself tong sheng is designated, in complimentary parlance, Jun Xiu 俊秀, which may be rendered " man of promise." | 