Gongyuan (Tribute) Court, the site of imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties, is located northwest of the overpass at Jianguomen near the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The original complex, the Mingyuan Tower, the Scholars’ Assembly Hall and Huijing Hall, as well as the Wenchang Chinese Scholar Tree, have long disappeared. All that remain are street names to mark the spot: West Gongyuan Street, East Gongyuan Street, Gongyuan First Street, etc.

Candidates from around the country came to Gongyuan for the imperial examinations. Each region sent the cream of its crop, as if in tribute to the emperor, hence the name Gongyuan (Tribute) Court. High-minded ideals aside, the system, in practice, was corrupt; cheating, copying, buying numbers and other forms of favoritism and bribery were widespread. Well-connected officials and candidates used their influence to their best advantage.

In the Ming Dynasty, in 1548 under the reign of Emperor Jiajing, there was a candidate named Wu Qing who, having received the best score, should have been named the Number One Scholar. As his surname “Wu” is a homonym with another character, meaning “nothing” (Combined with “Qing,” it means “Merciless”), the emperor determined it would not be appropriate for a man with such a name to take first place. That night he heard the sound of thunder and decide to bestow the coveted position on a certain Lei Ming (“Lei” meaning “thunder”). The imperial examination system at that point had become no more than a toy in the hands of the emperor.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties an imperial examination was held in March at Gongyuan Court every three years. Candidates gathered first at Gongyuan; those who passed the first round could enter the great hall in the imperial palace to take the palace exam presided over by the emperor. Passing at this level meant becoming a high-level scholar.

There were 50 or 60 rows of low buildings in Gongyuan Court, which included over 9,000 rooms that were all exam huts, otherwise called “haoshe” (numbered rooms). The examination lasted for nine days. Food and lodging for the candidates were provided in Gongyuan. After the exam papers were distributed, the candidates, using wooden planks as desks, lit candles and racked their brains to come up with regular Chinese script to be molded into the traditional pattern for literary composition. Feudal rulers used the examinations to select those “scholars” who would be loyal to them. During the first years of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, over 15,000 candidates came to take the test and residents in the Gongyuan made handsome profits by renting out “Number One Scholar” (Zhuangyuan) Lucky Villas.”