How students cheated in exams to get into China’s imperial civil service
Tiny book on display in Changsha gives glimpse of the underhand methods used by some trying to enter China’s bureaucracy during Ming and Qing dynasties
A tiny book used by Chinese students over hundreds of years to cheat in civil service exams has gone on public display, according to a newspaper report.
The miniature version of the classic Confucian texts Four Books and Five Classics was shown at a collectors conference in Changsha in Hunan province, the Changsha Evening News reported.
The book is a little larger than a matchbox and its text the size of a grain of rice.
Long Guisheng, the manager of a Hunan store selling ancient books, told the paper the tiny book was used by students in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) hoping for a leg up in their exams.
Students would bring smaller versions of texts they were supposed to memorise, sewing them into their clothing or the soles of their shoes.
“If cheating was successful, then the probably of getting in would be higher,” Long was quoted as saying.