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ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND'S THREE BOOKS THAT "LINK EAST AND WEST"
Atec Февраль 16 2008 20:05:56
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. They are very intelligent, and after I had become
well acquainted with them I said to them one day:
"How is it that you have done such wide reading?"
"You know, of course," they said, "that our father is a chuang
yuan."
I asked them the meaning of a chuang yuan. Then I learned that
under the Chinese system a great many students enter the
examinations, and those who secure their degree are called hsiu
tsai; a year or two later these are examined again, and those who
pass are given the degree of chu jen; once more these latter are
examined and the successful candidates are called chin shih, and
are then ready for official position. They continue to study,
however, and are allowed to go into the palace, where they are
examined in the presence of the Emperor, and those who pass are
called han lin, or forest of pencils. Once in three years these
han lins are examined and one is allowed to obtain a degree--he
is a chuang yuan.
Out of four hundred million people but one is allowed this degree
once in three years.
"Your father must be a very great scholar," I remarked.
"He has always been a diligent student," they answered, modestly.
"What is his given name?" I inquired, one day.
"If you will give me a pencil I will write it for you; we never
speak the given name of our father in China," said the eldest,
and she wrote it down.
"How many sisters are there in your family--eight, are there
not?"
"Yes
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