The Lichuan Examination Hall

The Lichuan Examination Hall

The Lichuan Examination Hall is located on the south side of the eastern end of Dongfanghong Avenue in Rifu Town, Lichuan, to the right of the former Confucian Temple and Academy (now the southwest corner of the campus of Lichuan No. 2 Primary School), adjacent to the former Xundao Office (near the "Jiajiale Supermarket" within the "Emperor Wealth Plaza"). It was established in the fourth year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1799). At that time, Wu Ying, a native of the county and a metropolitan graduate, took the lead in personally donating over 2,200 taels of silver, along with over 2,800 taels raised through donations from all sectors of the county, to select a vacant plot of land to the right of the Academy for construction. The entrance area to the east of the Examination Hall consists of a large hall, behind which are three rooms for invigilators to rest and work, as well as two kitchens and one additional room. The spacious main examination hall features over 700 numbered compartments (small partitioned rooms). The entire compound is enclosed by walls, covering a total area of approximately 3,000 square meters. According to Wu Shiqi, who served as the magistrate of Xincheng County (now Lichuan County) from the 58th year of the Qianlong reign (1793), prior to the establishment of this Examination Hall, county students taking exams had to gather temporarily in the county office hall (the former courtroom of the county yamen), where seating was disorganized, desks and chairs were not fixed, and rearranging them was time-consuming and laborious. Exams were easily disrupted, making it difficult to enforce examination rules and negatively affecting the candidates’ morale.

In the spring of the year following the completion of the Examination Hall (1800), the county’s imperial examinations coincided with the opening of the newly built hall. Candidates entered in an orderly fashion, took their assigned seats as per prearranged numbers, and composed their essays with composure, yielding excellent results. In the 14th year of the Jiaqing reign (1809), due to damage to the compartment doors and walls, as well as the collapse of the brick wall at the back of the compound, repairs were funded by local donations. In the 18th year of the Jiaqing reign (1813), Wu Daoming, the eldest son of Wu Ying who had initiated the donation for the Examination Hall’s construction, along with others, donated farmland whose yield would serve as operational funds. They also added two large canopies outside the hall’s gate for visitors to rest while entering or exiting. In the sixth year of the Xianfeng reign during the Qing Dynasty (1856), the Examination Hall buildings were destroyed by fire during military conflict. Repairs were undertaken in the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign (1868) after funding was raised through official channels. During the Republican era, the newly established "Lichuan County Junior High School" was housed in the Confucian Temple. By then, only the gate walls, main gate, and upper lintel of the Lichuan Examination Hall remained; the hall and rooms had been burned down and collapsed, with the ruins leveled to become part of the school’s sports grounds and playground.

Rifu Town: Rifu Town is the seat of Lichuan County and serves as the political, economic, and cultural center of the entire county. Located by the Lichuan River, the town is traversed by a highway, the Fengshan Line, and the Lita Highway. It borders Tanxi and Heyuan Townships to the east, Sheping Township and Deshengguan Town to the south, Long’an Town and Zhongtian Township to the west, and Nanfeng County to the north. The town covers a total area of 197 square kilometers, with 27,935 mu of arable land, 92,300 mu of mountainous land, and over 30,000 mu of water area. It governs 16 administrative villages, 11 neighborhood committees, 160 village groups, 200 residential groups, 158 natural villages, and has a total of 18,600... [More detailed information about Rifu Town]++