LIZHITANG Imperial Examination Plaque Museum

　　   Beijing, the capital of emperors for eight hundred years, made it the center of the imperial examination system for the same period. Over these eight centuries, the highest-level imperial examinations — the metropolitan and palace exams — were mostly held in Beijing. During this time, around 250 top-ranking zhuangyuan (number one scholars) and nearly 50,000 jinshi (successful imperial examination candidates) were produced in Beijing. What splendor, what grandeur that was! Regrettably, now in vast Beijing, aside from the Ming, Qing, and Yuan dynasty inscribed stone tablets of successful jinshi candidates in the Confucius Temple, there are very few other relics related to the imperial examination. Nowadays, Beijingers’ understanding of the imperial examination system is far less than that of people in historically and culturally developed towns in the south.

　　   Currently, interpreting traditional Chinese culture and promoting cultural heritage have garnered nationwide attention. For this reason, we take the exhibition of numerous imperial examination plaques and the promotion of imperial examination culture as our starting point, allowing more Beijingers to learn about the imperial examination system while further exploring traditional culture and better inheriting the long-standing historical legacy.

　　   Our museum houses a collection of over 500 wooden and stone plaques. Among them, there are nearly 50 stone plaques — the largest such collection in China. We also possess over 40 plaques inscribed by 32 zhuangyuan from the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as plaques by 13 bangyan (second-place scholars) and 12 tanhua (third-place scholars). The oldest zhuangyuan plaque dates back to the 16th year of the Yongle era in the Ming dynasty, making it 589 years old. The Yuan dynasty imperial examination gate in our collection is the museum’s treasured centerpiece.

　　

　　   Information source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development