Suspension of the Imperial Examinations and Talent Selection under Hongwu

Timeline

1. 1391Schools of northern prefectures and counties · Northern ChinaIn the sixth month of Hongwu 24, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Ministry of Rites to distribute books to northern schools, printed by the Imperial Academy, with shortfalls purchased from Fujian. The emperor instructed that scholars should understand principles and apply them, and that without proper teaching few would become accomplished; this aimed to raise the level of classical learning in the north and lay a solid school foundation for selecting examination candidates.
2. 1391Prefectural, departmental, and county schools throughout the realm · ChinaApproved in Hongwu 24: penalties were set for failing annual tribute examinations (with local officials and school officers jointly liable), students were required to have mastered the Grand Pronouncements and statutes and tested at the time of annual tribute; the ritual for visiting the Confucian temple on the first and fifteenth of each month and the regulations for students' robes and soft caps were established. School management was strengthened, making the path of examinations necessarily through schools more institutionalized.
3. 1391Nanjing · Eastern ChinaThe Xinwei metropolitan examination was held in Hongwu 24, admitting about thirty-one jinshi (known in history as the Xu Guan list). This examination was relatively strict, reflecting the early Ming's continued use of examinations after restoring them to select men of proven classical learning and moral cultivation, in line with the tortuous course of suspending the examinations in Hongwu 6 and restoring them in Hongwu 15.