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The Last Mandarin
A Scholar from a China that No Longer Exists
W
hat caught my attention about the thin, 85-year-old Chinese man seated in aHong Kong restaurant was neither his ancient wooden cane nor his long, blue
changpao
, the traditional Chinese gown. It was the small, round cap he wore on hishead. I had seen piles of those caps in novelty shops in the Chinatowns of the world;but there only the tourists tried them on, to the amusement of friends. Never had Iactually seen such a cap on a Chinese before.As the old man, suddenly aware of my scrutiny, turned on a warmsmile, his cap began to assume an appositness of its own, as if it werepart of him, like his hair, like the lines that age had engraved on hisface, like his inexpressible dignity. I could not possibly have imaginedhim without it. Only late did I realize that the unaffected composurewhich that cap had assumed was a vestige of a vanished time. ForLing Chu-Ch'uan, as I came to know him, was one of the last livingscholars with a
hsiu-ts'ai 
; a literary degree meaning "Fine Talent,"awarded to him under the traditional Chinese examination system one year beforeits abolishment in 1905 under the pressure of western ideas. Ling was a mandarin, atitle honored for centuries in a China that no longer exists. Born to a long line of scholars, Ling felt the parental pressure towards literary achievement early in life.In 1901, then 15, he attempted to pass the first of the exams but failed. two yearslater he failed again. But on his third attempt, at 18, he was determined to winhonor for his family and for himself, and he did.We talked about this triumph. His alert eyes twinkled as he recalled that dark morning in 1904 when ten thousand scholars from all over Kwangtung Provinceassembled at 2 a.m. in the Great Examination Hall in Canton. The gates werebarred. The roll call, commencing at 4, went on for hours. Lingvividly remembers the tenseness of the other candidates as well as hisown, expressed in boisterous laughter, nervous fidgeting and tempersflaring like lightning in the oppressive summer heat.His smile broadened as he remembered the old men who, 70 years and more, stillaspired to the coveted degree which had eluded them throughout life. Because they
 
had yet to achieve the first degree, they remained "boy candidates," regardless of their age. Some of these septuagenarians answered the roll call with sons andgrandsons taking the same exam.Not all the candidates present were, like Ling, the descendants of scholars. But most of them were. To become a mandarin was notopen to all Chinese. Watchmen, executioners, laborers,
 yamen
torturers, coroners, boatpeople, musicians, detectives, jailers, actors,slaves, beggars - those from such callings, and many others, were forbidden toapply. As Ling stood listening intently for his name to be called, he silently reviewedwhat he had reviewed a thousand times before: Every line in his recitation mustcontain the prescribed number of words; the emperor's name must begin a new line;the essay must end at a certain part of the paper; there must be no visible erasures.What if, as was certainly not unknown, the room of his cubicle had leaked during asudden shower and his examination paper was damaged? Well, that would be up tothe heavens to decide, not Long Chu-ch'uan.He entered his "cell," a cubicle 5 ft. 3 in. by 3 ft. 8 in. He brought his own brushesand ink, although his paper was supplied by the Exam Hall. There would be 16 of these one-day sessions over a period of up to two months. At last his test sheet wasplaced before him. His spirits rose immediately as he read his main question. It wasa quote from Mencius, one of China's most famous philosophers: "Although youarea superior, if you are not aware of what the ordinary people experience, yourconduct is not correct."The examiners seemed to be hesitantly asking the searching questions which Ling'stroubled times called forth. He had thought about such matters a great deal and hewas prepared. Yet, there were more topics on other Chinese philosophers, Chinesehistory, contemporary plitics. He had no time to waste. He picked up his brush andbegan. At last, the sessions were over. The results were posted. He and his friendseagerly scanned the list of names until their eyes came to Ling Chu-ch'uan, nowholder of the degree of hsiu-ts'ai or "Fine Talent."Yet even as his family honored his with a banquet, Ling knew the ordeal was farfrom complete. His father had passed the Peking exams. His grandfather had beena magistrate. Ling now prepared himself for the next exams and the journey toPeking, where, in still another cell, his fortune would be decided. In the capital, hecould not leave the exam area for three days. If it was cold, his coverlets would be of limited help. His small cell was furnished with two tables and a board, the board nolonger than five feet. When placed across the tables, it served as his bed. hebrought his own food and eating utensils. As in Canton, one cook and servant percorridor were provided free of charge. Ling studied as never before: The GreatLearning, the Doctrine of the mean, the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, the Book of Odes, the Book of History, the Book of Changes, the Book of Rites, and the Springand Autumn Annals.
 
The Chinese examination system dates back to the Sui Dynasty (590-618) and theT'ang (618-907 AD) dynasties - the system which from Ling's ownfamily had produced generations of scholars and government officials- now, the worst of the rumors were confirmed, it was to beabolished. For years after, Ling shivered from the shock he felt then.What was to be his livelihood? As officials often dept silver in thelong sleeves of their gowns, those who were destitute were said to have "two sleevesfluttering in the wind." Was this then to be the fate of Ling Chu-Ch'uan? But thegovernment responded. Teacher-training schools were set up and his exam degreewas declared to be still valid. Ling became a headmaster in Canton for ten years.In his twenty-second year he was also appointed Chung-she, a section chief concerned with the drafting of documents.And then the final shock: The 1911 collapse of the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty andthe beginning of the Republic of Sun Yat-sen. Ling had mixed emotions whencutting his queue. For many scholars their hair in anything but a queue would havebeen unthinkable, yet the hairstyle had been imposed by the Manchus, and so, after267 years, the Chinese were freed from Manchu rule. In the cities, students withscissors confronted anyone reluctant to cut their queues.During the second year of the Republic he passed the high exam for Hsien (Prefect),and became Prefect in the province of Fukien. After a few months, he wastransferred to Peking as a literary official. Ling Disliked the capital. Expenses ateup his small grant and left him poor. Like other hsiu-ts'ai, he was now exempt fromcorporal punishment and would wear the mandarin button on his hats. But theprestige he would have gained as part of the local gentry in a small communityweighed nothing in the teeming capital.He returned to Canton as director of education and as principal of a teachers'college in the area of Fan Yu. For 30 years he stayed, teaching literature andhistory. Then, in 1948, as the Communist takeover loomed, he left the area of hisbirth for Hong Kong. In that refugee colony he was to live for 25 years. The scholarraised his tea cup to his lips with a steady hand and ate sparingly of his bonelesschicken. He was born, he continued, in the Year of the Pig. At 18, his first marriagewas arranged by his family, as such matters were done then. Just as naturally, theyoung maiden's feet were bound.He survived that first arranged marriage, which was followed by three more. Alltold, his wives bore him seven sons and two daughters; they in turn produced morethan 20 grandchildren. He saw them often - but not too often. He liked solitude,and used it to write classical Chinese poetry and to paint - plum trees and flowerswere his favorites. Despite his traditional education, Ling was not conservativehimself. Although he concentrated on education partly because of the turbulence of the warlord period and the great upheavals which swept China during his lifetime,he was convinced that education is an integral part of political reform, itself a formof political involvement.
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