Museum of Imperial Examination Tablets 北京励志堂科举匾额博物馆
京通高速路高碑店出口往南,过高架铁路桥往东,顺指示牌行
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
Gāobēidiàn has long been famous for its furniture manufacturing and market, which, like almost all Běijīng’s markets, has been tidied up and commercialised to make it simultaneously more appealing to the authorities and less appealing to visitors. This little-visited museum, around 20mins walk from the metro, sits among stores selling ‘antique’, admittedly imitation, and modern furniture.
On display is a large collection of the signboards once hung over house entrances to acclaim the imperial examination graduate living within, often the gift of fellow citizens basking in the glory reflected upon their home town by the candidate’s success. China is credited with the invention of a meritocratic civil service, although it was largely only the rich and well-connected who could support a family member through the years of study necessary to pass three layers of examinations.
The carved and painted boards are attractive in their own right, and bring in students of calligraphy, but other displays also provide information on the examination process, on cheating in exams ancient and modern, and on student equipment, and there’s early photography of examination compounds and a mock-up of an examination cell.
▶ Běijīng Lìzhì Táng Kējǔ Biǎn’é Bówùguǎn, Gāobēidiàn Wénhuà Jiē, just inside E 5th Ring Road, t 8773 9655, www.bjkeju.cn, 9am–3.30pm, Tue–Sun. ¥40. m Gāobēidiàn (Bā Tōng Line, exit E), W then S down 高碑店路, left (E) after bridge. b to 高碑店桥东: 312, 312区间, 397, 475, 506, 摆站506, 666, walk W then as from m.
For more on the imperial examination system see Civil Service Examinations, and the Confucius Temple and Imperial College. Furniture and home accessory shops are numerous, including those in a lively market down a turning to the east just north of the railway lines. Other museums are due to open nearby, including one of stoves [sic]. The China Red Sandalwood Museum is just W of the metro. Just S of the metro you cross the Grand Canal at the site of a historic sluice. This link to Tiānjīn may soon be revived.
See Museums and Other Sights for more of Běijīng’s suburban curiosities, and links below for other sights in Běijīng’s suburbs and beyond, or go to the Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing (home page).
Next in Museums and Other Sights: China Red Sandalwood Museum
Previously: Mílù Yuàn
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
