The metre, whether five characters to a line, or seven, (the only varieties to choose from), is left to the option of the candidate, who, if he be a fine scholar and a rapid penman, may treat the same theme in both ways. A meal is served as at the preceding trial, and by five or six o'clock, the hall is empty. After the interval of another day, the fourth board is hung, and the number who have survived this examination is found to be a small one--perhaps twenty or thirty.
A day later the final examination occurs. The theme is from the Four Books, and may be treated fully or partially according to the examiner's orders at the moment. A poem is required in the five-character metre, and also a transcript of some section of the "Sacred Edicts" of the Emperor Yung Chêng. The design of the latter is to furnish a specimen of the candidate's handwriting, in case it should be afterward needed for comparison. A meal is furnished as before, and by the middle of the afternoon the hall is cleared. The next day the board is again hung, announcing the names who have finally passed. The number is a fixed one, and it is relatively lowest where the population is most dense. In two contiguous districts, for example, which furnish on an average 500 or 600 candidates, the number of those who can pass is limited, in the one case to twenty and in the other to seventeen. In another district where there are often 2,000 candidates, _only_ thirty can pass. It thus appears that the chances of success for the average candidate, are extremely tenuous.
Every candidate for a degree, is required to have a "surety." These are selected from graduates of former years, who have advanced one step beyond that of hsiu-ts'ai, to that of ling-shêng hsiu-ts'ai. The total number of sureties is not necessarily large, perhaps four from each district, and many of them may be totally unacquainted with the persons for whom they become thus responsible. The nature of this responsibility is twofold, first to guarantee that the persons who enter under a particular name, really bear that name, and second that during the examination they will not violate any of the established rules. If a false name is shown to have been entered, or if a violation of the rules occurs, the ling-shêng would be held responsible, and would be likely to lose his own rank as a graduate. Each candidate is required to furnish not only a surety, but also an alternate surety, and in consideration of a present of from ten cents to five or six dollars, the ling-shêngs are quite willing to guarantee as many candidates as apply. They must be paid in advance, or they will prevent the candidate from entering the examination hall.