Zhao’s career prospered, and he eventually rose to the high rank of minister of rites. Despite his success, Zhao’s unwavering principles earned him many political enemies. After offending the influential eunuch faction in the imperial court, he was dismissed and returned to his hometown, where he died.
Qingzhou, one of the ancient Nine Provinces of China, is home to the remarkable Zhengmu Village, in what is now central Shandong Province. Zhao Bingzhong’s village was the birthplace and childhood home of several other notable figures, including Wang Zeng, a Song Dynasty (960-1279) chancellor, Dong Jin, a Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) minister, and Ji Lan, a Ming Dynasty vice minister. Remarkably, all of them chose to be buried in their hometown, a historical event known as the “Four Imperial Burials.”
In 1983, Zhao Bingzhong’s exam paper was discovered in Zhengmu Village, where Zhao’s descendants had preserved it for generations. Former director of the Qingzhou Cultural Relics Management Office, Wei Zhensheng, worked tirelessly, making over 20 visits and appeals to eventually convince Zhao Huanbin, a 13th-generation descendant of Zhao Bingzhong, to donate the paper.
On July 25, 1983, two senior experts from the Palace Museum (Forbidden City) in Beijing, Wang Yikun and Feng Hua, authenticated the paper. “To date, the Palace Museum’s archives have no record of such an item. Based on the handwriting, seals, paper and silk, it has been veriffed as the original and untouched,” their evaluation read.
Zhao Huanbin passed away in 1986, but his son Zhao Jiguang said the paper had always been in his father’s care. The Zhao family is proud of their ancestor, and they treated the examination paper as a treasured heirloom, never showing it to anyone. Each generation of the Zhao family valued it over their own lives, protecting it through several dynastic changes and wars.
In 1942 and again in 1960, due to famines in Zhengmu Village, Zhao Huanbin fled to Northeast China, each time sewing the scroll into the lining of his ragged coat. During his years in Northeast China, no matter where he was, protecting the scroll was his top priority. He even used the scroll-concealing coat as a pillow each night to ensure its safety while he slept. Despite the chaos of war and hunger, he never sold or pawned it to support his family. Zhao Jiguang said that during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), many historical artifacts were at risk of being destroyed as symbols of the old society. In fact, many of the Zhao family relics were destroyed, but the scroll survived because his father had hidden it.
There were close calls over the years. Once the scroll almost got burned by Zhao Jiguang’s mother. In the fall of 1967, she was preparing lunch, but the wet firewood would not light. She remembered there was an old notebook at the bottom of a drawer and decided to use it as kindling. Just then, Zhao Jiguang returned from the fields and saw her about to burn the scroll. He yelled and snatched it away. If he had arrived a moment later, the scroll would have been reduced to ashes.
From then on, Zhao Huanbin guarded the scroll even more closely and forbade anyone from touching it.
After the scroll was stored at Qingzhou Museum in 1983, the museum’s reputation soared, attracting visitors from all over the world. However, on August 5, 1991, this prized national treasure mysteriously vanished.
That day, while checking the storage room, staff found two safes had been pried open and another had been moved, leaving a clear footprint. Looking up, they noticed the ceiling was damaged. There was even a clearly visible footprint on the white wall nearby. Suspecting a robbery, the staff reported the theft.
After discovering the scroll had been stolen, police identified a museum security guard as the culprit, arresting him after eight days. It was reported that he had initially demanded 1.5 million yuan (US$210,000) for the scroll. Fortunately, because the scroll was a completely unique national treasure, no antique dealers were willing to touch it, thus the scroll was recovered.
During this summer vacation, over 5,000 visitors a day filed through Qingzhou Museum, many drawn to see Zhao Bingzhong’s exam paper.
The exhibition of Zhao Bingzhong’s top-scoring essay serves as a tribute to the enduring legacy of China’s scholarly traditions and the imperial examination system that shaped the country’s civil service for over a millennium.
This year, He Nirui, who achieved the highest score in Chinese in Zhejiang Province of 143 out of maximum 150, attracted widespread discussion for her essay, “The Surge of Technology: Maintaining Problem Awareness.” Her well-crafted, eloquent writing quickly became a model for students and parents.
In her essay, He examines how the rise of the internet and AI impacts our awareness of problems. She argues that while technology can quickly solve many issues, it does not reduce the number of problems. Rather, human curiosity and the drive to explore persist, as technology addresses knowledge-based questions but still leaves deeper human concerns unresolved.
This persistent existence of problems continues to fuel progress and wisdom. Her clear, rational analysis and rational style were refreshing, and she accepted an invitation from the prestigious Peking University to study law.
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