Chang was born at Nanpi, in the metropolitan
[Page 221]
province of Chihli, not quite seventy years ago; and that circumstance
debarred him from holding the highest viceroyalty in the Empire,
as no man is permitted to hold office in his native place. He has
climbed to his present eminence without the extraneous aids of
wealth and family influence. This implies talents of no ordinary
grade; but how could those talents have found a fit arena without
that admirable system of literary competition which for so many
centuries has served the double purpose of extending patronage
to letters and of securing the fittest men for the service of the
state.
Crowned with the laurel of A. B., or budding genius, before he
was out of his teens, three years later he won the honour of A.
M., or, as the Chinese say, he plucked a sprig of the _olea
fragrans_ in a contest with his fellow-provincials in which
only one in a hundred gained a prize. Proceeding to the imperial
capital he entered the lists against the picked scholars of all
the provinces. The prizes were 3 per cent. of the whole number
of competitors, and he gained the doctorate in letters, which, as
the Chinese title indicates, assures its possessor of an official
appointment. Had he been content to wait for some obscure position
he might have gone home to sleep on his laurels. But his restless
spirit saw fresh battle-fields beckoning him to fresh triumphs.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228