The three hundred new-made doctors were summoned to the palace to
write on themes assigned by the Emperor, that His Majesty might
select a score of them for places in the Hanlin Academy. Here again
fortune favoured young Chang; the elegance of his penmanship and
his skill in composing
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mechanical verse were so remarkable that he secured a seat on the
literary Olympus of the Empire.
His conflicts were not yet ended. A conspicuous advantage of his
high position was that it qualified him as a candidate for membership
of the Board of Censors. Nor did fortune desert her favourite in
this instance. After writing several papers to show his knowledge
of law, history, and politics, he came forth clothed with powers
that made him formidable to the highest officers of the state--powers
somewhat analogous to the combined functions of censor and tribune
in ancient Rome.
Before I proceed to show how our "knight of the longbow" employed
his new authority, a few words on the constitution of that august
tribunal, the Board of Censors, may prove interesting to the reader.
Its members are not judges, but prosecuting attorneys for the state.
They are accorded a freedom of speech which extends even to pointing
out the shortcomings of majesty. How important such a tribunal for
a country in which a newspaper press with its argus eyes has as
yet no existence! There is indeed a court _Gazette_, which
has been called the oldest newspaper in the world; but its contents
are strictly limited to decrees, memorials, and appointments.
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