Daphne Y.
Google
中国科举博物馆. There are actually two wings to it - an old and new, located opposite each other. Before coming, all of the videos I saw about this place were only on the old side, so I was surprised with the new wing. Pleasantly surprised. The new wing is actually more interesting and much more extensive, going down to Level B4. More space to move around the exhibits, cooler (aircon indoors) and everything looks nicer in general.
Having said so, the old wing also has some pretty interesting stuff, such as the cubicles the candidates sat in, displays of food that the candidates would eat for good luck. Did you know that the entire exam takes 9 days and starts as early as 3am from attendance taking. The old wing focuses more on 文举 while the new wing covers history of 武举 too. 科举 also set the standards which other countries adopted/adapted to find talents to serve in the government.
I do wish I had more energy to walk thru the new wing in greater detail.
