Yushan Examination Hall

The Yushan Examination Hall is located in Shizi Street Community, Bingxi Town, Yushan County, Jiangxi Province. It covers an area of 2,807 square meters, with a building area of 1,597 square meters. On October 7, 2019, the State Council of the People's Republic of China designated the Yushan Examination Hall as a National Key Cultural Relic Protection Site in the eighth batch. The examination hall was originally built in the fifty-seventh year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign (1792) and rebuilt on the old site in the eighteenth year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign (1838). It was destroyed by fire during the Xianfeng period (1851-1861). In the sixth year of the Tongzhi Emperor's reign (1867), it was restored to its original state and has been preserved to this day. The Yushan Examination Hall complex has a courtyard-style layout, consisting of three main parts: the entrance hall, the main hall, and the east and west wings. A total of four single-story buildings enclose a relatively closed space. The examination hall, formerly known as the "testing court," served as the county magistrate's office during the Qing Dynasty. It was a temporary venue set up by the imperial court for selecting talents from the common people. Like academies, academic officials, Confucian temples, and imperial examination halls, it is a historical testament to the feudal education system. The Yushan Examination Hall's layout and structure are well-preserved, and its decorative patterns are exquisite and vivid, giving it high artistic value. It is also the only completely preserved county-level examination venue in the country, providing invaluable physical data for the study of the county examination system for aspiring scholars during the Qing Dynasty, and thus holds significant historical value.