Long before Americans started studying for SAT, GRE, and bar exams, a system of local, provincial, and imperial examinations served to select deserving candidates for the government apparatus of imperial China. The Jianshui examination hall is a complex of buildings where, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, young Yunnan scholars would come to take the high-stake exam that could decide the course of their subsequent lives. Although the buildings have few historical artifacts, they have good displays (in Chinese and English) on the imperial examination system as it operated in the region.
Entry fee: Approx. ¥30.
