Slate on Nostr: Yo, try this game from the 1800s: Four things were forbidden at the Villa of ...
Yo, try this game from the 1800s: Four things were forbidden at the Villa of Serenity: talking about official promotions, official business, or the eight-legged official examinations, and playing cards or dice. Offenders were fined five catties of wine. Four things were encouraged: generosity, romantic refinement, an unrestrained atmosphere, and peace and quiet.
With nothing to do in the long summer, we held examination parties. There would be eight people at each party, and each would bring two hundred copper cash. We would draw lots, and the winner would become the examination master, sitting apart and being in charge of the proceedings. The second would be the official recorder, and also sat separately. Everyone else became an examination candidate, and drew a sheet of paper from the recorder, all properly stamped with a seal. The examination master would announce two lines of poetry, one of five characters and one of seven characters, and the candidates would then have the time it took a stick of incense to burn in which to write lines rhyming with them. They could walk or stand while thinking, but no one was allowed to talk or exchange ideas. When they had finished their couplets they put them into a box, and were then allowed to sit down. To prevent favouritism, when everyone had handed in his paper the recorder opened the box and copied the papers into a book which he then gave to the examination master.
From the sixteen couplets, the best three of seven-character lines and the best three of five-character lines would be chosen. The writer of the couplet selected as the best of these six became the next examination master, and whoever was placed second would be the next recorder. Those who failed to have either of their couplets chosen would be fined twenty cash, and anyone who had no more than one chosen would be fined ten; if someone went beyond the time limit, he was fined forty. The examination master for each round got one hundred cash incense money, so by playing ten rounds a day we would accumulate a thousand cash, enough for plenty of wine. Only Yün’s was considered an official paper, and she was allowed to sit while thinking out her answers.
Exerpt from "Six Accounts of a Wandering Life"
With nothing to do in the long summer, we held examination parties. There would be eight people at each party, and each would bring two hundred copper cash. We would draw lots, and the winner would become the examination master, sitting apart and being in charge of the proceedings. The second would be the official recorder, and also sat separately. Everyone else became an examination candidate, and drew a sheet of paper from the recorder, all properly stamped with a seal. The examination master would announce two lines of poetry, one of five characters and one of seven characters, and the candidates would then have the time it took a stick of incense to burn in which to write lines rhyming with them. They could walk or stand while thinking, but no one was allowed to talk or exchange ideas. When they had finished their couplets they put them into a box, and were then allowed to sit down. To prevent favouritism, when everyone had handed in his paper the recorder opened the box and copied the papers into a book which he then gave to the examination master.
From the sixteen couplets, the best three of seven-character lines and the best three of five-character lines would be chosen. The writer of the couplet selected as the best of these six became the next examination master, and whoever was placed second would be the next recorder. Those who failed to have either of their couplets chosen would be fined twenty cash, and anyone who had no more than one chosen would be fined ten; if someone went beyond the time limit, he was fined forty. The examination master for each round got one hundred cash incense money, so by playing ten rounds a day we would accumulate a thousand cash, enough for plenty of wine. Only Yün’s was considered an official paper, and she was allowed to sit while thinking out her answers.
Exerpt from "Six Accounts of a Wandering Life"