Poetry and Power
Problem:
According to Classical Chinese culture, most things (rocks, trees, clouds, or a particular species of butterflies) could be identified by their external patterns (文) but humans were different—a person's 文 was only observable through their language and cultural cultivation. How did traditional Chinese society choose individuals for greater social and political responsibility based on these unseen qualities?
在中国传统文化中，大多数事物（岩石，树木，云彩，或是某种蝴蝶）都可以通过它们的外在模式“文”来判别。但人不同，每个人的“文”只能通过他们的语言和文化修为来判别。那么，传统的中国社会是如何根据这些看不见的品质来选拔个体并给予更重要的社会和政治责任的呢？
Solution:
The Chinese Imperial Examination System, while not perfect, identified the most ambitious and talented men from across the empire, and rewarded them with upward mobility, but often relocated them away from their family seats of power.
尽管并不完美，但中国的科举制度还是从各地选拔出了最有抱负和才华的人才，给予他们向上晋升的通道，同时也把他们与士族力量分离开来。
The Examination System created a single body of cultural norms—the Imperial Knowledge System—that had to be mastered by all who wanted to serve in an appointed government position.
科举创造了一套完整的文化体系：科举知识体系。这是一套任何想要入仕的人都必须熟练掌握的体系。
Problem:
虽然中国的科举知识体系是动态的，会随着时代的变迁而不断变化，但它的核心例如阴阳，八卦，五行，这些体现自然现象深层规律的概念却从未改变。在这一体系中知识被归类为从烹饪到军事，从医学到城市规划等等多个分类，然而一个人对这一体系在实践中的掌握程度却是很难测试的。
Though the Chinese Imperial Knowledge System was dynamic and changed over the centuries, at its core it included such concepts as yin and yang, the eight trigrams, and the five-element theory, all of which revealed deep patterns within natural phenomena. This system classified knowledge from cooking to warfare, from medicine to city planning, yet it was difficult to test one’s grasp of the system through these applications.
Solution:
按照严格规范创作出来的诗歌作品提供了一种理想的评判手段，来衡量考生的知识水平和对纲常的内化程度。诗歌是中国皇权统治下考察考生是否具备从政能力的测试平台。
Highly regulated poetic compositions provided an ideal diagnostic for intellectual aptitude and internalization of the ordering principles. Poetry was a platform that could establish a candidate’s readiness to hold power in the Chinese imperium.
Problem:
How can English speakers use their language to demonstrate their mastery of the Imperial Knowledge System?
怎样让英语使用者使用英语去展示他们对科举知识体系的熟练程度？
Solution:
When English is limited to only include one-syllable words, it becomes very similar to Classical Chinese. Using this limited vocabulary of about 3,000 words, written English poetry can follow almost all of the same rules and regulations as those followed by ancient Chinese poets.
当英语被限定在单音节词汇范围时，英语和古汉语变得十分相似。利用这有限的3,000个单音节词，英语诗歌的撰写可以套用几乎所有中国古诗所遵循的规范。
Imperial examination cubicles, Canton, circa 1875.
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exam_cells-large.jpg
