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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: 23d, when an edict was issued abolishing the literary essay of
the old regime as a part of the government examination, and
substituting therefor various branches of the new learning. "We
have been compelled to issue this decree," said the Emperor,
"because our examinations have reached the lowest ebb, and we see
no remedy for these matters except to change entirely the old
methods for a new course of competition."
"What do you think of that?" I asked the Hanlin.
"The greatest step that has ever yet been taken," he replied.
This Hanlin was not a radical reformer, but one of a long line of
officials who were deeply interested in the preservation of their
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