In order to select talents, the Ming Dynasty also set up imperial examinations every year, with the aim of selecting outstanding talents to serve the country. The current provincial examination originated in ancient times, mainly considering the differences in geographical environment between the north and the south in ancient times, resulting in deviations in students' academic achievements, of which the North and South volumes in the Ming Dynasty are typical.

Let's explain the examination process at that time. First, candidates take the exam according to their own region, which is equivalent to the current province. Those admitted are called Jinshi, and then they will take part in the palace entrance examination together, which will be selected by the emperor himself. This system was used for a long time in the Ming Dynasty, almost 200 years.

Why do you want to roll north and south? According to historical records, almost all the people admitted to the imperial examinations during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty were northerners, so it was suspected that it was caused by deliberate cheating. The examiner was killed and future generations were exiled. By 1397, almost all the students admitted in February were southerners, who were discovered by Zhu Yuanzhang and suspected to be deaf.

Later, under the personal auspices of Zhu Yuanzhang, almost all the students in the north were admitted, which calmed the storm. So in order to avoid this kind of thing from happening again, we set the exam in February as the south list and the exam in June as the north list. In this case, students from both north and south can take the exam, which is fair.

In fact, this still reflects the problem of the teaching system in the environment at that time, so it has been used for many years to start dividing points according to provinces and then adjust the norms.