The NationalPalace Museum of Korea (Director: Kim In Kyu), an affiliate of the CulturalHeritage Administration of Korea, has selected “Oral Examination Paper”as its “Curator’s Choice from the Royal Treasures” for the month of October.It will be displayed in the Kings of the Joseon Dynasty gallery located on thesecond floor of the museum. It will also be presented online in a YouTubebroadcast on the channels of the Cultural Heritage Administration and theNational Palace Museum of Korea starting October 4.

* National Palace Museum of Korea YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/gogungmuseum

* CulturalHeritage Administration YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/chluvu

The itembeing introduced is a graded test paper from the oral portion of thestate-administered civil service examination. It is not widely known that therewas also an oral component in the state examination. However, an oral test wasmandatory in the literary, military, and miscellaneous examinations. Thepresented test paper was part of an oral exam known as a chilseogangthat tested candidates on their memorization of passages from seven majorConfucian texts and their ability to interpret their meanings.

*Chilseogang (七書講): Oral examtesting candidates on the three major classical Confucian scriptures –Zhouyi (Book of Changes), Shuzhuan (Commentaries on the Book ofDocuments), Shizhuan (Classic of Poetry)–, and fourbooks –Lunyu (The Analects), Mengzi(Mencius), Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean), and Daxue (GreatLearning).

The testpaper is stamped in its upper portion with the titles of the texts, and belowthem are written the questions, scores, and signatures of the examiners. On itsright side it shows traces of where it was folded and impressed with a stampreading “謹封”(geunbong).The personal information of the candidate was written inside the folded area,which was subsequently sealed and tied with a string to hide the writtencontent. When the exam was being carried out, the test taker was referred to bya jaho rather than his given name in order to prevent bias or cheating.The traces that remain on the test paper demonstrate the efforts by the Joseonroyal court to fairly recruit talented people.

* Geunbong: Meaning “respectfullysealed,” this word was written on the front of an envelope after it wassealed

* Jaho: An assigned number based on the Thousand CharacterClassic

The NationalPalace Museum of Korea houses a wide range of items related to the stateexaminations held during the Joseon Dynasty. In particular, the Answer Sheet by SinHyeon is on display in theKings of the Joseon Dynasty gallery together with the Oral Examination Paper.Moreover, as part of the museum’s efforts for proactive administration, thismonth’s Curator’s Choice will bepresented virtually through a video with Korean and English subtitles on themuseum’s website (gogung.go.kr) and on the YouTube channels of the museumand the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea so that it can be enjoyed byeveryone, even without visiting the gallery.

* Answer Sheet by Sin Hyeon: This is a test paper that was written byShin Hyeon, a civil official of the late Joseon Dynasty, in the seventh year ofthe reign of King Sunjo. It was reviewed by the king himself.