A sigwon is the exam paper of the national examinations in Joseon dynasty. There are all the informaions produced through the examination procedure on the sigwon. Therefore, we can see how the government controlled the examination by analysing the si ...
A sigwon is the exam paper of the national examinations in Joseon dynasty. There are all the informaions produced through the examination procedure on the sigwon. Therefore, we can see how the government controlled the examination by analysing the sigwon. This study, classifying and rearranging in sequence of time about 500 sigwons, examined the patterns of the sigwon corresponding to the examination type, including Siknyeonsi, Jeunggwangsi, Byeolsi mungwa examinations, Saengweonsi & Jinsasi examinations, Jeongsi & Alseongsi examinations, school examination of Seonggyungwan and Sahak.
The Joseon government laid emphasis on the fairness in procedures and results in the examination. It endeavored to prevent the examiners from finding out the writer of each sigwon and put the institutions in practice, such as the sealing or separating of personal information on sigwon, and rewriting of the answer paper.
But the institutions were not all applied to every type of the examinations. Though the part of personal information on sigwon was all sealed, just those of mungwa and Saengweonsi & Jinsasi examinations' paper were separated from the paper and only the answer papers of the mungwa were rewritten to be graded.
Because the institutions applied to each examination were different, also the informations written on the each sigwon were different in according to the examination type. For example, there were three numbers of paper and two ranks on mungwa sigwon, three numbers, one grade and some underlines to indicate good sentences on Saengweonsi & Jinsasi examinations, one number and one grade on the sigwons of Jeongsi, Alseongsi examinations and school examinations of Seonggyun-gwan and Sahak.
And the sigwons of mungwa and Saengweonsi & Jinsasi examinations were wide-shaped, but those of Jeongsi, Alseongsi examinations and school examinations of Seonggyun-gwan and Sahak were long-shaped. And not only the profile of the examinee but those of his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and a grandfather on one´s mother´s side were added on the sigwons of mungwa and Saengweonsi & Jinsasi examinations. But just that of father were added on the sigwons of Jeongsi, Alseongsi examinations and school examinations of Seonggyun-gwan. It's due to the different origins of examinations.
Besides, the government controlled the quality and size of paper, and the width of the part including personal information etc. to prevent cheating.
The government's way to control the examination through the sigwon was mungwa-centered. But the Jeongsi and school examinations of Seonggyungwan got more and more important than mungwa in 18th century. Finally the institutions on sigwon to ensure the fairness of examinaton lost the efficiency.