File:Examination Hall With 7500 Cells, Canton, China (1873) Attribution Unk (RESTORED) (4143381206).jpg

Entitled: Examination Hall With 7500 Cells, Canton, China [1873] Attribution Unk [RESTORED] I whited out the sky and then added a false gradation, adjust contrast, and gave it a final sepia. I doubled the size of the small original, then added random noise to hide the size induced jpeg artifacts.

The image was found in Wiki's page about the old Chinese imperial exams. It is unattributed but suspected of William Saunders.

The imperial exam system has been suggested to have been the cultural "glue" that has held Chinese society together despite political dissolution many times on various scales. The exams allowed for commoners without the power or resources for influence to nonetheless achieve fame and fortune. Successful applicants were given positions of power and titles within the imperial government. Even those that did not pass the egalitarian exam were than able to use their knowledge nonetheless to teach or to find work in the administrations of various government authorities. The exams were generally given every three years, and applicants had to test, eat, and sleep within their tiny exam cubicles over the course of several days. Testers were given numbers, and each applicant's answer sheet was copied by an imperial scribe and the copy only was submitted for scoring; this was done to prevent one's handwriting from being recognized, so it diminished the possibility of cheating. Nonetheless, exam crib sheets, with written characters one eighth the size of a rice kernel had been found. Depending on the times, cheating was an offense punishable by death.

Source: www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/e2008/e200802/p54.htm

Other shots of old Imperial Exam cubicles can be seen in Flickr member Okinawa Soba's collection in the following links:

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3450980117/in/set-7215...