Zhuangyuan, or trạng nguyên in Vietnamese, variously translated into English as principal graduate, primus, or optimus,[1] was the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Imperial examination, 省試 [ja] (in the Tang dynasty) and 殿試 [zh] (in the Song dynasty)[2] in ancient China and Vietnam.
In China, Fu Shanxiang is known as the first (and last) female zhuangyuan (nü zhuangyuan) in Chinese history, but under the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, not the regular imperial exams. After the Taipings captured the city of Nanjing, they offered an exam for women in January 1853 in which Fu attained the highest score.[3]
In Vietnam, the first de facto trạng nguyên was Lê Văn Thịnh, a Lý dynasty scholar. He was the chief negotiator who persuaded the Song to return the 6 districts of Quảng Nguyên (today Hà Giang province) to Vietnam. Nevertheless, the first Vietnamese person to be trạng nguyên was in fact Khương Công Phụ under Chinese Tang Dynasty. The first female trạng nguyên (nữ trạng nguyên) was Nguyễn Thị Duệ, who later become a consort of the Mạc Emperor Mạc Kính Cung. She had previously been a consort of the Lê Emperor Lê Thần Tông, and would serve as an official in the Revival Lê dynasty after the fall of the Mạc dynasty.[citation needed] Under Nguyễn Dynasty, the title trạng nguyên was not officially abolished, yet its standards were too high that it was virtually unachievable.[4]
Mo Xuanqing, was the youngest Zhuangyuan in the imperial examinations during the Tang dynasty
Sun Fujia [zh], (?-658), Tang dynastydali qing (chamberlain of the Court of Judicial Review), highly regarded for his candid advice to Gaozu and Taizong, the first zhuangyuan in history.
Tang Gao, became the Zhuangyuan in the ninth year (1514) of the Zhengde Emperor's reign during the Ming dynasty
Wen Tianxiang, was a scholar-general in the last years of the Southern Song dynasty. For his resistance to Kublai Khan's invasion of the Song, and for his refusal to yield to the Yuan dynasty despite being captured and tortured
Yu Minzhong, who served as chief grand councilor for part of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of Qing dynasty.
Zhang Sanjia [zh] (1876–1898), the last military zhuangyuan in Chinese history.
Lu Chunlin [zh] (1872–1942), the last zhuangyuan in Chinese history.
Xu Shilin, a mythological figure who attained the Zhuangyuan, demonstrated great filial piety to his mother, Bai Suzhen, a white snake spirit imprisoned under Leifeng Pagoda.
Lê Văn Thịnh (黎文盛, 1038 – 1096), the first de facto trạng nguyên of Vietnam's independent era.
Huyền Quang(玄光, 1254-1334), real name Lý Tải Đạo, a politician and later Buddhist monk who lived during the reign of Emperor Trần Nhân Tông during the Trần dynasty. He was considered to be equal with the first six patriarchs of the Zen Buddhist tradition.
Nguyễn Hiền (阮賢, 1234-1256), the youngest to become a trạng nguyên at 13 years old, later died at 21 years old. He also many times become an envoy to meet the Yuan dynasty
Mạc Đĩnh Chi (莫挺之,1272–1346) a scholar and envoy who served three emperors of the Trần dynasty, as well as the ancestor of the emperor Mạc Thái Tổ.
In modern Chinese, zhuangyuan is used to refer to anyone who achieves the highest mark on a test, or, more generally, to anyone who is at the forefront of his or her field.[6] In mainland China, the term is most often used to refer to the highest score at the provincial level for either the social sciences (文科) or physical sciences (理科) track of the annual gaokao college entrance exam.
Mao, Jiaqi (Grace Chor Yi Wong tr.) (1998), "Fu Shanxiang", in Ho, Clara Wing-chug (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Armonk, NY: Sharpe, pp. 43–45, ISBN0765600439
