After four days' haggling and debating, the Golden Lists of the imperial examination in China's Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) were on Thursday accepted into the Memory of the World Register initiated by UNESCO.
The inclusion was done by the International Advisory Committee(IAC) of the Memory of the World Program at its seventh meeting held in Lijiang, a popular scenic resort in southwest China's Yunnan Province from Monday through Thursday.
Apart from the Golden Lists of the imperial examination in Qing Dynasty, the IAC also conferred the same status to 28 of the 55 other candidates nominated as the memory of the world from other countries.
With a time span from the sixth year of Kangxi reign (1667) in Qing Dynasty to the 29th year of Emperor Guangxu (1903), the Golden Lists, with lengths ranging from 15 m to 20 m, and widths ranging from 80 cm to 90 cm, were Chinese emperors' approval for those people who had survived the final stage of the official recruitment examination. The lists were actually scrolls of yellow paper bearing names of those successful examinees and ruling emperors' seals.
The practice had been spread to other countries in Asia, such as the Republic of Korea and Japan, and the influence was even felt in the merit system of Europe, according to experts.
Initiated by the UNESCO in 1992, the Memory of the World program is dedicated to protect the documents of prominent importance to human culture around the world.
So far, 121 documents around the world have been listed on the Memory of the World. Among them are the manuscripts of Beethoven, the first published Bible by Gutenberg in 1455 and the map in Russian czar's time.
In addition to the Golden Lists of the imperial examination in Qing Dynasty, three other Chinese documents have also been listed on the memory of the world - the classical music audio document, the classified files of Qing Dynasty and the Dongba ancient cultural manuscripts in Lijiang.
(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)
