The cultural heritage department of Hebei province has launched repair work on the sole imperial examination hall that is still standing in north China.

The Dingzhou Examination Hall, which covers more than 20,000 square meters, was built in 1738 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the fourth emperor of the last imperial dynasty, Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), in central Hebei's Dingzhou city.

Its main hall, the 10.31-meter-high Hall of "Kuixing", could sit hundreds of entrants and was where local scholars had competed to become "Xiucai" -- a lower-degree scholar excelled in the imperial exam system -- before the Qing Dynasty ended in 1911.

Kuixing, which originally refers to the four stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper, was worshipped by ancient Chinese scholars as the manipulator of their fate.

Sources from the local cultural heritage department say that the repairs, which are to be finished next year, will not alter the original style of the building.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2003)