This study considers disorder and cheating of 18~9th century’s Gwageo(the highest-level state examination to recruit ranking officials) by types according to a time order, and approaches the actual circumstances.
At the time, the class of Yangban(gentry) was expanded and earthy. This phenomenon was interlinked with the rise in competition rate of Gwageo, so the Gwageo system became disorder disorderly and officer’s qualification was lowered. Bribe and request was rampant, there was the leaking of test questions before the examination or successful candidate had already been nominated. There were all kinds of cheating on an examination, for example, fight over a position, cheating, proxy examination, team examination paper writing, change of examination site, exchange of examination papers, making and submission out of examination site.
On the way of examination paper’s submission, conspiring with Proctors, many candidates exchanged secret codes suggested the pass by make requester’s name known, intercepted others’ success by changing test papers. After th test time they bribed Proctors, exchanged the examining papers by the bundle and fabricated grades and readjusted success or failure outflowing the results.
These illegalities were involved with not only Proctor, but also people of every class, such as poor literary persons, government officials and soldiers, administrations bond servants. To sum up, the field of 18~9th century’s Gwageo(the highest-level state examination to recruit ranking officials) was connected with people of every class, across the whole course form notification of examination to announcement of a successful candidate.
Yunki’s documentary on Gwageo’s disorder and cheating is not only vivid field report, but also window which foresee bureaucratic society’s contradictions of 19th century.