In 1904, a special palace examination was held for the seventieth birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Liu Chunlin of Suning, in Zhili, was placed first, as zhuangyuan. The examinations were abolished in 1905, and he became the last zhuangyuan in Chinese history.
A popular story says the examiners had ranked Zhu Ruzhen of Guangdong first. Cixi disliked the character zhen, the name of the Pearl Consort, and promoted Liu, whose name means spring rain. Sources disagree on Liu’s original place. Chinese Wikipedia calls the story an untrue legend. Under Qing rules, the emperor set the ranks of the top ten papers, and the candidates’ names were sealed.