Zhuangyuan

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.

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. Under Nguyễn Dynasty, the title trạng nguyên was not officially abolished, yet its standards were too high that it was virtually unachievable.

In China

In total, there were 596 zhuangyuan in ancient China.

Noteworthy zhuangyuan

• Chen Wenlong
• Weng Tonghe
• Hong Jun
• Fu Shanxiang, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the first and only woman to become a zhuangyuan
• Mo Xuanqing, was the youngest Zhuangyuan in the imperial examinations during the Tang dynasty
• Sun Fujia, (?-658), Tang dynasty dali 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.
• Lin Hongnian (1805–1885)
• Zhang Sanjia (1876–1898), the last military zhuangyuan in Chinese history.
• Lu Chunlin (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.