As a type of literary style,prescribed-form （科举kē jǔ ）text has a double attribute: on the one hand, as a succession to and development of the style of the former dynasties, it has the characters of a style itself; on the other hand, as a literary form designed for the imperial civil service examinations.

Eight-Part Essay （八股文bā gǔ wén ）refers to a style of Chinese traditional writings specifically for imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), which requires four couples of parallel sentences with each sentence in accordance with tonal patterns and rhyme schemes.

Baguwen originated in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) when Wang Anshi implemented the political reform. He thought that it was flashy but impractical to select scholars to be government officials only by poems. Hence he decided to test Confucian classics argumentations. At that time, there were no strict rules for the form of the articles, and the sentences did not have to be in line with tonal patterns and rhyme schemes, but some examinees applied parallelism unconsciously in their articles. The imperial examinations in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) generally followed the system of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In the first year (1368) of the Hongwu reign in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) held an imperial examination, in which strict rules and forms were set up. In the Chenghua reign, with the advocacy of Wang Ao, Xie Qian and Zhang Mao, etc.,Baguwen gradually began to prevail with strict forms and patterns. It was not until the Hundred Days of Reform in 1898 thatBaguwenwas abolished.

The general features ofBaguwenare as follows: firstly, all the titles for examinations are from original texts ofThe Four Books and The Five Classics; secondly, the content must be in accordance with the commentary of the Zhu and Cheng school（程朱理学chéng zhū lǐ xué ）; thirdly, there is a fixed format for the structure of the article.

There is also a limitation for the number of words forBaguwen.In the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was 500 words and grew to 700 hundred in the Qianlong reign in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Baguwenwas a required course in almost all the private and public schools in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In imperial examinations at all levelsBaguwenwas needed, but all of its utility ended as soon as one passed the exam. A lot of men of insights in the Ming and Qing dynasties detestedBaguwen.It is a natural result of development of history thatBaguwengot abolished finally.

It was one hundred years since the abrogation of the stereotyped writing as the typical types of writing of Imperial examination. the understanding of the stereotyped writing is completely negative. But it's not sure that this system was disappeared absolutely in the modern China.

Key words：

科举kē jǔ:  prescribed-form
八股文bā gǔ wén  :Eight-Part Essay
程朱理学chéng zhū lǐ xué :  commentary of the Zhu and Cheng school