Zhuangyuan, bangyan, and tanhua are the top three.
Tips
culture
In the imperial exam system, the top three palace-exam candidates were named 状元 (first), 榜眼 (second), and 探花 (third). The 榜 refers to the published list of successful candidates.
history
Title formalized under the Northern Song dynasty; remained in use until the abolition of the imperial exams in 1905.
