Li Hongzhang (1823-1901AD) was a renowned statesman of the late Qing dynasty. On one occasion, a distant relative of his sat the imperial examinations. This man was completely uneducated; upon receiving the examination paper, he found himself unable to answer a single question. At that moment, a sudden thought struck him: he remembered he was a relative of Li Hongzhang, the Grand Secretary of the court. So, on the examination paper, he wrote: ‘ I am the lawful wife of His Excellency Li Hongzhang, the Grand Secretary of the Court.’ This uneducated relative had mistakenly written ‘lawful wife’ (亲妻) instead of ‘relative’ (亲戚)!
The chief examiner burst out laughing upon reading this and wrote on the paper: “Since you are the Grand Secretary’s lawful wife, I dare not ‘marry’ you.” (The pun plays on the fact that the examiner would normally “accept” a candidate, but the word for “accept”(取 qǔ) sounds the same as “marry”(娶 qǔ). Consequently, this relative failed the examination.
#18 不敢“娶妻”
李鸿章（1823-1901年）是清末名臣。一次，他有个远房亲戚赴考，这个人不学无术，接到试卷一看，竟然一道题也不会答。此时他灵机一动，突然想到自己是当朝中堂大人李鸿章的亲戚，于是在试卷上写道：“我是当朝中堂大人李鸿章的亲妻。” 这个不学无术的亲戚竟然将“亲戚”写成了“亲妻”！
主考官看了哈哈大笑，于是在试卷上批道：“既是中堂大人的亲妻，我不敢娶。”（考官通常会“录取”考生，但“录取”的“取” 发音与“娶”完全相同。）因此，这个亲戚还是落第了。