Abstract: Since?the?Jiaqing?and?Daoguang?Reigns?in?the?Qing?Dynasty,?a?large?number?of?imperial?examination foundations (binxing)?were?set?up?in?southeast?China?to?support?the?travel?expenses?of?provincial?and?metropolitan?exam?candidates.?Some?foundation?were?“public?welfare”?organizations?that?supported?all?local?students;?others?were?“mutual?aid”?organizations?that?only?supported?offspring?of?foundation?contributors.?This?article?combs?through?the?history?of?Wengong?(Zhuxi)?Temple,?in? Songyang?County,?Zhejiang?Province,?and?finds?that?people?in?both?urban?and?rural?areas?actively?participated?in?the?process?of?fund?raising.?The?Wengong?Temple?fund?guaranteed?the?expenditure?of?the?Ziyang?Academy?first,?and?the?travel?expenses?for?the?descendants?of?those?contributors?second.?But?the?attribute?of?mutual?aid gradually?faded,?and?all?local?scholars?received?“allowances”.?In?the?Xianfeng?and?Tongzhi?Reigns,?the?Taiping?Army?invaded?Songyang?county?and?caused?huge?property?losses,?consequently?the?Wengong?Temple?was?deeply?in?debt.?To?this?end,?managers?reiterated?the?principle?of?“mutual?aid”?to?get?Wengong?Temple?back?on?track.??So,?this?case?study?shows?that?imperial?examination?foundation?could?have?both?“public?welfare”?and?“mutual?aid”?attributes?because?the?traditional?education?and?the?imperial?examination?system?remained?in?a?symbiotic?embrace.