The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in
Imperial China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by merit rather than by birth started early in Chinese history, but using written examinations as a tool of selection started in earnest during the
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
(581–618) then into the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
of 618–907. The system became dominant during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
(960–1279) and lasted for almost a millennium until its abolition in the late Qing dynasty reforms in 1905. Aspects of the imperial examination still exist for entry into the civil service of contemporary China, in both the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(PRC) and the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(ROC).
The exams served to ensure a common knowledge of writing,
Chinese classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...
, and literary style among state officials. This common culture helped to unify the empire, and the ideal of achievement by merit gave legitimacy to imperial rule. The examination system played a significant role in tempering the power of
hereditary aristocracy
The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...
and military authority, and in the rise of a
gentry
Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past.
Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies
''Gentry'', in its widest ...
class of
scholar-bureaucrats
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
.
Starting with the Song dynasty, the imperial examination system became a more formal system and developed into a roughly three-tiered ladder from local to provincial to court exams. During the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(1368–1644), authorities narrowed the content down to mostly texts on
Neo-Confucian
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in th ...
orthodoxy; the highest degree, the ''
jinshi
''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...
'' (), became essential for the highest offices. On the other hand, holders of the basic degree, the ''
shengyuan
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
'' (), became vastly oversupplied, resulting in holders who could not hope for office. Wealthy families, especially from the
merchant class
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
, could opt into the system by educating their sons or by purchasing degrees. During the late 19th century, some critics within Qing China blamed the examination system for stifling science and technical knowledge, and urged for some reforms. At the time, China had about one civil licentiate per 1000 people. Due to the stringent requirements, out of the two or three million annual applicants who took the exams, there was only a 1% passing rate.
The Chinese examination system has had a profound influence in the development of modern
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
administrative functions in other countries. These include analogous structures that exist in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
,
Ryūkyū
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. In addition to Asia, reports by European missionaries and diplomats introduced the Chinese examination system to the Western world and encouraged
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as well as the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
(EIC) to use similar methods to select prospective employees. Seeing its initial success within the EIC, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants across the board throughout the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in 1855. The
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
would also establish such programs for certain government jobs after 1883.
General history
Tests of skill such as
archery contest
Archery, or the use of bow and arrows, was probably developed in Africa by the later Middle Stone Age (approx. 70,000 years ago). It is documented as part of warfare and hunting from the classical period (where it figures in the mythologies of m ...
s have existed since the
Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
characteristic of the later imperial exams was largely due to the reign of
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...
during the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
. Although some examinations did exist from the Han to the Sui dynasty, they did not offer an official avenue to government appointment, the majority of which were filled through recommendations based on qualities such as social status, morals, and ability.
The bureaucratic imperial examinations as a concept has its origins in the year 605 during the short-lived
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
. Its successor, the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, implemented imperial examinations on a relatively small scale until the examination system was extensively expanded during the reign of
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...
. Included in the expanded examination system was a military exam, but the military exam never had a significant impact on the Chinese officer corps and military degrees were seen as inferior to their civil counterpart. The exact nature of Wu's influence on the examination system is still a matter of scholarly debate.
During the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
the emperors expanded both examinations and the government school system, in part to counter the influence of military aristocrats, increasing the number of degree holders to more than four to five times that of the Tang. From the Song dynasty onward, the examinations played the primary role in selecting scholar-officials, who formed the literati elite of society. However the examinations co-existed with other forms of recruitment such as direct appointments for the ruling family, nominations, quotas, clerical promotions, sale of official titles, and special procedures for
eunuchs
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
. The regular higher level degree examination cycle was decreed in 1067 to be three years but this triennial cycle only existed in nominal terms. In practice both before and after this, the examinations were irregularly implemented for significant periods of time: thus, the calculated statistical averages for the number of degrees conferred annually should be understood in this context. The ''jinshi'' exams were not a yearly event and should not be considered so; the annual average figures are a necessary artifact of quantitative analysis. The operations of the examination system were part of the imperial record keeping system, and the date of receiving the ''jinshi'' degree is often a key biographical datum: sometimes the date of achieving ''jinshi'' is the only firm date known for even some of the most historically prominent persons in Chinese history.
A brief interruption to the examinations occurred at the beginning of the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
in the 13th century, but was later brought back with regional quotas which favored the Mongols and disadvantaged Southern Chinese. During the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
and
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
dynasties, the system contributed to the narrow and focused nature of intellectual life and enhanced the autocratic power of the emperor. The system continued with some modifications until its abolition in 1905 during the last years of the Qing dynasty. The modern examination system for selecting civil servants also indirectly evolved from the imperial one.
Precursors
Han dynasty
Candidates for offices recommended by the prefect of a prefecture were examined by the
Ministry of Rites
The Ministry or Board of Rites was one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China. It was part of the imperial Chinese government from the Tang (7th century) until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Along with religious rituals and cour ...
and then presented to the emperor. Some candidates for clerical positions would be given a test to determine whether they could memorize nine thousand Chinese characters.Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics – Zhengyuan Fu The tests administered during the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
did not offer formal entry into government posts. Recruitment and appointment in the Han dynasty were primarily through recommendations by
aristocrat
The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...
s and local officials. Recommended individuals were also primarily aristocrats. In theory, recommendations were based on a combination of reputation and ability but it is not certain how well this worked in practice. Oral examinations on policy issues were sometimes conducted personally by the emperor himself during Western Han times.
In 165 BC
Emperor Wen of Han
Emperor Wen of Han (; 203/202 – 6 July 157 BCE), born Liu Heng (), was the fifth emperor of the Western Han dynasty in China from 180 to his death in 157 BCE. The son of Emperor Gao and Consort Bo, his reign provided a much needed stability a ...
introduced recruitment to the civil service through examinations, however these did not heavily emphasize Confucian material. Previously, potential officials never sat for any sort of academic examinations.
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...
's early reign saw the creation of a series of posts for academicians in 136 BC. Ardently promoted by
Dong Zhongshu
Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Han Dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state. He apparently favored ...
, the
Taixue __NOTOC__
Taixue (Tai-shueh; ), or sometimes called the "Imperial Academy", "Imperial School", "Imperial University" or "Imperial Central University", was the highest rank of educational establishment in Ancient China created during the Han dynasty ...
and Imperial examination came into existence by recommendation of
Gongsun Hong
Gongsun Hong (公孫弘; Wade–Giles: Kung-sun Hung; 200 – 121 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher and politician in the Western Han dynasty under Emperor Wu. Together with the more famous Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu, Gongsun was one of the ea ...
, chancellor under Wu. Officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the
Confucian classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...
, from which Emperor Wu would select officials to serve by his side.Kracke, 253 Gongsun intended for the Taixue's graduates to become imperial officials but they usually only started off as clerks and attendants, and mastery of only one canonical text was required upon its founding, changing to all five in the
Eastern Han
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
. Starting with only 50 students, Emperor Zhao expanded it to 100, Emperor Xuan to 200, and Emperor Yuan to 1000.
While the examinations expanded under the Han, the number of graduates who went on to hold office were few. The examinations did not offer a formal route to commissioned office and the primary path to office remained through recommendations. Though connections and recommendations remained more meaningful than the exam, the initiation of the examination system by Emperor Wu was crucial for the Confucian nature of later imperial examinations. During the Han dynasty, these examinations were primarily used for the purpose of classifying candidates who had been specifically recommended. Even during the Tang dynasty the quantity of placements into government service through the examination system only averaged about nine persons per year, with the known maximum being less than 25 in any given year.
Three Kingdoms
The first standardized method of recruitment in Chinese history was introduced during the
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...
period in the
Kingdom of Wei
Wei or WEI may refer to:
States
* Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States
* Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...
. It was called the
nine-rank system
The nine-rank system, also known as the nine-grade controller system, was used to categorize and classify government officials in Imperial China. Created in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms, it was used until the Song dynasty, and sim ...
. In the nine-rank system, each office was given a rank from highest to lowest in descending order from one to nine. Imperial officials were responsible for assessing the quality of the talents recommended by local elites. The criteria for recruitment included qualities such as morals and social status, which in practice meant that influential families monopolized all high ranking posts while men of poorer means filled the lower ranks.
History by dynasty
Sui dynasty (581–618)
The
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
continued the tradition of recruitment through recommendation but modified it in 587 with the requirement for every prefecture (''fu'') to supply three scholars a year. In 599, all capital officials of rank five and above were required to make nominations for consideration in several categories.
During the Sui dynasty, examinations for "classicists" (''mingjing ke'') and "cultivated talents" (''xiucai ke'') were introduced. Classicists were tested on the Confucian canon, which was considered an easy task at the time, so those who passed were awarded posts in the lower rungs of officialdom. Cultivated talents were tested on matters of statecraft as well as the Confucian canon. In AD 607,
Emperor Yang of Sui
Emperor Yang of Sui (隋煬帝, 569 – 11 April 618), personal name Yang Guang (), alternative name Ying (), Xianbei name Amo (), also known as Emperor Ming of Sui () during the brief reign of his grandson Yang Tong, was the second emperor of ...
established a new category of examinations for the "presented scholar" (''jinshike'' ). These three categories of examination were the origins of the imperial examination system that would last until 1905. Consequently, the year 607 is also considered by many to be the real beginning of the imperial examination system. The Sui dynasty was itself short lived however and the system was not developed further until much later.
The imperial examinations did not significantly shift recruitment selection in practice during the Sui dynasty. Schools at the capital still produced students for appointment. Inheritance of official status was also still practiced. Men of the merchant and artisan classes were still barred from officialdom. However the reign of
Emperor Wen of Sui
The Emperor Wen of Sui (; 21 July 541 – 13 August 604), personal name Yang Jian (), Xianbei name Puliuru Jian (), alias Narayana () deriving from Buddhist terms, was the founder and the first emperor of the Chinese Sui dynasty. The ''Book of ...
did see much greater expansion of government authority over officials. Under Emperor Wen (r. 581–604), all officials down to the district level had to be appointed by the Department of State Affairs in the capital and were subjected to annual merit rating evaluations. Regional Inspectors and District Magistrates had to be transferred every three years and their subordinates every four years. They were not allowed to bring their parents or adult children with them upon reassignment of territorial administration. The Sui did not establish any hereditary kingdoms or marquisates (''hóu'') of the Han sort. To compensate, nobles were given substantial stipends and staff. Aristocratic officials were ranked based on their pedigree with distinctions such as "high expectations", "pure", and "impure" so that they could be awarded offices appropriately.
Tang dynasty (618–907)
The Tang dynasty and the Zhou interregnum of Empress Wu (Wu Zetian) expanded examinations beyond the basic process of qualifying candidates based on questions of policy matters followed by an interview. Oral interviews as part of the selection process were theoretically supposed to be an unbiased process, but in practice favored candidates from elite clans based in the capitals of
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...
and
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...
(speakers of solely non-elite dialects could not succeed).
Under the Tang, six categories of regular civil-service examinations were organized by the
Department of State Affairs
The Shangshu Sheng (), sometimes translated as the Department of State Affairs or the Imperial Secretariat, was one of the departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure. It was the primary executive institution of i ...
and held by the
Ministry of Rites
The Ministry or Board of Rites was one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China. It was part of the imperial Chinese government from the Tang (7th century) until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Along with religious rituals and cour ...
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756 CE. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the early ...
also added categories for
Daoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
and apprentices. The hardest of these examination categories, the presented scholar ''
jinshi
''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...
'' degree, became more prominent over time until it superseded all other examinations. By the late Tang the jinshi degree became a prerequisite for appointment into higher offices. Appointments by recommendation were also required to take examinations.
The examinations were carried out in the first lunar month. After the results were completed, the list of results was submitted to the Grand Chancellor, who had the right to alter the results. Sometimes the list was also submitted to the
Secretariat-Chancellery
Secretariat-Chancellery was a central government department in several dynasties in imperial China and Korea. It was created in the Tang dynasty by combining the Secretariat and the Chancellery. It was a particularly important office in late Tang ...
for additional inspection. The emperor could also announce a repeat of the exam. The list of results was then published in the second lunar month.
Classicists were tested by being presented phrases from the classic texts. Then they had to write the whole paragraph to complete the phrase. If the examinee was able to correctly answer five of ten questions, they passed. This was considered such an easy task that a 30-year-old candidate was said to be old for a classicist examinee, but young to be a jinshi. An oral version of the classicist examination known as ''moyi'' also existed but consisted of 100 questions rather than just ten. In contrast, the jinshi examination not only tested the Confucian classics, but also history, proficiency in compiling official documents, inscriptions, discursive treatises, memorials, and poems and rhapsodies. Because the number of jinshi graduates were so low they acquired great social standing in society. The judicial, arithmetic, and clerical examinations were also held but these graduates only qualified for their specific agencies.
Candidates who passed the exam were not automatically granted office. They still had to pass a quality evaluation by the Ministry of Rites, after which they were allowed to wear official robes.
Wu Zhou dynasty
Wu Zetian's reign was a pivotal moment for the imperial examination system. The reason for this was because up until that point, the Tang rulers had all been male members of the Li family. Wu Zetian, who officially took the title of emperor in 690, was a woman outside the Li family who needed an alternative base of power. Reform of the imperial examinations featured prominently in her plan to create a new class of elite bureaucrats derived from humbler origins. Both the palace and military examinations were created under Wu Zetian.
In 655, Wu Zetian graduated 44 candidates with the ''jìnshì'' degree (), and during one seven-year period the annual average of exam takers graduated with a ''jinshi'' degree was greater than 58 persons per year. Wu lavished favors on the newly graduated ''jinshi'' degree-holders, increasing the prestige associated with this path of attaining a government career, and clearly began a process of opening up opportunities to success for a wider population pool, including inhabitants of China's less prestigious southeast area. Wu Zetian's government further expanded the civil service examination system by allowing certain commoners and gentry previously disqualified by their non-elite backgrounds to take the tests. Most of the Li family supporters were located to the northwest, particularly around the capital city of Chang'an. Wu's progressive accumulation of political power through enhancement of the examination system involved attaining the allegiance of previously under-represented regions, alleviating frustrations of the literati, and encouraging education in various locales so even people in the remote corners of the empire would study to pass the imperial exams. These degree holders would then become a new nucleus of elite bureaucrats around which the government could center itself.
In 681, a fill in the blank test based on knowledge of the Confucian classics was introduced.
Examples of officials whom she recruited through her reformed examination system include Zhang Yue, Li Jiao, and
Shen Quanqi
Shen Quanqi (; c. 650 – 729), also known as Yunqing (), was a Chinese poetry, Chinese poet and government official active during the Tang dynasty, and the interluding "restored Zhou dynasty" of Wu Zetian. Shen Quanqi is especially known for his ...
.
From 702 onward, the names of examinees were hidden to prevent examiners from knowing who was tested. Prior to this, it was even a custom for candidates to present their examiner with their own literary works in order to impress him.
Tang restoration
Sometime between 730 and 740, after the Tang restoration, a section requiring the composition of original poetry (including both ''
shi
Shi or SHI may refer to:
Language
* ''Shi'', a Japanese titles#Shi, Japanese title commonly used as a pronoun
* ''Shi'', proposed gender-neutral pronoun
* Shi (kana), a kana in Japanese syllabaries
* Shi language
* ''Shī'', transliteration of ...
'' and '' fu'') was added to the tests, with rather specific set requirements: this was for the ''jinshi'' degree, as well as certain other tests. The less-esteemed examinations tested for skills such as mathematics, law, and calligraphy. The success rate on these tests of knowledge on the classics was between 10 and 20 percent, but for the thousand or more candidates going for a ''jinshi'' degree each year in which it was offered, the success rate for the examinees was only between 1 and 2 percent: a total of 6504 ''jinshi'' were created during course of the Tang dynasty (an average of only about 23 ''jinshi'' awarded per year). After 755, up to 15 percent of civil service officials were recruited through the examinations.
During the early years of the Tang restoration, the following emperors expanded on Wu's policies since they found them politically useful, and the annual averages of degrees conferred continued to rise. This led to the formation of new court factions consisting of examiners and their graduates. With the upheavals which later developed and the disintegration of the Tang empire into the "
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...
", the examination system gave ground to other traditional routes to government positions and favoritism in grading reduced the opportunities of examinees who lacked political patronage.Kracke, 254 Ironically this period of fragmentation resulted in the utter destruction of old networks established by elite families that had ruled China throughout its various dynasties since its conception. With the disappearance of the old aristocracy, Wu's system of bureaucrat recruitment once more became the dominant model in China, and eventually coalesced into the class of nonhereditary elites who would become known to the West as "mandarins", in reference to
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, the dialect of Chinese employed in the imperial court.
Song dynasty (960–1279)
In the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
(960–1279) the imperial examinations became the primary method of recruitment for official posts. More than a hundred palace examinations were held during the dynasty, resulting in a greater number of ''jinshi'' degrees rewarded. The examinations were opened to adult Chinese males, with some restrictions, including even individuals from the occupied northern territories of the Liao and Jin dynasties. Figures given for the number of examinees record 70–80,000 in 1088 and 79,000 at the turn of the 12th century. In the mid-11th century, between 5,000 and 10,000 took the metropolitan examinations in a given year. By the mid-12th century, 100,000 candidates registered for the prefectural examinations each year, and by the mid-13th century, more than 400,000. The number of active jinshi degree holders ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 between the 11th and 13th centuries, representing 7,085 of 18,700 posts in 1046 and 8,260 of 38,870 posts in 1213. Statistics indicate that the Song imperial government degree-awards eventually more than doubled the highest annual averages of those awarded during the Tang dynasty, with 200 or more per year on average being common, and at times reaching a per annum figure of almost 240.
The examination hierarchy was formally divided into prefectural, metropolitan, and palace examinations. The prefectural examination was held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Graduates of the prefectural examination were then sent to the capital for metropolitan examination, which took place in Spring, but had no fixed date. Graduates of the metropolitan examination were then sent to the palace examination.
Many individuals of low social status were able to rise to political prominence through success in the imperial examination. According to studies of degree-holders in the years 1148 and 1256, approximately 57 percent originated from families without a father, grandfather, or great-grandfather who had held official rank. However most did have some sort of relative in the bureaucracy. Prominent officials who went through the imperial examinations include
Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi ; ; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086), courtesy name Jiefu (), was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms k ...
, who proposed reforms to make the exams more practical, and
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...
(1130–1200), whose interpretations of the
Four Classics
Classic Chinese Novels () are the best-known novels of pre-modern Chinese literature. These are among the world's longest and oldest novels. They represented a new complexity in structure and sophistication in language that helped to establish t ...
became the orthodox
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Wa ...
which dominated later dynasties. Two other prominent successful entries into politics through the examination system were
Su Shi
Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
(1037–1101) and his brother
Su Zhe
Su Zhe (; 1039–1112), or Su Che, courtesy names Ziyou and Tongshu , was a Chinese essayist, historian, poet, and politician from Meishan, located in modern-day Sichuan Province, China.
Su was highly honored as a politician and essayist in th ...
(1039–1112): both of whom became political opponents of Wang Anshi. The process of studying for the examination tended to be time-consuming and costly, requiring time to spare and tutors. Most of the candidates came from the numerically small but relatively wealthy land-owning
scholar-official
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
class.
Since 937, by the decision of the
Emperor Taizu of Song
Emperor Taizu of Song (21 March 927 – 14 November 976), personal name Zhao Kuangyin, courtesy name Yuanlang, was the founder and first emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 960 until his death in 976. Formerly a distinguish ...
, the palace examination was supervised by the emperor himself. In 992, the practice of anonymous submission of papers during the palace examination was introduced; it was spread to the departmental examinations in 1007, and to the prefectural level in 1032. From 1037 on, it was forbidden for examiners to supervise examinations in their home prefecture. Examiners and high officials were also forbidden from contacting each other prior to the exams. The practice of recopying papers in order to prevent revealing the candidate's calligraphy was introduced at the capital and departmental level in 1015, and in the prefectures in 1037.
In 1009,
Emperor Zhenzong of Song
Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was changed ...
(r. 997–1022) introduced quotas on degrees awarded. In 1090, only 40 degrees were awarded to 3,000 candidates in
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
, which meant only one degree would be awarded for every 75 candidates. The quota system became even more stringent in the 13th century when only one percent of candidates were allowed to pass the prefectural examination. Even graduates of the lowest tier of examinations represented an elite class.
In 1071,
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned fr ...
(r. 1067–1085) abolished the classicist as well as various other examinations on law and arithmetics. The jinshi examination became the primary gateway to officialdom. Judicial and classicist examinations were revived shortly after. However the judicial examination was classified as a special examination and not many people took the classicist examination. The oral version of the classicist exam was abolished. Other special examinations for household and family member of officials, Minister of Personnel, and subjects such as history as applied to current affairs (''shiwu ce'', Policy Questions), translation, and judicial matters were also administered by the state. Policy Questions became an essential part of following examinations. An exam called the ''cewen'' which focused on contemporary matters such as politics, economics, and military affairs was introduced.
Various reforms or attempts to reform the examination system were made during the Song dynasty by individuals such as
Fan Zhongyan
Fan Zhongyan (5 September 989 – 19 June 1052) from Wu County of Suzhou (Jiangsu Province, China), courtesy name Xiwen (), ratified as the Duke of Wenzheng () posthumously, and conferred as Duke of Chu () posthumously, was a Chinese poet, po ...
,
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...
, and by Wang Anshi. Wang and Zhu successfully argued that poems and rhapsodies should be excluded from the examinations because they were of no use to administration or cultivation of virtue. The poetry section of the examination was removed in the 1060s. Fan's memorial to the throne initiated a process which lead to major educational reform through the establishment of a comprehensive public school system.
Liao dynasty (916–1125)
The
Khitans
The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East.
As a people desce ...
who ruled the
Liao dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...
only held imperial examinations for regions with large Han populations. The Liao examinations focused on lyric-meter poetry and
rhapsodies
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online mu ...
. The Khitans themselves did not take the exams until 1115 when it became an acceptable avenue for advancing their careers.
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
The
Jurchens
Jurchen (Manchu language, Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian people, East Asian Tungusic languages, Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They ...
of the Jin dynasty held two separate examinations to accommodate their former Liao and Song subjects. In the north examinations focused on lyric-meter poetry and rhapsodies while in the south, Confucian Classics were tested. During the reign of
Emperor Xizong of Jin
Emperor Xizong of Jin (28 February 1119 – 9 January 1150), personal name Hela, sinicised name Wanyan Dan, was the third emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He reigned for about 15 years from 1135 to 1150. During his reign, the Ji ...
(r. 1135–1150), the contents of both examinations were unified and examinees were tested on both genres.
Emperor Zhangzong of Jin
Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (31 August 1168 – 29 December 1208), personal name Madage, sinicized name Wanyan Jing, was the sixth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He reigned from 20 January 1189 to 29 December 1208.Tao, p. 85-86
...
(r. 1189–1208) abolished the prefectural examinations.
Emperor Shizong of Jin
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
(r. 1161–1189) created the first examination conducted in the
Jurchen language
Jurchen language ( zh, t=女真語, p=Nǚzhēn yǔ) was the Tungusic language of the Jurchen people of eastern Manchuria, the rulers of the Jin dynasty in northern China of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is ancestral to the Manchu language. In ...
, with a focus on political writings and poetry. Graduates of the Jurchen examination were called "treatise graduates" (''celun jinshi'') to distinguish them from the regular Chinese jinshi.
Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Imperial examinations were ceased for a time with the defeat of the Song in 1279 by
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
and his
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
. One of Kublai's main advisers,
Liu Bingzhong
Liu Bingzhong (; 1216–1274), or Liu Kan () was a Yuan dynasty court adviser and architect. He was born in Ruizhou (Rui prefecture), during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasty. In 1233, he entered the Jin's bureaucracy. He still was an of ...
, submitted a memorial recommending the restoration of the examination system: however, this was not done. Kublai ended the imperial examination system, as he believed that Confucian learning was not needed for government jobs. Also, Kublai was opposed to such a commitment to the Chinese language and to the ethnic Han scholars who were so adept at it, as well as its accompanying ideology: he wished to appoint his own people without relying on an apparatus inherited from a newly conquered and sometimes rebellious country. The discontinuation of the exams had the effect of reducing the prestige of traditional learning, reducing the motivation for doing so, as well as encouraging new literary directions not motivated by the old means of literary development and success.
The examination system was revived in 1315, with significant changes, during the reign of
Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan
Buyantu Khan (Mongolian Language, Mongolian: Буянт хаан; Mongolian script: ; ), born Ayurbarwada (Mongolian: Аюурбарбад ; ), also known by the temple name Renzong (Emperor Renzong of Yuan (Standard Mandarin, Chinese: 元仁宗, ...
. The new examination system organized its examinees into regional categories in a way which favored Mongols and severely disadvantaged Southern Chinese. A quota system both for number of candidates and degrees awarded was instituted based on the classification of the four groups, those being the Mongols, their non-Han allies ( Semu-ren), Northern Chinese, and Southern Chinese, with further restrictions by province favoring the northeast of the empire (Mongolia) and its vicinities.Kracke, 263 A quota of 300 persons was fixed for provincial examinations with 75 persons from each group. The metropolitan exam had a quota of 100 persons with 25 persons from each group. Candidates were enrolled on two lists with the Mongols and Semu-ren located on the left and the Northern and Southern Chinese on the right. Examinations were written in Chinese and based on Confucian and Neo-Confucian texts but the Mongols and Semu-ren received easier questions to answer than the Han. Successful candidates were awarded one of three ranks. All graduates were eligible for official appointment.
Under the revised system the yearly averages for examination degrees awarded was about 21. The way in which the four regional racial categories were divided tended to favor the Mongols, Semu-ren, and North Chinese, despite the South Chinese being by far the largest portion of the population. The 1290 census figures record some 12,000,000 households (about 48% of the total Yuan population) for South China, versus 2,000,000 North Chinese households, and the populations of Mongols and Semu-ren were both less. While South China was technically allotted 75 candidates for each provincial exam, only 28 Han Chinese from South China were included among the 300 candidates, the rest of the South China slots (47) being occupied by resident Mongols or Semu-ren, although 47 "racial South Chinese" who were not residents of South China were approved as candidates.
Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
The
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(1368–1644) retained and expanded the system it inherited. The
Hongwu Emperor
The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398.
As famine, plagues and peasant revolts in ...
was initially reluctant to restart the examinations, considering their curriculum to be lacking in practical knowledge. In 1370 he declared that the exams would follow the Neo-Confucian canon put forth by
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...
in the Song dynasty: the
Four Books
The Four Books and Five Classics () are the authoritative books of Confucianism, written in China before 300 BCE. The Four Books and the Five Classics are the most important classics of Chinese Confucianism.
Four Books
The Four Books () are C ...
, discourses, and political analysis. Then he abolished the examinations two years later because he preferred appointment by referral. In 1384, the examinations were revived again, however in addition to the Neo-Confucian canon, Hongwu added another portion to the exams to be taken by successful candidates five days after the first exam. These new exams emphasized ''shixue'' (practical learning), including subjects such as law, mathematics, calligraphy,
horse riding
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...
, and archery. The emperor was particularly adamant about the inclusion of archery, and for a few days after issuing the edict, he personally commanded the
Guozijian
The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui ...
and county-level schools to practice it diligently. As a result of the new focus on practical learning, from 1384 to 1756/57, all provincial and metropolitan examinations incorporated material on legal knowledge and the palace examinations included policy questions on current affairs. The first palace examination of the Ming dynasty was held in 1385.
Provincial and metropolitan exams were organized in three sessions. The first session consisted of three questions on the examinee's interpretation of the Four Books, and four on the Classics corpus. The second session took place three days later, and consisted of a discursive essay, five critical judgments, and one in the style of an edict, an announcement and a memorial. Three days after that, the third session was held, consisting of five essays on the Classics, historiography, and contemporary affairs. The palace exam was just one session, consisting of questions on critical matters in the Classics or current affairs. Written answers were expected to follow a predefined structure called the
eight-legged essay
The eight-legged essay ()
was a style of essay in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The eight-legged essay was needed for those candidates in these civil service tests to show their merits for government service, ...
, which consisted of eight parts: opening, amplification, preliminary exposition, initial argument, central argument, latter argument, final argument, and conclusion. The length of the essay ranged between 550 and 700 characters.
Gu Yanwu
Gu Yanwu () (July 15, 1613 – February 15, 1682), also known as Gu Tinglin (), was a Chinese philologist, geographer, and famous scholar-official in Qing dynasty. He spent his youth during the Manchu conquest of China in anti-Manchu activities a ...
considered the eight-legged essay to be worse than the book burning of
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
and his burying alive of 460 Confucian scholars.
The
Hanlin Academy
The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an.
Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed sec ...
played a central role in the careers of examination graduates during the Ming dynasty. Graduates of the metropolitan exam with honors were directly appointed senior compiler in the Hanlin Academy. Regular metropolitan exam graduates were appointed junior compilers or examining editors. In 1458, appointment in the Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretariat was restricted to jinshi graduates. Posts such as minister or vice minister of rites or right vice ministers of personnel were also restricted to jinshi graduates. The training jinshi graduates underwent in the Hanlin Academy allowed them insight into a wide range of central government agencies. Ninety percent of Grand Chancellors during the Ming dynasty were jinshi degree holders.
The Neo-Confucian orthodoxy became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon. At the same time, commercialization of the economy and booming population growth resulted in an inflation of the number of degree candidates at the lower levels. The Ming bureaucracy did not increase degree quotas in proportion to the increased population. Near the end of the Ming dynasty, in 1600, there were roughly 500,000 shengyuan in a population of 150 million, that is, one per 300 people. This trend of booming population but artificial limitation of degrees awarded continued into the Qing dynasty, when during the mid-19th century, the ratio of shengyuan to population had shrunk to one per each thousand people. Access to government office became not only extremely difficult, but officials also became more orthodox in their thinking. The higher and more prestigious offices were still dominated by ''jinshi'' degree-holders, similar to the Song dynasty, but tended to come from elite families.
The social background of metropolitan graduates also narrowed as time went on. In the early years of the Ming dynasty only 14 percent of metropolitan graduates came from families that had a history of providing officials, while in the last years of the Ming roughly 60 percent of metropolitan exam graduates came from established elite families.
Qing dynasty (1636–1912)
The ambition of
Hong Taiji
Hong Taiji (28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643), also rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing, was the second khan of the Later Jin ...
, the first emperor of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, was to use the examinations to foster a cadre of Manchu
Bannermen
Bannerman is a name of Scottish origin (see Clan Bannerman) and may refer to
Places
;Canada
* Bannerman, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Canada
;United States
* Bannerman, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
* Bannerman's Castle, an a ...
who were both martial and literate to administer the government. He initiated the first exam for bannermen in 1638, offered in both Manchu and Chinese, even before his troops took Beijing in 1644. But the Manchu bannermen had no time or money to prepare for the exams, especially since they could gain advancement on the battlefield, and the dynasty went on to rely on both Manchu and Han Chinese officials chosen through the system inherited with minor adaptation from the Ming. During the dynasty a total of 26,747 ''jinshi'' degrees were earned in 112 examinations held over the 261 years 1644–1905, an average of 238.8 ''jinshi'' degrees conferred per examination.
Racial quotas were placed on the number of graduates permitted. In the early Qing period, a 4:6 Manchu to Han quota was placed on the palace examination, and was in effect until 1655. Separate examinations were held for bannermen from 1652 to 1655 with a ten-point racial quota of 4:2:4 for Manchus, Mongols, and Han Chinese. In 1651, "translation" examinations were implemented for bannermen, however the purpose of these exams was not to create translators, but to service those Manchus and bannermen who did not understand Classical Chinese. During the reign of the
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...
(1736–1795), Manchus and Mongols were encouraged to take the examinations in Classical Chinese. The translation examination was abolished in 1840 because there were not enough candidates to justify it. After 1723, Han Chinese graduates of the palace examination were required to learn the
Manchu language
Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China.
As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dyn ...
. Bilingualism in Chinese and Manchu languages was favored in the bureaucracy and people who fulfilled the language requirements were given preferential appointments. For example, in 1688, a candidate from
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
who was able to answer policy questions at the palace examination in both Chinese and Manchu was appointed as compiler at the Hanlin Academy, despite finishing bottom of the second tier of jinshi graduates. Ethnic minorities such as the Peng people in
Jiangxi Province
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hi ...
were given a quota of 1:50 for the shengyuan degree to encourage them to settle down and give up their nomadic way of life. In 1767, a memorial from
Guangxi Province
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...
noted that some Han Chinese took advantage of the ethnic quotas to become shengyuan and that it was hard to verify who was a native. In 1784, quotas were recommended for
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
to incorporate them into mainstream society. In 1807, a memorial from
Hunan Province
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi t ...
requested higher quotas for
Miao people
The Miao are a group of linguistically-related peoples living in Southern China and Southeast Asia, who are recognized by the government of China as one of the 56 List of ethnic groups in China, official ethnic groups. The Miao live primarily in ...
so that they would not have to compete with Han Chinese candidates.
Imperial examinations were not immune to corruption, one notable example was the
Yangzhou
Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yan ...
''xiangshi'' protests for the
juren
''Juren'' (; 'recommended man') was a rank achieved by people who passed the ''xiangshi'' () exam in the imperial examination system of imperial China. The ''xiangshi'' is also known, in English, as the provincial examination. It was a rank high ...
rank in 1711. When it was found that numerous persons who were sons of the major salt-merchant families had passed the exams, this led the students who failed the exams to accuse the governor-general and the deputy examiner of accepting bribes. Thousands of candidates paraded on the streets and eventually held the director captive. A nine-month long investigation resulted from this and the outcome found the chief examiner and the successful candidates guilty and was subsequently put to death.
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864)
The Chinese Christian
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, later shortened to the Heavenly Kingdom or Heavenly Dynasty, was an unrecognised rebel kingdom in China and a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Qi ...
was created in rebellion against the Qing dynasty led by a failed examination candidate
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
, which established its capital in Nanjing in 1851. Following the imperial example, the Taipings held exams starting in 1851. They replaced the Confucian Classes, however, with the Taiping Bible, the Old and New Testaments as edited by Hong. Candidates were expected to write eight-legged essays using quotations.
In 1853, women were for the first time in Chinese history able to become examination candidates.
Fu Shanxiang
Fu Shanxiang (; 1833 – 1864) was a Chinese scholar from Nanjing who became Chancellor under the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a rebel Chinese state opposed to the Qing dynasty in the 1850s. Fu is known as the first (and last) female ''Zhuangyuan'' ...
took the exam and became the first (and last) female
zhuangyuan
''Zhuangyuan'', or ''trạng nguyên'' in Vietnamese, variously translated into English as principal graduate, primus, or optimus, was the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Imperial examination, (i ...
in Chinese history.
Decline and abolition
By the 1830s and 1840s, proposals emerged from officials calling for reforms to the Imperial Examinations to include Western technology. In 1864,
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...
submitted proposals to add a new subject into the Imperial examinations involving Western technology, that scholars may focus their efforts entirely on this. A similar proposal was tabled by
Feng Guifen
Feng Guifen (; 1809 – May 28, 1874,Encyclopædia Britannica Online' courtesy name Linyi (), art name Jingting (), later art name Dengweishanren (), jinshi degree 1840) was a scholar during the Qing Dynasty. He was also a teacher, and a governmen ...
in 1861 and
Ding Richang
Ding Richang (; 1823–1882) was a Chinese government official, who is remembered for his "indomitable" if not "prodigious" reform efforts, skill in foreign diplomacy (or "foreign-matters expert"), and supervision of the judicial administration ...
(mathematics and science) in 1867. In 1872, and again in 1874,
Shen Baozhen
Shen Baozhen (1820–1879), formerly romanized , was an official during the Qing dynasty.
Biography
Born in Minhou in Fujian province, he obtained the highest degree in the imperial examinations in 1847 and was soon appointed to the Hanl ...
submitted proposals to the throne for the reform of the Imperial Examinations to include Mathematics. Shen also proposed the abolition of the military examinations, which were based on obsolete weaponry such as archery. He proposed the idea that
Tongwen Guan
The School of Combined Learning, or the Tongwen Guan () was a government school for teaching Languages of Europe, Western languages (and later scientific subjects), founded at Peking (Beijing), China in 1862 during the late-Qing dynasty, right af ...
students who performed well in mathematics could be directly appointed to the Zongli Yamen as if they were Imperial examination graduates. Li Hongzhang, in an 1874 memorial, tabled the concept of "Bureaus of Western Learning" (洋学局) in coastal provinces, participation in which was to be accorded the honour of Imperial examination degrees. In 1888, the Imperial examinations was expanded to include the subject of international commerce.
With the military defeats in the 1890s and pressure to develop a national school system, reformers such as
Kang Youwei
Kang Youwei (; Cantonese: ''Hōng Yáuh-wàih''; 19March 185831March 1927) was a prominent political thinker and reformer in China of the late Qing dynasty. His increasing closeness to and influence over the young Guangxu Emperor spar ...
and
Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade–Giles, Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political act ...
called for abolition of the exams, and the
Hundred Days' Reform
The Hundred Days' Reform or Wuxu Reform () was a failed 103-day national, cultural, political, and educational reform movement that occurred from 11 June to 22 September 1898 during the late Qing dynasty. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu E ...
of 1898 proposed a set of modernizations. After the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
, the government drew up plans to reform under the name of
New Policies
Late Qing reforms (), commonly known as New Policies of the late Qing dynasty (), or New Deal of the late Qing dynasty, simply referred to as New Policies, were a series of cultural, economic, educational, military, and political reforms implemen ...
. Reformers memorialized the throne to abolish the system. The key sponsors were
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...
,
Yin Chang
Yin Chang (born April 23, 1989) is an American actress, known for her lead role as Mei Kwan in the 2011 film ''Prom'' and her recurring role as Nelly Yuki on The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl''. Chang has made guest appearances on the te ...
, and
Zhang Zhidong
Zhang Zhidong () (4 September 18375 October 1909) was a Chinese politician who lived during the late Qing dynasty. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong was one of the four most famous officials of the late Qing ...
(Chang Chih-tung). On 2 September 1905, the throne ordered the examination system be discontinued, beginning at the first level in 1905. The new system provided equivalents to the old degrees; a bachelor's degree, for instance, would be considered equivalent to the ''xiu cai''.
Those who had at least the degree of ''shengyuan'' remained fairly well off since they retained their social status. Older students who had failed to even become ''shengyuan'' were more damaged because they could not easily absorb new learning, were too proud to turn to commerce, and too weak for physical labor.
Impact
Transition to scholar-bureaucracy
The original purpose of the imperial examinations as they were implemented during the Sui dynasty was to strike a blow against the hereditary aristocracy and to centralize power around the emperor. The era preceding the Sui dynasty, the period of
Northern and Southern dynasties
The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...
, was a golden age for the Chinese aristocracy. The power they wielded seriously constrained the emperor's ability to exercise his power in court, especially when it came to appointing officials. The Sui emperor created the imperial examinations to bypass and mitigate aristocratic interests. This was the origin of the Chinese examination system.
The short lived Sui dynasty was soon replaced by the Tang, who built on the examination system. The emperor placed the palace exam graduates, the jinshi, in important government posts, where they came into conflict with hereditary elites. During the reign of
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756 CE. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the early ...
(713–756), about a third of the Grand Chancellors appointed were jinshi, but by the time of
Emperor Xianzong of Tang
Emperor Xianzong of Tang (4 March to 1 April 778''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 14. – 14 February 820; r. 805 – 820), personal name Li Chun, né Li Chun (), was an emperor of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was the eldest son of Emperor Shunzong ...
(806–821), three fifths of the Grand Chancellors appointed were jinshi. This change in the way government was organized dealt a real blow to the aristocrats, but they did not sit idly by and wait to become obsolete. Instead they themselves entered the examinations to gain the privileges associated with it. By the end of the dynasty, the aristocratic class had produced 116 jinshi, so that they remained a significant influence in the government. Hereditary privileges were also not completely done away with. The sons of high ministers and great generals had the right to hold minor offices without taking the examinations. This privilege was introduced in 963 and allowed high officials to nominate their sons, nephews, and grandsons for civil service. However, after 1009, nominated candidates also had to study at the
Guozijian
The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui ...
and after completing a course, sit an examination. More than 50 percent passed. Lower level posts in the capital were awarded to these graduates.
In addition, the number of graduates were not only small, but also formed their own clique in the government based around the examiners and the men they passed. In effect the graduates became another interest group the emperor had to contend with. This problem was greatly mitigated by the increase in candidates and graduates during the Song dynasty, made possible by its robust economy. Since the entire upper echelon of the Song dynasty was filled by jinshi, and imperial clan members were barred from posts of substance, there was no longer any conflict of the type relating to different preparatory backgrounds. Efforts were made to break the link between examiner and examinee, removing another factor contributing to the formation of scholar bureaucrat cliques. While the influence of certain scholar officials never disappeared, they no longer held any influence in organizing men.
The scholar-bureaucrats, later known as Mandarins in the West, continued to exert significant influence throughout the rest of Chinese imperial history. The relationship between the emperor and his officials as seen from the side of the officials is encapsulated by Zhang Fangping's statement to
Emperor Renzong of Song
Emperor Renzong of Song (30 May 1010 – 30 April 1063), personal name Zhao Zhen, was the fourth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned for about 41 years from 1022 to his death in 1063, and was the longest reigning Song dynasty empe ...
in the 1040s: "The empire cannot be ruled by Your Majesty alone; the empire can only be governed by Your Majesty collaborating with the officials." In 1071,
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned fr ...
remarked that
Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi ; ; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086), courtesy name Jiefu (), was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms k ...
's
New Policies
Late Qing reforms (), commonly known as New Policies of the late Qing dynasty (), or New Deal of the late Qing dynasty, simply referred to as New Policies, were a series of cultural, economic, educational, military, and political reforms implemen ...
were for the benefit of the people and not the ''shidafu'', the elite literate class. His grand chancellor, Wen Yanbo, retorted, "You govern the nation with ''us'', the officials, not with the people."
The importance of clan identity as the chief marker of status seems to have declined by the 9th century, when the genealogical section of epitaphs excluded choronyms (combination of clan and place names) in favor of office titles. For the aristocracy, although status was still an important factor in marriage, wealth had become far more important by the time of the
Southern Song
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. ...
(1127–1279) than the Tang era. During the Yuanyou era (1086–1093), it was reported that an imperial clanswoman had married a man surnamed Liu from the foreign quarter of
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
. In 1137, a complaint was lodged against a military official for marrying his sister to the "great merchant" Pu Yali (a two-time envoy from Arabia). The foreign merchant family of Pu also sought marriage into the imperial clan.
Subordination of the military
Although there was a military version of the exam, it was neglected by the government. The importance of the regular imperial examinations in governance had the effect of subordinating the military to civil government. By the time of the Song dynasty, the two highest military posts of Minister of War and Chief of Staff were both reserved for civil servants. It became routine for civil officials to be appointed as front-line commanders in the army. The highest rank for a dedicated military career was reduced to unit commander. To further reduce the influence of military leaders, they were routinely reassigned at the end of a campaign, so that no lasting bond occurred between commander and soldier. The policy of appointing civil officials as ad hoc military leaders was maintained by both the Ming and Qing dynasties after the initial phase of conquest. Successful commanders entrenched solely in the military tradition such as
Yue Fei
Yue Fei ( zh, t=岳飛; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Song dynasty, Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song force ...
were viewed with distrust and apprehension. He was eventually executed by the Song government despite successfully leading Song forces against the Jin dynasty. It is possible that foreigners also looked down on Chinese military men in contrast to their civil counterparts. In 1042, the general
Fan Zhongyan
Fan Zhongyan (5 September 989 – 19 June 1052) from Wu County of Suzhou (Jiangsu Province, China), courtesy name Xiwen (), ratified as the Duke of Wenzheng () posthumously, and conferred as Duke of Chu () posthumously, was a Chinese poet, po ...
refused a military title because he thought it would demean him in the eyes of the
Tibetans
The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live ...
and
Tanguts
The Tangut people ( Tangut: , ''mjɨ nja̱'' or , ''mji dzjwo''; ; ; mn, Тангуд) were a Tibeto-Burman tribal union that founded and inhabited the Western Xia dynasty. The group initially lived under Tuyuhun authority, but later submitted t ...
. Although it negatively impacted the military's performance at times, the new relationship between the civil and military sectors of the government avoided the endemic military coups of preceding dynasties for the rest of imperial Chinese history.
Education
During the Tang period, a set curricular schedule took shape where the three steps of reading, writing, and the composition of texts had to be learnt before students could enter state academies. As the number of graduates increased, competition for government posts became more fierce. Whereas at the beginning of the Tang dynasty, there were few jinshi, during the Song dynasty, there were more than the government needed. Several reforms to education were suggested to thin the number of candidates and improve their quality. In 1044, Han Qi,
Fan Zhongyan
Fan Zhongyan (5 September 989 – 19 June 1052) from Wu County of Suzhou (Jiangsu Province, China), courtesy name Xiwen (), ratified as the Duke of Wenzheng () posthumously, and conferred as Duke of Chu () posthumously, was a Chinese poet, po ...
,
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu (; 1007 – 1072 CE), courtesy name Yongshu, also known by his art names Zuiweng () and Liu Yi Jushi (), was a Chinese historian, calligrapher, epigrapher, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty. He was a renowned writer a ...
, and
Song Qi
Song Qi (; 998–1061), courtesy name Zijing (子京), was a Chinese essayist, historian, politician, and poet of the Northern Song dynasty.
Imperial advisor
Song was a Grand Councilor in the Imperial Chinese court. In this role, he was called ...
implemented the
Qingli Reforms
The Qingli Reforms or Qingli New Deal (), or Qingli New Policies, also called Minor Reforms (小改革), took place in China’s Song dynasty under the leadership of Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu. Taking place from 1043 to 1045 and so called for fa ...
, which included hiring experts in the classics to teach at government schools, setting up schools in every prefecture, and requiring every candidate to have attended the prefectural school for at least 300 days to qualify for the prefectural exam. Prior to the Qingli Reforms, the role of the state was limited to supporting a few institutions, such as in 1022 when the government granted a prefectural school in Yanzhou with 151 acres of land. Some of the reformers directly participated in the creation of schools. Between 1035 and 1046, Fan Zhongyan and his followers set up 16 schools. Ouyang Xiu donated 1.5 million
cash
In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.
In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-imm ...
for the construction of a school in his home prefecture. Han Qi did the same as well. The Qingli Reforms were abandoned after only one year.
While the Qingli Reforms failed, the ideal of a statewide education system was taken up by
Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi ; ; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086), courtesy name Jiefu (), was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms k ...
(1021–1086), who proposed as part of his
New Policies
Late Qing reforms (), commonly known as New Policies of the late Qing dynasty (), or New Deal of the late Qing dynasty, simply referred to as New Policies, were a series of cultural, economic, educational, military, and political reforms implemen ...
that examinations alone were not enough to select talent. His answer to the glut of graduates was to found new schools (''shuyuan'') for the selection of officials, with the ultimate goal of replacing the examinations altogether by selecting officials directly from the school's students. An alternative path to office was introduced: the Three Hall system. The government expanded the
Taixue __NOTOC__
Taixue (Tai-shueh; ), or sometimes called the "Imperial Academy", "Imperial School", "Imperial University" or "Imperial Central University", was the highest rank of educational establishment in Ancient China created during the Han dynasty ...
(National University) and ordered each circuit to grant land to schools and to hire supervising teachers for them. In 1076, a special examination for teachers was introduced. Implementation of the reforms was uneven and slow. Of the 320 prefectures, only 53 had prefectural schools with supervising teachers by 1078 and only a few were given the ordered allotment of land. Wang died and his reforms languished until the early 12th century when
Emperor Huizong of Song
Emperor Huizong of Song (7 June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Northern Song dynasty of China. He was also a very well-known calligrapher. Born as the 11th son of Emperor Shenzong, he ascended the ...
injected more resources into the national education project. In 1102, Huizong and his chief councilor
Cai Jing
Cai Jing (1047–1126), courtesy name Yuanchang (), was a Chinese calligrapher and politician who lived during the Northern Song dynasty of China. He is also fictionalised as one of the primary antagonists in ''Water Margin'', one of the Four G ...
(1046–1126) decided to combine schools and examinations and make schools the focus of both education and recruitment. In 1103, the Taixue grew to 3,800 students with 200 in the upper hall, 600 in the lower hall, and 3,000 in the Biyong or outer hall. In 1104, students started being processed up the three-colleges (Three Hall) ranking system from the county school to the Taixue for direct appointment in the bureaucracy. In 1106, the "eight virtues" method of selection was introduced. The "eight virtues" method was to select and promote students based on eight varieties of virtuous conduct. By 1109, schools had received more than 100,000 ''jing'' of land (1.5 million acres), taken from the state granaries. Total student numbers were reported at 210,000 in 1104, 167,622 in 1109, and over 200,000 in 1116. At its height the Song education system included approximately 0.2% of its one hundred million people.
The new education policies were sometimes criticized and the importance of schools attacked.
Su Shi
Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
believed that educational institutions were nothing more than places for students to learn the necessary techniques to pass the imperial exams. Liu Ban (1023–1089) believed that an education at home was sufficient: "Education that scholars receive at home is sufficient for them to become talented people. Why do they need to turn to teachers in government schools to do so?" In 1078, a student of the Taixue, Yu Fan, submitted a memorial accusing the instructors of bias and improper teaching. In the following year,
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned fr ...
confirmed the accusations after a Censorate investigation. In 1112, a memorial criticized the prefectural and county schools for a variety of abuses. It accused the local supervisors of not understanding the goal of educating greater talent, wasting funds by buying excess food and drink, buying superfluous decorations, profiting by selling grain at market price, borrowing from students, and engaging in acts of violence towards officials. The "eight virtues" system received many complaints about its lack of academic rigor. In 1121, the local three-colleges system was dismantled and the local schools ordered to return land to the government.
The schools went into further decline starting from the Southern Song period (1127–1279) after the loss of the north to the Jin dynasty. The government was reluctant to fund them because they did not create immediate profits and as a result, cuts were made in teaching personnel, and the national university itself was reduced in size. The exception to this was in the 1140s when the court played an active role in reconstructing schools and made efforts to staff them with degree-holders. After this period, government involvement in state educational institutions ceased. According to contemporary complaints about the schools, they deteriorated in quality, were subjected to a variety of abuses and heterodox teaching, no teaching at all, and decline in revenue. Schools in imperial China never recovered from the decline starting from the Southern Song. For the rest of China's dynastic history, government funded academies functioned primarily as gateways to the examination system, and did not offer any real instruction to students. Functionally they were not schools but rather preparatory institutions for the examinations. Wang's goal of replacing the examinations was never realized. Although Wang's reforms fell short of their mark, they launched the first state led initiative to regulate the day to day education of its subjects through the appointment of teachers and funding of schools.
Primary education was relegated to private schools founded by kinship clusters during the Ming dynasty, although private teachers for individual households remained popular. Some schools were charity projects of the imperial government. The government also funded specialized schools for each of the Eight Banners to teach the
Manchu language
Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China.
As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dyn ...
and Chinese. None of these institutions had a standardized curriculum or age of admission.
Surplus graduates
The problem of surplus graduates became especially acute starting from the 18th century. Due to the long period of peace established by the Qing dynasty, a large number of candidates were able to make significant progress in their studies and apply for the exams. Their papers were all of similar quality so that examiners found it difficult to differentiate them and make their selections. Officials began to think of new ways to eliminate candidates rather than how to select the best scholars. A complicated set of formal requirements for the examinations was created which undermined the whole system.
Failed candidates
Inevitably a large number of candidates failed the exams, often repeatedly. During the Tang period, the ratio of success to failure in the palace exam was 1:100 or 2:100. In the Song dynasty, the ratio of success to failure for the metropolitan exam was about 1:50. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, success to failure for the provincial exam was about 1:100. For every shengyuan in the country, only one in three thousand would ever become a jinshi. While most candidates were men of certain means, those from poor families risked everything on passing the exams. Ambitious and talented candidates who suffered repeated failures felt the bite of indignation, and failure escalated from disappointment to desperation, and sometimes even revolt.
Huang Chao
Huang Chao (835 – July 13, 884) was a Chinese smuggler, soldier, and rebel, and is most well known for being the leader of a major rebellion that severely weakened the Tang dynasty.
Huang was a Salt in Chinese history, salt smuggler before ...
led a massive rebellion in the late Tang dynasty, after it had already been weakened by the
An Lushan
An Lushan (; 20th day of the 1st month 19 February 703 – 29 January 757) was a general in the Tang dynasty and is primarily known for instigating the An Lushan Rebellion.
An Lushan was of Sogdian and Göktürk origin,Yang, Zhijiu, "An Lushan ...
rebellion. He was born to a wealthy family in western Shandong. After repeated failures he created a secret society that engaged in illicit salt trading. Although Huang Chao's rebellion was ultimately defeated, it led to the final disintegration of the Tang dynasty. Among Huang Chao's cohort were other failed candidates such as Li Zhen, who targeted government officials, killed them and threw their bodies into the
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...
.
Zhang Yuanhao Zhang may refer to:
Chinese culture, etc.
* Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname
** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname
* Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu
* Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan
* Zhang ...
of the Northern Song defected to
Western Xia
The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...
after failing the examinations. He aided the
Tanguts
The Tangut people ( Tangut: , ''mjɨ nja̱'' or , ''mji dzjwo''; ; ; mn, Тангуд) were a Tibeto-Burman tribal union that founded and inhabited the Western Xia dynasty. The group initially lived under Tuyuhun authority, but later submitted t ...
in setting up a Chinese-style court. Niu Jinxing of the late Ming was a general in
Li Zicheng
Li Zicheng (22 September 1606 – 1645), born Li Hongji, also known by the nickname, Dashing King, was a Chinese peasant rebel leader who overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and ruled over northern China briefly as the emperor of the short-li ...
's rebel army. Having failed to become a jinshi, he targeted high officials and members of the royal family, butchering them as retribution.
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
led the mid-19th-century
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
against the Qing dynasty. After his fourth and final attempt at the shengyuan exam, he had a nervous breakdown, during which he had visions of a heaven where he was part of a celestial family. Influenced by the teachings of Christian missionaries, Hong announced to his family and followers that his visions had been of God, his father, and Jesus Christ, his brother. He created the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, later shortened to the Heavenly Kingdom or Heavenly Dynasty, was an unrecognised rebel kingdom in China and a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Qi ...
and waged war on the Qing dynasty, devastating parts of southeast China which would not recover for decades.
Pu Songling
Pu Songling (, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi'').
Biography
Pu was born into a poor merchant family from Z ...
(1640–1715) failed the examination multiple times. He immortalized the frustrations of candidates trapped in the relentless system in numerous stories that parodied the system.
General discussion of late imperial system
Reformers charged that the set format of the "
eight-legged essay
The eight-legged essay ()
was a style of essay in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The eight-legged essay was needed for those candidates in these civil service tests to show their merits for government service, ...
" stifled original thought and satirists portrayed the rigidity of the system in novels such as '' The Scholars''. In the twentieth century, the
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement () was a movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern and western ideals like democracy and science. Arising out of ...
portrayed the examination system as a cause for China's weakness in such stories as
Lu Xun
Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. W ...
's "
Kong Yiji
"Kong Yiji" () is a short-story by Lu Xun, the founder of modern Chinese literature. The story was originally published in the journal ''New Youth'' (Chinese: 新青年) in April 1919 and was later included in Lu Xun's first collection of short ...
". Some have suggested that limiting the topics prescribed in examination system removed the incentives for Chinese intellectuals to learn mathematics or to conduct experimentation, perhaps contributing to the
Great Divergence
The Great Divergence or European miracle is the socioeconomic shift in which the Western world (i.e. Western Europe and the parts of the New World where its people became the dominant populations) overcame pre-modern growth constraints and em ...
, in which China's scientific and economic development fell behind Europe.
However, the political and ethical theories of Confucian classical curriculum have also been likened to the
classical studies
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
of
humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
in European nations which proved instrumental in selecting an "all-rounded" top-level leadership. British and French civil service examinations adopted in the late 19th century were also heavily based on Greco-Roman classical subjects and general cultural studies, as well as assessing personal physique and character. US leaders included "virtue" such as reputation and support for the
US constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
as a criterion for government service. These features have been compared to similar aspects of the earlier Chinese model. In the British civil service, just as it was in China, entrance to the civil service was usually based on a general education in ancient classics, which similarly gave bureaucrats greater prestige. The
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...
ideal of the civil service was identical to the Confucian ideal of a general education in world affairs through humanism. Well into the 20th century, classics, literature, history and language remained heavily favoured in British civil service examinations. In the period 1925–1935, 67 percent of British civil service entrants consisted of such graduates.
In
late imperial China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
, the examination system was the primary mechanism by which the central government captured and held the loyalty of local-level elites. Their loyalty, in turn, ensured the integration of the Chinese state, and countered tendencies toward regional autonomy and the breakup of the centralized system. The examination system distributed its prizes according to provincial and prefectural quotas, which meant that imperial officials were recruited from the whole country, in numbers roughly proportional to each province's population. Elite individuals all over China, even in the disadvantaged peripheral regions, had a chance at succeeding in the examinations and achieving the rewards and emoluments office brought.
The examination-based civil service thus promoted stability and
social mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...
. The
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
-based examinations meant that the local elites and ambitious would-be members of those elites across the whole of China were taught with similar values. Even though only a small fraction (about 5 percent) of those who attempted the examinations actually passed them and even fewer received titles, the hope of eventual success sustained their commitment. Those who failed to pass did not lose wealth or local social standing; as dedicated believers in Confucian orthodoxy, they served, without the benefit of state appointments, as civilian teachers, patrons of the arts, and managers of local projects, such as irrigation works, schools, or charitable foundations.
Taking the exams
Requirements
During the Tang dynasty, candidates were either recommended by their schools or had to register for exams at their home prefecture. By the Song dynasty, theoretically all adult Chinese men were eligible for the examinations. The only requirement was education.
In practice, a number of official and unofficial restrictions applied to who was able to take the imperial exams. The commoners were divided into four groups according to occupation: scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Beneath the common people were the so-called "mean" people such as boat-people, beggars, sex-workers, entertainers, slaves, and low-level government employees. Among the forms of discrimination faced by the "mean" people were restriction from government office and the credential to take the imperial exam. Certain ethnic groups or castes such as the "degraded" Jin dynasty outcasts in
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, around 3,000 people, were barred from taking the imperial exams as well. Women were excluded from taking the exams. Butchers and sorcerers were also excluded at times. Merchants were restricted from taking the exams until the Ming and Qing dynasties, although as early as 955, the
scholar-officials
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
themselves were involved in trading activities.Gernet, Jacques (1962). ''Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276''. Translated by H. M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 68–69 During the Sui and Tang dynasties, artisans were also restricted from official service. During the Song dynasty, artisans, merchants, clerks, and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
priests were specifically excluded from the ''jinshi'' exam; and, in the Liao dynasty, physicians, diviners, butchers, and merchants were all prohibited from taking the examinations, citing ''Liao-shih''. At times, quota systems were also used to restrict the number of candidates allowed to take or to pass the imperial civil service examinations, by region or by other criteria.
Aside from official restrictions, there was also the economic problem faced by men of poorer means. The route to a jinshi degree was long and the competition fierce. Men who achieved a jinshi degree in their twenties were considered extremely fortunate. Someone who obtained a jinshi degree in their thirties, the average age of jinshi candidates, was also considered on schedule. Both were expected to study continuously for years without interruption. Without the necessary financial support, studying for the exams would have been an impractical task. After completing their studies, candidates also had to pay for travel and lodging expenses, not to mention thank-you gifts for the examiners and tips for the staff. A jinshi candidate required someone in the bureaucracy to act as his patron to vouch for their integrity. Banquets and entertainment also had to be paid for. As a result of these expenses, the nurturing of a candidate was a common burden for the whole family.
Procedures
Each candidate arrived at an examination compound with only a few amenities: a water pitcher, a
chamber pot
A chamber pot is a portable toilet, meant for nocturnal use in the bedroom. It was common in many cultures before the advent of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets.
Names and etymology
"Chamber" is an older term for bedroom. The chamber pot ...
, bedding, food (prepared by the examinee), an
inkstone
An inkstone is traditional Chinese stationery. It is a stone mortar for the grinding and containment of ink. In addition to stone, inkstones are also manufactured from clay, bronze, iron, and porcelain. The device evolved from a rubbing tool us ...
,
ink
Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...
and
brushes
A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...
. Guards verified a student's identity and searched him for hidden texts such as cheat sheets. The facilities provided for the examinee consisted of an isolated room or cell with a makeshift bed, desk, and bench. Each examinee was assigned to a cell according to their number. Paper was provided by the examiners and stamped with an official seal. The examinees of the Ming and Qing periods could take up to three days and two nights writing "
eight-legged essay
The eight-legged essay ()
was a style of essay in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The eight-legged essay was needed for those candidates in these civil service tests to show their merits for government service, ...
s"—literary compositions with eight distinct sections. Interruptions and outside communication were forbidden for the duration of the exam. If a candidate died, officials wrapped his body in a straw mat and tossed it over the high walls that ringed the compound.
At the end of the examination, answer sheets were processed by the sealing office. The Ming-era ''
The Book of Swindles
''The Book of Swindles'' (''Piàn jīng'' 騙經), also known by its longer title, ''A New Book for Foiling Swindlers, Based on Worldly Experience'' (''Jiānghú lìlǎn dùpiàn xīnshū'' 江湖歷覽杜騙新書), is said to be the first publi ...
'' (c. 1617) contains an entire section of stories about "Corruption in Education", most of which involve swindlers exploiting exam-takers' desperate attempts to bribe the examiner. Exact quotes from
the classics
The Classics were an American vocal group formed in 1958 in Brooklyn.
The Classics first sang together in high school; two of them had previously sung in a group called The Del-Rays. In 1959, under the auspices of manager Jim Gribble, they record ...
were required; misquoting even one character or writing it in the wrong form meant failure, so candidates went to great lengths to bring hidden copies of these texts with them, sometimes written on their underwear.
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...
holds an example of a Qing dynasty cheatsheet, a handkerchief with 10,000 characters of Confucian classics in microscopically small handwriting.
To prevent cheating, the sealing office erased any information about the candidate found on the paper and assigned a number to each candidate's papers. Persons in the copy office then recopied the entire text three times so that the examiners would not be able to identify the author. The first review was carried out by an examining official, and the papers were then handed over to a secondary examining official and to an examiner, either the chief examiner or one of several vice examiners. Judgments by the first and second examining official were checked again by a determining official, who fixed the final grade. Working with the team of examiners were a legion of gate supervisors, registrars, sealers, copyists and specialist assessors of literature.
Pu Songling
Pu Songling (, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi'').
Biography
Pu was born into a poor merchant family from Z ...
, a Qing dynasty satirist, described the "seven transformations of the candidate":
Ceremonies
The middle of the stairs of the main hall of the imperial palace during the Tang and Song dynasties were carved with an image of the mythical turtle Ao (). When the list of successful candidates of the palace examination was published, all the names of the graduates were read aloud in the presence of the emperor, and recorded in the archival documents of the dynasty. Graduates were given a green gown, a tablet as a symbol of status, and boots. The first ranked scholar received the title of Zhuàngyuán () and stood in the middle of the stairs on the carving of Ao. This gave rise to the phrase "to have seized Ao's head" ( ''zhàn ào tóu''), or "to have alone seized Ao's head" ( ''dú zhàn àotóu'') to describe a Zhuàngyuán, and more generally to refer to someone who excels in a certain field.
Privileges
''Shengyuan'' degree holders were given some general tax exemptions. Metropolitan exam graduates were allowed to buy themselves free of exile in cases of crime and to decrease the number of blows with the stick for a fee. Other than the title of jinshi, graduates of the palace examination were also exempted from all taxes and
corvée
Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year.
Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...
labour.
Post-examination appointments
Graduates of the prefectural examination qualified for employment as teachers in local or family schools, as administrators of granaries or temples, and as subofficial local administrators. The top three graduates of the palace examinations were directly appointed to the Hanlin Academy. Lower ranked graduates could be appointed to offices like Hanlin bachelor, secretaries, messengers in the
Ministry of Rites
The Ministry or Board of Rites was one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China. It was part of the imperial Chinese government from the Tang (7th century) until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Along with religious rituals and cour ...
, case reviewers, erudites, prefectural judges, prefects or county magistrates (zhixian ).
During the Tang dynasty, successful candidates reported to the
Ministry of Personnel
The Ministry of Personnel was one of the Six Ministries under the Department of State Affairs in imperial China, Korea, and Vietnam.
Functions
Under the Ming, the Ministry of Personnel was in charge of civil appointments, merit ratings, promoti ...
for placement examinations. Unassigned officials and honorary title holders were expected to take placement examinations at regular intervals. Non-assigned status could last a very long time especially when waiting for a substantive appointment. After being assigned to office, a junior official was given an annual merit rating. There was no specified term limit, but most junior officials served for at least three years or more in one post. Senior officials served indefinitely at the pleasure of the emperor.
In the Song dynasty, successful candidates were appointed to office almost immediately and waiting periods between appointments were not long. Between 60 and 80 percent of the civil service was composed of low-ranking officials. They all started their careers in counties not in their home prefecture. These assignments lasted three to four years before they were reassigned to another locality and position. Annual merit ratings were still taken but officials could request evaluation for reassignment. Officials who wished to escape harsh assignments often requested reassignment as a state supervisor of a
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
temple or monastery. Senior officials in the capital also sometimes nominated themselves for the position of prefect in obscure prefectures.
Recruitment by examination during the Yuan dynasty constituted a very minor part of the Yuan administration. Hereditary Mongol nobility formed the elite nucleus of the government. Initially the Mongols drew administrators from their subjects. In 1261,
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
ordered the establishment of Mongolian schools to draw officials from. The School for the Sons of the State was established in 1271 to give two or three years of training for the sons of the Imperial Bodyguards so that they might become suitable for official recruitment.
Recruitment by examination flourished after 1384 in the Ming dynasty. Provincial graduates were sometimes appointed to low-ranking offices or entered the Guozijian for further training, after which they might be considered for better appointments. Before appointment to office, metropolitan graduates were assigned to observe the functions of an office for up to one year. The maximum tenure for an office was nine years, but triennial evaluations were also taken, at which point an official could be reassigned. Magistrates of districts submitted monthly evaluation reports to their prefects and the prefects submitted annual evaluations to provincial authorities. Every third year, provincial authorities submitted evaluations to the central government, at which point an "outer evaluation" was conducted, requiring local administration to send representatives to attend a grand audience at the capital. Officials at the capital conducted an evaluation every six years. Capital officials of rank 4 and above were exempted from regular evaluations. Irregular evaluations were conducted by censorial officials.
Graduates of the metropolitan examination during the Qing dynasty were assured influential posts in the officialdom. The Ministry of Personnel submitted a list of nominees to the emperor, who then decided all major appointments in the capital and in the provinces in consultation with the Grand Council. Appointments were generally on a three-year basis with an evaluation at the end and the option for renewal. Officials rank three and above were personally evaluated by the emperor. Due to a population boom in the early modern era, qualified men far exceeded vacancies in the bureaucracy so that many waited for years between active duty assignments. Purchase of office became a common practice during the 19th century since it was very hard for qualified men to be appointed to one of the very limited number of posts. Even receiving empty titles with no active assignment required a monetary contribution.
Institutions
Ministry of Rites
The
Ministry of Rites
The Ministry or Board of Rites was one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China. It was part of the imperial Chinese government from the Tang (7th century) until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Along with religious rituals and cour ...
, under the
Department of State Affairs
The Shangshu Sheng (), sometimes translated as the Department of State Affairs or the Imperial Secretariat, was one of the departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure. It was the primary executive institution of i ...
, was responsible for organizing and carrying out the imperial examinations.
Hanlin Academy
The
Hanlin Academy
The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an.
Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed sec ...
was an institution created during the reign of
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756 CE. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the early ...
(r. 712–755). It was located directly in the palace compound and staffed by officials who drafted official documents such as edicts. These officials, commonly appointed from the top three ranks of the palace examination graduates, came to be known as
academicians
An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...
(''xueshi'') after 738, when a new building was constructed to provide them living quarters. The title "academician" was not only for the staff of the Hanlin Academy, but any special assignment to special posts. The number of academicians in the Hanlin Academy was fixed to six at a later date and they were given the task of doing paperwork and consulting the emperor. The Hanlin Academy drafted documents about the appointment and dismissal of high ministers, proclamation of amnesties, and imperial military commands. It also aided the emperor in reading documents.
The number of Hanlin academicians was reduced to two during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
. During the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
, a Hanlin Academy just for Mongols was created to translate documents. More emphasis was put on the oversight of imperial publications such as dynastic histories.
In the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, the number of posts in the Hanlin Academy increased immensely and a
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
official was installed at all times. The posts became purely honorary and the institution was reduced to just another stepping stone for persons seeking higher positions in the government. Lower officials in the Hanlin Academy often had other posts at the same time.
Taixue
The
Taixue __NOTOC__
Taixue (Tai-shueh; ), or sometimes called the "Imperial Academy", "Imperial School", "Imperial University" or "Imperial Central University", was the highest rank of educational establishment in Ancient China created during the Han dynasty ...
(''National University''), was the highest educational institution in imperial China. During the reign of
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...
(r. 141–87 BC),
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
was adopted as the state doctrine. The Confucian scholar
Dong Zhongshu
Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Han Dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state. He apparently favored ...
suggested establishing a National University (''Taixue'') in the capital,
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...
, so that erudites could teach the Classics. Teaching at the Taixue was a prestigious job because the emperor commonly picked from among them for appointment in high offices. At first the Taixue had only 50 students but increased to around 3,000 by the end of the millennium. Under the reign of
Wang Mang
Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only Emperor of China, emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later ...
(r. 9–23 AD), two other educational institutions called the Biyong and Mingtang were established south of the city walls, each able to house 10,000 students. The professors and students were able to exercise some political power by criticizing their opponents such as governors and eunuchs. This eventually led to the arrest of more than 1,000 professors and students by the eunuchs.
After the collapse of the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, the Taixue was reduced to just 19 teaching positions and 1,000 students but climbed back to 7,000 students under the
Jin dynasty (266–420)
The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had pr ...
. After the nine rank system was introduced, a "Directorate of Education" (''Guozijian'') was created for persons rank five and above, effectively making it the educational institution for nobles, while the Taixue was relegated to teaching commoners. Over the next two centuries, the Guozijian became the primary educational institute in the
Southern Dynasties
The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...
. The
Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...
and
Northern Dynasties
The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Jin dynasty (266–420)#Eastern Jin, Eastern Jin dy ...
also created their own schools but they were only available for sons and relatives of high officials. The
Northern Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties ...
dynasty founded the Primary School of Four Gates.
During the
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
, a Law School, Arithmetics School, and Calligraphy School were put under the administration of the Guozijian. These schools accepted the relatives of officials rank eight and below while the Taixue, Guozijian, and Four Gates School served higher ranks. By the start of the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
(618-907), 300 students were enrolled in the Guozijian, 500 at the Taixue, 1,300 at the Four Gates School, 50 at the Law School, and a mere 30 at the Calligraphy and Arithmetics Schools.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang
Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi, was the third emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife Empress Wu (the f ...
(r. 649–683), founded a second Guozijian in
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...
. The average age of admission was 14 to 19 but 18 to 25 for the Law School. Students of these institutions who applied for the state examinations had their names transmitted to the
Ministry of Rites
The Ministry or Board of Rites was one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China. It was part of the imperial Chinese government from the Tang (7th century) until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Along with religious rituals and cour ...
, which was also responsible for their appointment to a government post.
During the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
,
Emperor Renzong of Song
Emperor Renzong of Song (30 May 1010 – 30 April 1063), personal name Zhao Zhen, was the fourth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned for about 41 years from 1022 to his death in 1063, and was the longest reigning Song dynasty empe ...
founded a new Taixue at
Kaifeng
Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...
with 200 students enrolled.
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned fr ...
(r. 1067–1085) raised the number of students to 2,400. He also implemented the "three-colleges law" (''sanshefa'' 三舍法) in 1079, which divided the Taixue into three colleges. Under the three-colleges law, students first attended the Outer College, then the Inner College, and finally the Superior College. One of the aims of the three-colleges was to provide a more balanced education for students and to de-emphasize Confucian learning. Students were taught in only one of the Confucian classics, depending on the college, as well as arithmetics and medicine. Students of the Outer College who passed a public and institutional examination were allowed to enter the Inner College. At the Inner College there were two exams over a two-year period on which the students were graded. Those who achieved the superior grade on both exams were directly appointed to office equal to that of a metropolitan exam graduate. Those who achieved an excellent grade on one exam but slightly worse on the other could still be considered for promotion, and having a good grade in one exam but mediocre in another still awarded merit equal to that of a provincial exam graduate.
In 1104, the prefectural examinations were abolished in favor of the three-colleges system, which required each prefecture to send an annual quota of students to the Taixue. This drew criticism from some officials who claimed that the new system benefited the rich and young, and was less fair because the relatives of officials could enroll without being examined for their skills. In 1121, the local three-college system was abolished but retained at the national level. For a time, the national examination system was also abandoned in favor of directly appointing students of the Taixue to government posts. The Taixue itself did not survive the demise of the Song dynasty and ceased to exist afterwards, becoming a synonym for the Guozijian.
Guozijian
The
Guozijian
The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui ...
(''Directorate of Education'') was founded under
Emperor Wu of Jin
Emperor Wu of Jin (; 236 – 16 May 290), personal name Sima Yan (), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was the grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan, ...
(r. 265–289) to educate the nobility. Under the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, the Guozijian became the central administrative institution for all state schools throughout the empire. Among its duties were the maintenance of the buildings, the construction of new facilities, and the promotion of students. The Guozijian itself was equipped with a library and printing shop to create model printing blocks for distribution. The Guozijian was abolished in 1907.
Organization
The examinations were given a formal structure and tier system during the Song dynasty but the exact number of tiers, their titles, degrees awarded, and names differed depending on era and dynasty. Sometimes examinations of the same tier from different dynasties had different names. For example, the palace examination was called ''dianshi'' or ''yushi'' during the Song, but ''tingshi'' in the Ming and the metropolitan examination was ''shengshi'' in the Song and ''huishi'' in the Jin, Yuan, and Ming. In other cases, examinations of different tiers used the same name. ''Fushi'' in the Liao meant prefectural examination but provincial examination in the Jin. The lowest tier exam was usually held annually while higher tier exams held triennially. Tight quotas restricted the number of successful candidates at each level—for example, only three hundred students could pass the metropolitan examinations. Students often took the examinations several times before earning a degree.
* Entry-level examinations were held annually and accessible to educated individuals from their early teenage years. These were held locally and were collectively called ''Tóngshēng shì'' (, "Child Exam") or ''Tóngshì'' (). ''Tóngshì'' was broken down hierarchically into the ''Xiànshì'' (, "County Exam"), the ''Fǔshì'' (, "Prefectural exam") or ''Jiěshì'' (), and ''Yuànshì'' (, "college exam").
* Provincial exams: ''Xiāngshì'' (), ''Fǔshì'' () – "township exam" – held every three years in provincial capitals.
* Metropolitan exams: ''Huìshì'' (), ''Shěngshì'' (), ''Lǐbùshì'' () – "conference exam" – held every three years in the national capital.
* Palace exams: ''Diànshì'' (), ''Yùshì'' (), ''Tíngshì'' () – "court exam" – held every three years in the Imperial palace and often supervised by the emperor himself.
Degree types
By the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
, the examinations and degrees formed a "ladder of success", with success generally being equated with being graduated as ''
jinshi
''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...
'', a degree similar to a modern Doctor of Literature degree, or
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
. Modifications to the basic ''jinshi'' or other degree were made for higher-placing graduates, similar to the modern
Summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
. The examination process extended down to the county level, and included examinations at the provincial and national levels. The highest level tests would be at the imperial court or palace level, of which the ''jinshi'' was the highest regular level, although special purpose tests were occasionally offered, by imperial decree:
* ''Tongsheng'' (, lit. "child student"), an entry-level examinee who had passed the county/prefecture exams.
* ''Shengyuan'' (, lit. "student member"), also commonly called ''xiucai'' (, lit. "distinguished talent"), an entry-level licentiate who had passed the college exam. ''Xiucai'' enjoyed officially sanctioned social privileges such as exemption from
statute labour
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
, access into local government facilities and limited immunity against corporal punishments. They were further divided into three classes according to exam performance.
** ''Linsheng'' (, lit. "granary student"), the first class of ''shengyuan'', who were the best performers in the college exam, and got to receive government-issued rations and pay for their academic achievements. The top performers within this class would get accepted into the Imperial Academy as gongsheng (, lit. "tribute student"), who will then be eligible to sit the provincial or even the national exam directly.
*** ''Anshou'' (, lit. "first on the desk"), the highest ranking ''linsheng'', and thus the top ''shengyuan'' who ranked first in college exam.
** ''Zengsheng'' (, lit. "expanded student"), the second class of ''shengyuan'', who performed less well than ''linsheng'' and enjoyed similar legal perks, but not the material allowance.
** ''Fusheng'' (, lit. "attached student"), the third class of ''shengyuan'' and considered substitute recruits outside the official quota of enrollment. They were considered passable in exams but needed more improvements.
* ''
Juren
''Juren'' (; 'recommended man') was a rank achieved by people who passed the ''xiangshi'' () exam in the imperial examination system of imperial China. The ''xiangshi'' is also known, in English, as the provincial examination. It was a rank high ...
'' (, lit. "recommended man"), a qualified graduate who passed the triennial provincial exam.
** ''Jieyuan'' (, lit. "top escorted examinee"), the ''juren'' who ranked first in provincial exam.
* ''Gongshi'' (, lit. "tribute scholar"), a recognized scholarly achiever who passed the triennial national exam.
** ''Huiyuan'' (, lit. "top conference examinee"), the ''gongshi'' who ranked first in national exam.
* ''
Jinshi
''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...
'' (, lit. "advanced scholar"), a graduate who passed the triennial court exam.
** ''Jinshi Jidi'' (, lit. "distinguished ''jinshi''"), graduates ranked first class in the court exam, usually only the top three individuals were qualified for this title.
*** ''
Zhuangyuan
''Zhuangyuan'', or ''trạng nguyên'' in Vietnamese, variously translated into English as principal graduate, primus, or optimus, was the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Imperial examination, (i ...
'' (, lit. "top thesis author"), the ''jinshi'' who ranked first overall nationwide.
*** ''Bangyan'' (, lit. "eyes positioned alongside"), the ''jinshi'' who ranked second overall just below ''zhuangyuan''.
*** ''Tanhua'' (, lit. "flower snatcher"), the ''jinshi'' ranked third overall.
** ''Jinshi Chushen'' (, lit. "''jinshi'' background"), the graduates who ranked second class in court exam, ranking immediately after the ''tanhua''.
** ''Tong Jinshi Chushen'' (, lit. "along with ''jinshi'' background"), graduates ranked third class in the court exam.
Other examinations
Classicist
The classicist (''mingjing'') originated as a category for recruitment by local authorities to the appointment of state offices. The term was created during the Han dynasty under
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...
for candidates eligible for official appointment or for enrolment in the
Taixue __NOTOC__
Taixue (Tai-shueh; ), or sometimes called the "Imperial Academy", "Imperial School", "Imperial University" or "Imperial Central University", was the highest rank of educational establishment in Ancient China created during the Han dynasty ...
. Classicists were expected to be familiar with the Confucian canon and the
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
text ''
Laozi
Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state
...
Southern Dynasties
The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...
for filling places in the Taixue.
During the Sui dynasty, examinations for classicists and cultivated talents were introduced. Unlike cultivated talents, classicists were only tested on the Confucian canon, which was considered an easy task at the time, so those who passed were awarded posts in the lower rungs of officialdom. Classicists were tested by being presented phrases from the classic texts. They then had to write the whole paragraph to complete the phrase. If the examinee was able to correctly answer five of ten questions, they passed. This was considered such an easy task that a 30-year-old candidate was said to be old for a classicist examinee, but young to be a jinshi. An oral version of the classicist examination known as ''moyi'' also existed but consisted of 100 questions rather than just ten. In contrast, the jinshi examination tested not only the Confucian classics, but also history, proficiency in compiling official documents, inscriptions, discursive treatises, memorials, and poems and rhapsodies. In 742, Laozi was replaced in the examination by the glossary
Erya
The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. Bernhard Karlgren (1931:49) concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC."
Title
Chinese scholars interpret the first title chara ...
. In 1071,
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned fr ...
(r. 1067–1085) abolished the classicist as well as various other examinations on law and arithmetics.
Cultivated talent
The cultivated talent (''xiucai'') originated in the Han dynasty when Emperor Wu of Han declared that each province had to present one cultivated talent per year to be appointed in the government. During the Sui dynasty, examinations for "cultivated talents" were introduced. They were tested on matters of statecraft and the Confucian canon. This type of examination was very limited in its implementation and there were only 11 or 12 graduates throughout its entire history. During the Song dynasty, cultivated talent became a general title for graduates of the state examinations.
Strategic questions
The strategic questions examination (''cewen'') was a question-and-answer type essay examination introduced during the Han dynasty. The purpose of the exam was to ensure examinees could apply Confucian doctrine to practical matters of statecraft. A question on a problematic political issue was asked and the examinee was expected to answer it according to his own opinion and how the issue could be resolved. The strategic questions examination became obsolete during the Ming dynasty due to the prevalence of the eight-legged essay.
Military
During the reign of Wu Zetian the imperial government created military examinations for the selection of army officers as a response to the breakdown of garrison militias known as the
Fubing system
The ''fubing'' system () was a local militia system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China from the 6th to 8th centuries AD, originating in the Western Wei, Western Wei dynasty and subsequently adopted by the Northern Zhou, Sui dynasty, ...
. The first formal military examinations (武舉 Wǔjǔ) were introduced in 702. The military examinations had the same general arrangement as the regular exams, with provincial, metropolitan and palace versions of the exams. Successful candidates were awarded military versions of Jinshi and Juren degrees: ''Wujinshi'' () and ''Wujuren'' (), and so on.
The military exam included both a written and physical portion. In theory, candidates were supposed to master not only the same Confucian texts as required by the civil exam, but also
Chinese military texts
Chinese military texts have existed ever since Chinese civilization was founded. China's armies have long benefited from this rich strategic tradition, influenced by texts such as Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'', that have deeply influenced militar ...
such as ''
The Art of War
''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is com ...
'', in addition to martial skills such as archery and horsemanship. The district exam was conducted by the
county magistrate
County magistrate ( or ) sometimes called local magistrate, in imperial China was the official in charge of the ''xian'', or county, the lowest level of central government. The magistrate was the official who had face-to-face relations with the ...
and consisted of three sessions.
The first session tested mounted archery by having candidates shoot three arrows while riding a horse toward a target at a distance of 35 and 80 paces. The target was in the shape of a man 1.6 meters high. A perfect score was three hits, a good score two, and one hit earned a pass. Those who fell off their horse or failed to score even one hit were eliminated. The second session was held in a garden at the prefectural office. Candidates were ordered to shoot five arrows at a target at 50 paces. Again, five hits were graded excellent while one hit earned a pass. Next they had to bend a bow into the shape of a full moon. The bows were graded by strength into 72 kg, 60 kg, and 48 kg weapons. Bending a 72 kg bow was excellent while bending a 48 kg bow earned a pass. Then they were ordered to perform a number of exercises with a halberd without it touching the ground. The halberds were graded by weight from 72 kg to 48 kg, with the lowest grade weapon earning a pass. For the final portion of the second session, candidates were required to lift a stone 35 cm off the ground. Lifting a 180 kg stone earned an excellent grade, a 150 kg stone good, and a 120 kg stone passing.
The third session involved writing out by memory entire portions of the
Seven Military Classics
The Seven Military Classics () were seven important military texts of ancient China, which also included Sun-tzu's ''The Art of War''. The texts were canonized under this name during the 11th century AD, and from the time of the Song dynasty, wer ...
, but only three of the classics were ever used, those being ''The Methods of the Sima'', the ''
Wuzi
The ''Wuzi'' () is a classic Chinese work on military strategy attributed to Wu Qi. It is considered one of China's Seven Military Classics.
It is said there were two books on the art of war by Wu Qi, but one was lost, hence leaving the ''Wuzi' ...
'', and ''The Art of War''. Even just memorizing the reduced portion of the classics was too difficult for most military examinees, who resorted to cheating and bringing with them miniature books to copy, a behavior the examiners let slide owing to the greater weighting of the first two sessions. In some cases the examinees still made mistakes while copying the text word for word. The contents of the military exam were largely the same at the prefectural, provincial, metropolitan, and palace levels, with the only difference being tougher grading.
Military degrees were considered inferior to civil degrees and did not carry the same prestige. The names of civil ''jinshi'' were carved in marble whereas military ''jinshi'' were not. While the military and civil services were imagined in Chinese political philosophy as the two wheels of a
chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
, in practice, the military examination degree was highly regarded by neither the army or the world at large. Soldiers preferred not having military exam graduates as commanders whose skills in test taking did not necessarily transfer to the army. Final decision for appointment in the military still came down to forces outside the examination system. For example, at the beginning of 755,
An Lushan
An Lushan (; 20th day of the 1st month 19 February 703 – 29 January 757) was a general in the Tang dynasty and is primarily known for instigating the An Lushan Rebellion.
An Lushan was of Sogdian and Göktürk origin,Yang, Zhijiu, "An Lushan ...
replaced 32 Han Chinese commanders with his own barbarian favorites without any repercussions. During the Qing dynasty, the pre-existing institutions of the
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners (in Manchu language, Manchu: ''jakūn gūsa'', ) were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu people, Manchu households ...
and
Green Standard Army
The Green Standard Army (; Manchu: ''niowanggiyan turun i kūwaran'') was the name of a category of military units under the control of Qing dynasty in China. It was made up mostly of ethnic Han soldiers and operated concurrently with the Manchu- ...
had their own rules for promotion and left little room for military exam graduates. Some of the few military examination graduates who did achieve distinction include the Tang general
Guo Ziyi
Guo Ziyi (Kuo Tzu-i; Traditional Chinese: 郭子儀, Simplified Chinese: 郭子仪, Hanyu Pinyin: Guō Zǐyí, Wade-Giles: Kuo1 Tzu3-i2) (697 – July 9, 781), posthumously Prince Zhōngwǔ of Fényáng (), was a Chinese military general and pol ...
, the father of the founder of the Song dynasty
Zhao Hongyin
Zhao Hongyin () (899-956) was a military general in Imperial China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
After his death, his son Zhao Kuangyin founded the Song dynasty in 960. His other son Zhao Kuangyi would also become a Song emperor. Fo ...
, Ming generals
Yu Dayou
Yu Dayou (1503–1579), courtesy name Zhifu, art name Xujiang, was a Chinese general and martial artist best known for countering the ''wokou'' pirates along China's southeastern coast during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty. ...
and
Qi Jiguang
Qi Jiguang (, November 12, 1528 – January 17, 1588), courtesy name Yuanjing, art names Nantang and Mengzhu, posthumous name Wuyi, was a Chinese military general and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is best known for leading the defense on the ...
, and Ming general turned traitor
Wu Sangui
Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a notorious Ming Dynasty military officer who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty in China. In Chinese ...
. However these are but a minuscule number among those who passed the 282 military metropolitan exams held between their inception in 702 and abolishment in 1901. Even in desperate times of war, the majority of distinguished military figures in Chinese history have come from civil degree holders. The practices of the Ming and Qing military exams were incorporated into physical education in the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
.
Translation
During the Qing dynasty, translation examinations were held for young men from the Eight Banners who held no military post.
Manchus
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Q ...
, Mongols and Chinese Bannermen were allowed to participate in the Manchu exam while the Mongolian exam was restricted to Mongol Bannermen. The examinees did not take the examinations expecting to become translators. The content of the exam consisted of material from the Manchu or Mongol versions of the Four Books and the Five Classics, while only a minor part of the exam consisted of translation from Chinese into Manchu or Mongolian. Three levels of the exam were implemented but there was no palace examination. The quota on the provincial level was 33 persons for the Manchu, and 9 for the Mongolian examination. The number of graduates declined to just 7 and 3 persons, respectively, in 1828, and 4 and 1 in 1837. In 1840 the Mongolian exam was abolished because there were only 6 candidates. Graduates of the metropolitan translation examination were all given the title of regular metropolitan translation graduate without further gradation or extraordinary designations. Excellent graduates of the Manchu exam were directly appointed secretaries in one of the Six Ministries while those of the Mongol one were commonly made officials in the Court of Colonial Affairs.
Special
Besides the regular tests for the ''jinshi'' and other degrees, there were also occasionally special purpose examinations, by imperial decree (''zhiju''). Decree examinations could be for a number of purposes such as identifying talent for specific assignments, or to satisfy particular interest groups such as ethnic groups and the imperial clan. In the Tang dynasty, the emperor held on occasion irregular examinations for specialized topics. These were open to persons already employed by the government. During the Song dynasty, in 1061,
Emperor Renzong of Song
Emperor Renzong of Song (30 May 1010 – 30 April 1063), personal name Zhao Zhen, was the fourth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned for about 41 years from 1022 to his death in 1063, and was the longest reigning Song dynasty empe ...
decreed special examinations for the purpose of finding men capable of "direct speech and full remonstrance" (''zhiyan jijian''): the testing procedure required the examinees to submit 50 previously prepared essays, 25 on particular contemporary problems, 25 on more general historical governmental themes. In the examination room, the examinees then had a day to write essays on six topics chosen by the test officials, and finally were required to write a 3,000 character essay on a complex policy problem, personally chosen by the emperor, Renzong. Among the few successful candidates were the Su brothers,
Su Shi
Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
and
Su Zhe
Su Zhe (; 1039–1112), or Su Che, courtesy names Ziyou and Tongshu , was a Chinese essayist, historian, poet, and politician from Meishan, located in modern-day Sichuan Province, China.
Su was highly honored as a politician and essayist in th ...
(who had already attained their ''jinshi'' degrees, in 1057), with Su Shi scoring exceptionally high in the examinations, and subsequently having copies of his examination essays widely circulated.
Culture
Language
All Chinese imperial examinations were written in
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
, also known as Literary Chinese, using the
regular script
Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around the ...
(''kaishu''), which is today the most commonly seen calligraphic style in modern China. The importance of knowledge in Classical Chinese was retained in examination systems in other countries such as in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, where candidates were required to be well-versed in the
Confucian classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...
, to be able to compose essays and poetry in Classical Chinese, and to be able to write in regular script. Owing to the examination system, Classical Chinese became a basic educational standard throughout these countries. Readers of Classical Chinese did not need to learn spoken Chinese to understand or read the text because of its logographic nature. Texts written in Classical Chinese could be "read and understood by any sufficiently literate person, even if a given text was ultimately voiced in Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese and not mutually intelligible in speech". This shared textual tradition and common understanding of the Confucian canon allowed these countries to communicate with each other through "brush talk" in the absence of a common language.
In both Korea and Japan, forms of writing were developed to assist readers in understanding Classical Chinese. The Korean
Gugyeol
Gugyeol, also ''kwukyel'', is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. It was chiefly used during the Joseon Dynasty, when readings of the Chinese classics were of paramount social importance. Thus, ...
and Japanese
Kanbun Kundoku
A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. A ...
writing systems modified the Chinese text with markers and annotations to represent their respective languages' pronunciation and grammatical order. Chinese script was also adapted to write Korean and Japanese in their respective native word order. In Korea this was called the
Idu script
Idu (이두, hanja : , meaning ''official's reading'') is an archaic writing system that represents the Korean language using hanja. The script, which was developed by Buddhist monks, made it possible to record Korean words through its equiva ...
(official reading) and in Japan,
Man'yōgana
is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of this ...
(ten thousand leaves). In Japan, Kanbun was used to write official documents from the 8th century until after
World War 2
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. In Korea, the Idu script was used for writing official documents and the civil service examinations from their establishment in 958 to termination in 1894. Vietnamese examinations used
Chữ Hán
Chữ Hán (𡨸漢, literally "Chinese characters", ), Chữ Nho (𡨸儒, literally "Confucian characters", ) or Hán tự (漢字, ), is the Vietnamese term for Chinese characters, used to write Văn ngôn (which is a form of Classical Chinese ...
(Chinese script), also called Chữ nho (Confucian script), which is virtually indistinguishable from Classical Chinese in its written form, but uses Vietnamese pronunciations when read aloud. Chữ nho was made the official writing system of
Đại Việt
Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), often known as Annam ( vi, An Nam, Chữ Hán: 安南), was a monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day ...
in 1174 and remained the writing system of the administration until Vietnam was taken over by France in the 19th century. Similar to Korea and Japan, Vietnam also adapted Chinese script to write the
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese ( vi, tiếng Việt, links=no) is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language originating from Vietnam where it is the national language, national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by over 70 million people, ...
in what is known as
Chữ Nôm
Chữ Nôm (, ; ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters (''Chữ Hán'') to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented ...
(southern characters).
Poetry
Some of the main outstanding questions regarding the imperial examinations are in regard to poetry. There is a long history of debate on the usefulness of the procedure of testing the ability of the candidates to write poetry. During the Tang dynasty, a poetry section was added to the examinations, requiring the examinee to compose a ''
shi
Shi or SHI may refer to:
Language
* ''Shi'', a Japanese titles#Shi, Japanese title commonly used as a pronoun
* ''Shi'', proposed gender-neutral pronoun
* Shi (kana), a kana in Japanese syllabaries
* Shi language
* ''Shī'', transliteration of ...
'' poem in the five-character, 12-line
regulated verse Regulated verse – also known as Jintishi () – is a development within Classical Chinese poetry of the ''shi'' main formal type. Regulated verse is one of the most important of all Classical Chinese poetry types. Although often regarded as a Tang ...
form and a '' fu'' composition of 300 to 400 characters. The poetry requirement remained standard for many decades, despite some controversy, although briefly abolished for the examination year 833–34 (by order of
Li Deyu
Li Deyu (; 787 – January 26, 850Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter.''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 174.), courtesy name Wenrao (), formally the Duke of Wei (), was a Chinese poet, politician, and writer during the Tang Dynasty, serv ...
). During the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, in the late 1060s
Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi ; ; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086), courtesy name Jiefu (), was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms k ...
removed the traditional poetry composition sections (
regulated verse Regulated verse – also known as Jintishi () – is a development within Classical Chinese poetry of the ''shi'' main formal type. Regulated verse is one of the most important of all Classical Chinese poetry types. Although often regarded as a Tang ...
and '' fu''), on the grounds of irrelevancy to the official functions of bureaucratic office: on the other side of the debate,
Su Shi
Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
(Dongpo) pointed out that the selection of great ministers of the past had not been obstructed by the poetry requirements, that the study and practice of poetry encouraged careful writing, and that the evaluation and grading of poetry was more objective than for the prose essays, due to the strict and detailed rules for writing verse according to the formal requirements.
Starting from the Yuan dynasty, poetry was abolished as a subject in the examinations, being regarded as frivolous. This process was completed at the inception of the following Ming dynasty. It was revived in 1756 by the Qing dynasty.
Religion
The imperial examinations influenced traditional Chinese religion as well as contemporary literary tradition. The examination system ostensibly represented the
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
system in its most rationalist expression and was designed to achieve a society ruled by men of
merit
Merit may refer to:
Religion
* Merit (Christianity)
* Merit (Buddhism)
* Punya (Hinduism)
* Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity
Companies and brands
* Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria
* Merit Energy Company, ...
, as determined by an objective measure of the candidates' knowledge and intelligence. In practice, the examinations also included various religious and superstitious beliefs that extend the examinations beyond Confucian idealism.Kracke, 251 Traditional beliefs about fate, that cosmic forces predestine certain human affairs, and particularly that individual success or failure was subject to the will of
Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
and the influence and intervention by various deities, played into the interpretation of results when taking the tests.
Zhong Kui
Zhong Kui (; ko, 종규, Jonggyu; ja, 鍾馗, Shōki; vi, Chung Quỳ) is a deity in Chinese mythology, traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings. He is depicted as a large man with a big black beard, bulging eyes, and ...
, also known as Chung-kuei, was a deity associated with the examination system. The story is that he was a scholar who took the tests, and, despite his most excellent performance, he was unfairly deprived of the first-place prize by a corrupt system: in response, he killed himself, the act of suicide condemning him to be a
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
. Many people afraid of traveling on roads and paths that may be haunted by evil spirits have worshiped Zhong Kui as a protective deity. Also known as ''Kechang Yiwen Lu'', the ''Strange Stories from the Examination Halls'' was a collection of stories popular among Confucian scholars of the Qing dynasty. The theme of many of the stories is that good deeds are rewarded by success in the examination halls, often by Heaven-inspired deities acting on karmic principles; and evil deeds result in failure, often under the influence of the ghosts of victims.
Some individuals were discriminated against because of their names, due to a
naming taboo
A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly r ...
. For example, because the Tang dynasty poet
Li He
Li He ( – ) was a Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty. His courtesy name was Changji, and he is also known as Guicai and Shigui.
He was prevented from taking the imperial examination due to a naming taboo. He died very young, and was note ...
's father's name sounded like the ''jin'', in ''jinshi'', he was discouraged from taking the tests. The claim was that if Li He was called a ''jinshi'', it would be against the rule of etiquette that a son not be called by his father's name.
Influence
Japan
Chinese legal institutions and the examination system began to heavily influence
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
during the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
. In 728, Sugawara no Kiyotomo took part in the Tang examinations. Near the end of the Tang era, Japan implemented the examination system, which lasted for some 200 years during the
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
(794–1185). According to the ''Records of Palace Examinations'', four ''shinshi'' (''jinshi'') passed the exams in 916: Fujiwara Takaki, Oue Koretoki, Harubuchi Yoshiki, and Fujiwara Harufusa. Poets such as
Sugawara no Michizane
was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in Kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, . In the poem anthology ''Hyakunin Isshu'', he is known ...
and Miyoshi Yoshimune mentioned their experiences with the examinations in their writing:
Like the Chinese examinations, the curriculum revolved around the Confucian canon. As Japanese examinations developed, they diverged in practice from the Chinese ones. The ''xiucai'' exams became more popular than the ''jinshi'' because it was simpler and considered more practical. The Japanese examinations were also never opened to the common folk to the same extent as in China during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
. Due to aristocratic influence, by the 10th century, only students recommended based on their reputation and record of service could take the exams. While the exams were still held after the 11th century, they had lost all practical value, and any candidates who had been nominated by dignitaries passed unconditionally. The Japanese imperial examinations gradually died out afterwards. The examinations were revived in 1787 during the Edo period. The new examinations, called ''sodoku kugin'', were more or less the same as the Chinese ones in terms of content (
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
and
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Wa ...
), but did not confer official titles, only honorary titles. During the early Meiji era, Kanda Takahira wrote a letter advocating for the establishment of a Japanese recruitment system with the Chinese imperial examination system as a model. The proposal failed to gain support.
Korea
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
directly participated in the Chinese imperial examination system during the 9th century when as many as 88 Sillans received degrees after passing the Tang dynasty, Tang examinations.
The Korean Gwageo, examination system was established in 958 under the reign of Gwangjong of Goryeo. The examination system was spread to Goryeo in 957 by a visiting Hanlin Academy, Hanlin scholar named Shuang Ji from Later Zhou. Gwangjong was highly pleased with Shuang Ji and requested that he remain at the Korean court permanently.
According to Xu Jing, writing during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, the Korean examinations were largely the same as the Chinese ones with some differences:
Some Korean examination practices converged with the Chinese system. By the end of the Goryeo period, a military exam had been added, the triennial schedule observed, and the exam hierarchy organized into provincial, metropolitan, and palace levels, similar to the Chinese. Other practices, such as the inclusion of exams on Buddhism and the worship of Confucius, were not shared with China. Outside China, the examination system was most widely implemented in Korea, with enrollment rates surpassing even that of China. Any free man (not Nobi) was able to take the examinations. At the start of the Joseon period, 33 candidates were selected from every triennial examination, and the number increased to 50 later on. In comparison, China's selected candidates after each palace examination were no more than 40 to 300 from the Tang to Ming dynasties while encompassing a landmass six times larger than Korea. By the Joseon period, high offices were closed to aristocrats who had not passed the exams. Over the span of 600 years, the Joseon civil service selected more than 14,606 candidates in the highest level examinations on 744 occasions. The examination system continued until 1894 when it was abolished by the Gabo Reform. All Korean examinations were conducted using the
Idu script
Idu (이두, hanja : , meaning ''official's reading'') is an archaic writing system that represents the Korean language using hanja. The script, which was developed by Buddhist monks, made it possible to record Korean words through its equiva ...
from their establishment in 958 to their termination in 1894.
Vietnam
The Confucian examination system in Vietnam was established in 1075 under the Lý dynasty Emperor Lý Nhân Tông and lasted until the Nguyễn dynasty Emperor Khải Định (1919). During the Lý dynasty (1009–1225) the imperial examinations had very limited influence. Only four were held throughout the entire duration of the dynasty, producing a small handful of officials. Later during the Trần dynasty (1225–1400), Trần Thái Tông began to filter students through the Tiến sĩ (''jinshi'') examinations. From 1232 to 1314, ten Tiến sĩ examinations were held. In 1314, 50 Tiến sĩ were recruited in one exam. Throughout most of the Vietnamese examinations' history, there were only three levels to the Vietnamese system: interprovincial, pre-court, and court. A provincial examination was implemented by the Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1883) in 1807 and a metropolitan examination in 1825. Emperor Minh Mạng (r. 1820–1839) paid special attention to the examinations and even dined with newly recruited Tiến sĩ frequently. Although Confucian content took precedence in the examinations, material on Buddhism and
Daoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
were also included. In 1429, Lê Thái Tổ ordered famous Buddhist and Daoist monks to take the exams, and if they failed, they had to forfeit their religious life. Elephants were used to guard the examination halls until 1843 when the emperor said it was no longer necessary. During the 845 years of civil service examinations held in Vietnam, about 3,000 candidates passed the highest level exams and had their names carved on stelae in the Temple of Literature, Hanoi, Temple of Literature in Hanoi.
In the West
The imperial examination system was known to Europeans as early as 1570. It received great attention from the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), who viewed it and its Confucian appeal to rationalism favorably in comparison to religious reliance on "apocalypse". Knowledge of Confucianism and the examination system was disseminated broadly in Europe following the Latin translation of Ricci's journal in 1614. During the 18th century, the imperial examinations were often discussed in conjunction with Confucianism, which attracted great attention from contemporary European thinkers such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Baron d'Holbach, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich Schiller. In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and United Kingdom, Britain, Confucian ideology was used in attacking the privilege of the elite. Figures such as Voltaire claimed that the Chinese had "perfected moral science" and François Quesnay advocated an economic and political system modeled after that of the Chinese. According to Ferdinand Brunetière (1849–1906), followers of Physiocracy such as François Quesnay, whose theory of free trade was based on Chinese classical theory, were sinophiles bent on introducing the "Chinese spirit" to France. He also admits that French education was really based on Chinese literary examinations which were popularized in France by philosophers, especially Voltaire. Western perception of China in the 18th century admired the Chinese bureaucratic system as favourable over European governments for its seeming meritocracy. However those who admired China such as Christian Wolff (philosopher), Christian Wolff were sometimes persecuted. In 1721 he gave a lecture at the University of Halle praising Confucianism, for which he was accused of atheism and forced to give up his position at the university.
Johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi based much of his inspiration for cameralism on contemporary accounts of the Chinese imperial bureaucracy. The growth of cameralist studies, which played an important role in Prussian civil service training, may be traced to Justi's admiration for the Imperial examinations of China. Justi, like other cameralists, also lauded many Chinese public policies including the examination system.
The earliest evidence of examinations in Europe date to 1215 or 1219 in Bologna. These were chiefly oral in the form of a question or answer, disputation, determination, defense, or public lecture. The candidate gave a public lecture of two prepared passages assigned to him from the civil or canon law, and then doctors asked him questions, or expressed objections to answers. Evidence of written examinations do not appear until 1702 at Trinity College, Cambridge. According to Michael Sadler (educationist), Sir Michael Sadler, Europe may have had written examinations since 1518 but he admits the "evidence is not very clear". In Prussia, medication examinations began in 1725. The Mathematical Tripos, founded in 1747, is commonly believed to be the first honor examination, but James Bass Mullinger considered "the candidates not having really undergone any examination whatsoever" because the qualification for a degree was merely four years of residence. France adopted the examination system in 1791 as a result of the French Revolution but it collapsed after only ten years.
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
implemented the examination system around 1800.
Englishmen in the 18th century such as Eustace Budgell recommended imitating the Chinese examination system. Adam Smith recommended examinations to qualify for employment in 1776.Smith, Adam ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'' Book V: Chapter I: Part III. Via Project Gutenberg. In 1838, the Congregational church missionary Walter Henry Medhurst considered the Chinese exams to be "worthy of imitating". In 1806, the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
established East India Company College, a Civil Service College near London for training of the Company's administrators in India. This was based on the recommendations of East India Company officials serving in China and had seen the Imperial examinations. In 1829, the company introduced civil service examinations in India on a limited basis. This established the principle of qualification process for civil servants in England.Bodde, Derk ''Chinese Ideas in the West'' Committee on Asiatic Studies in American Education. In 1847 and 1856, Thomas Taylor Meadows strongly recommended the adoption of the Chinese principle of competitive examinations in Great Britain. Both Thomas Babington Macaulay, who was instrumental in passing the Saint Helena Act 1833, and Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh, who prepared the Northcote–Trevelyan Report that catalyzed the Civil Service (United Kingdom), British civil service, were familiar with Chinese history and institutions. When the report was brought up in parliament in 1853, Lord Monteagle argued against the implementation of open examinations because it was a Chinese system and China was not an "enlightened country". Lord Stanley called the examinations the "Chinese Principle". The Earl of Granville did not deny this but argued in favor of the examination system, considering that the minority Manchus had been able to rule China with it for over 200 years. In 1854, Edwin Chadwick reported that some noblemen did not agree with the measures introduced because they were Chinese. The examination system was finally implemented in the Indian Civil Service (British India), British Indian Civil Service in 1855, prior to which admission into the civil service was purely a matter of patronage, and in England in 1870. Even as late as ten years after the competitive examination plan was passed, people still attacked it as an "adopted Chinese culture". Alexander Baillie-Cochrane, 1st Baron Lamington insisted that the English "did not know that it was necessary for them to take lessons from the Celestial Empire". In 1875, Archibald Sayce voiced concern over the prevalence of competitive examinations, which he described as "the invasion of this new Chinese culture".
After Great Britain's successful implementation of systematic, open, and competitive examinations in India in the 19th century, similar systems were instituted in the Civil Service (United Kingdom), United Kingdom itself, and in other Western nations. Like the British, the development of the French and American civil service was influenced by the Chinese system. When Thomas Jenckes made a ''Report from the Joint Select Committee on Retrenchment'' in 1868, it contained a chapter on the civil service in China. In 1870, William Spear wrote a book called ''The Oldest and the Newest Empire: China and the United States'', in which he urged the United States government to adopt the Chinese examination system. Like in Britain, many of the American elites scorned the plan to implement competitive examinations, which they considered foreign, Chinese, and "un-American". As a result, the civil services reform introduced into the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives in 1868 was not passed until 1883. The Civil Service Commission tried to combat such sentiments in its report:
Examinations in modern China
1912–1949
After the fall of the Qing in 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the newly risen Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China, developed similar procedures for the new political system through an institution called the Examination Yuan, one of the five branches of government, although this was quickly suspended due to the turmoil in China between the two world wars, such as the Warlord era and the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese invasion. The Kuomintang administration revived the Examination Yuan in 1947 after the defeat of Japan. This system continues into present times in Taiwan along with the government itself after loss of the mainland to the Chinese Communist Party.
1949–present
The Civil Service in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(PRC) since the economic reform era maintains a system of examinations for selection and promotion of civil servants.
In the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(ROC), the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, constitution specifies that a public servant cannot be employed without going through an examination. The employment is usually also lifelong (that is, until age about retirement).
See also
* Bar exam
* Chinese classic texts
* Civil Service of the People's Republic of China
* Confucian court examination system in Vietnam
* Donglin Academy
* Education in the People's Republic of China
* Eight-legged essay, a literary form developed in association with examination requirements
* Four Books and Five Classics, Confucian works used in the examinations
* ''Gwageo'', Korean national examination system begun in Unified Silla, expanded in Goryeo dynasty, and continued by the Joseon administration
*
Hanlin Academy
The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an.
Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed sec ...
* Huang Zongxi
* Imperial examination in Chinese mythology, cultural and mythological features related to the examinations
* Mandarin square
* Music Bureau
* Nine-rank system, a predecessor to the later imperial examination system
* Scholar-bureaucrats, a class of educated government officials in Chinese history
* Wen Wu temple, official temples dedicated to the worship of the Civil and Martial Shen (Chinese religion), Deities
High resolution digitised images of the final triennial examination paper, 1902 Cambridge Digital Library
{{Authority control
Academic pressure in East Asian culture
Chinese culture
Chinese inventions
Imperial examination,
Confucian education
Civil service examinations
Government recruitment
History of education in China
History of Imperial China
Public administration