Question

What were some of the characteristics of the Imperial Civil Service Examination?

Answer 1

The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in Imperial China to select candidates for the state bureaucracy. Although there were imperial exams as early as the Han dynasty, the system became the major path to office only in the mid-Tang dynasty, and remained so until its abolition in 1905. Since the exams were based on knowledge of the classics and literary style, not technical expertise, successful candidates were generalists who shared a common language and culture, one shared even by those who failed. This common culture helped to unify the empire and the ideal of achievement by merit gave legitimacy to imperial rule.

Answer 2

The Imperial Civil Service Examination was practiced in imperial China between 606 and 1905 and consisted of a series of tests that served to select candidates for government officials. The tests represented the shortest way to ascend the social scale and therefore also represented a fundamental objective for members of the educated classes. Because of the importance of the evidence, these classes would end up marking with meritocratic features the peculiar characteristics of what can be considered the most centralized and absolutist example of oriental despotism.