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A proclamation issued by Qing Dynasty Emperor Guangxu declares that Zhang Qian won zhuangyuan, a title conferred on the one who came first in the highest imperial examination, in 1894. |
The ancient imperial exams, which cultivated the Chinese elite for over 1,300 years, have also inspired modern talent
THE growing popularity of the nation's civil service exam indicates that China's bureaucracy is attracting more and more talent.
This year's exam attracted 62,311 participants, an increase of 89.4 per cent over last year, who will compete for jobs in 103 government departments.
"The selection of civil servants and government officials through public examination is a sign of progress," said Xie Xiaoqing, a professor at Beijing Language and Culture University. "The examination process does not always yield a satisfactory result, but it helps to curb corruption, as well as promote adequate talent."
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| This piece of clothing on which 353 model essays of 200,000 words are copied was used for cheating in imperial exams. |
Although introduced in 1994, instead of blindly copying Western systems for managing the public service sector, this methodology finds its roots in the nation's ancient imperial examination system.
"The examination systems employed in most countries are copied from the British system. And the origin of Britain's examination system actually came from China," stated Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), forerunner of the Chinese democratic revolution, in his Five-Power Constitution of last century. Under this arrangement, Sun prescribed a separate body to supervise the exam process, call the Examination Yuan, along with four other bodies, which were responsible for legislative, executive, judicial and supervisory powers.
Early in 1621, a book titled "Anatomy of Melancholy" published in Britain stirred up panic among the aristocracy. Author Robert Burton challenged the privilege enjoyed by the aristocracy, suggesting the introduction of China's imperial examinations system.
Another 200 years later, in 1855, the civil official examinations system was officially established in Britain.
Today, it is widely acknowledged by Western scholars that China's imperial examination system exerted direct influence upon the modern civil service examinations system in the West.
Fifth invention
Initiated during the Sui Dynasty (581-618), and lasting more than 1,300 years until the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the imperial examination was the fundamental system used by China's feudal dynasties to select government officials.
Held mainly on county, provincial and national levels, the exams were based on Confucian books, sources of ruling ideology in feudal China, and had many sections including interviews, writing from memory, answering questions, composition writing, and ode writing. Other subjects, such as history, law, calligraphy, and math, were used as a gauge to test professional knowledge.
The examination system offered common people an opportunity to improve their social status based on the strength of their talent, as only the most talented were selected to participate in the administration of the empire.
"The modern significance of the imperial examinations system lies in its then nearly perfect solution of promoting talent based on dual standards of political loyalty and professional ability, which often come into conflict," said Fang Ning, a professor from Capital Normal University.
Some people have even suggested that the imperial examinations system be included as the fifth of China's major ancient inventions that contributed to the world, along side the compass, gun powder, papermaking and printing.
Through the system, China brought up at least 110,000 "jinshi" in total (a successful candidate in the national examination) and millions of "juren" (a successful candidate in the provincial examination).
Puzzle examined
In Chinese history, most talented intellectuals looked to the imperial exams as a way of improving their positions. Li Shizhen (1518-1593), the author of Chinese medicine classic "Ben Cao Gang Mu" (Compendium of Materia Medica), only turned to scientific studies after repeated failures in the exams. Even romantic Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762) never totally gave up on the idea of serving the emperor as an official.
"All talent under the heaven are at my service," said Tang Dynasty Emperor Taizhong upon seeing many candidates entering the imperial examination site, according to historical records.
Since the exams were practically the only path for common people to a privileged life, the competition was extremely fierce. It was common in ancient China for intellectuals to fall victim to the examinations system after years of preparation.
Cheating became a big problem despite tough measures to prevent it.
Passing the exams became the ultimate aim of schooling. Most candidates tended to repeat the same material, they only studied for the exams' sake, rather than thoroughly learning all the material. After memorizing enough to pass the exams, they could not put their knowledge to practical use.
Humiliated by a series of bitter defeats in the late Qing Dynasty, China was forced to re-examine its education system, which was suffocating under the imperial exam system.
As more and more modern schools, mainly foreign language, military and technical institutions, were set up, China finally abort the imperial examinations system in 1906.
