THE CHINESE IMPERIAL EXAMINATION The imperial examination system of China is most debated and commented civil service

examination which is also the first established and most ancient one, and according to some scholars which had an significant impact upon the Western civil service examinations.1 In this paper I am also going to elaborate on the Chinese Imperial Examination. I will divide the paper into four sections, which respectively will be upon the historical development of the examinations, the structure of the examinations, the Confucian influence on the examination and the debate about to what extent it allowed social mobility in China, and lastly the cultural implications of the imperial examination. Historical Development The roots of the civil service examination goes to two millennium BC, in Paul Cresseys work, as he cited, according to the Classic of History, emperor shun examined his officers every three years and after accordingly promoted or dismissed them.2 In the Chou dynasty, the candidates for appointments were examined along with the officials.3 But these examinations were not structured and did not base on Confucian doctrines, as the imperial examination system. Under the Han dynasty 206 BC-AD 220), the civil service examination was informally practiced in a definite system in 29 B.C.4 But the scholarly examinations were consolidated during the Sui period (581-618), when Emperor Yang established the first literary subjects to for civil service examinations to select officials, thus initiating the reformulation of the civil service examinations into an imperial examination system.5 The text studied for the examination were Confucian classics.6 In the T'ang dynasty (618-906) the examination system was reorganized and more efficiently administered. The system underwent further change in the
1

Cressey, Paul F. 1929. The Influence of the Literary Examinations on the Development of Chinese Civilization. The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 35, No. 2 (Sep., 1929), pp. 250-262. The author gives a detailed account of these influences in Britain, France and India. 2 Ibid. The source is W.A.P. Martin, The Lore of Cathay (Newyork, 1901), p. 311. 3 Ibid. The source is E.T.C. Werner, China of Chinese (London, 1919), p. 125. 4 Ibid.. 5 http://knows.jongo.com/res/article/1766 6 "Chinese examination system." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (December 21, 2009).

Sung dynasty (960-1279), the number of exam subjects expanded, and to make examinations more impartial some methods were adopted.7 In 973, the final round of state-level examinations was overseen by the emperor in person. Starting with the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), and lasted in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the commentaries of the Sung Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu His were adopted as the orthodox interpretation of the classics.8 Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) continued with the neo-Confucian understanding in the examinations, but it was the Qing Dynasty who abolished the imperial examination system due to its inefficiency because of its strict system which emphasized Confucian literature, and rendered all innovation and variation thus stagnated Chinese society.9 The Structure of Examinations Beginning in 1066, examinations in the national capital and accompanying tests in the palace were held every three years, but local examinations were held annually.10 Examinations were held at three levels; local, provincial and national level. District exams included testing the candidate on his knowledge of the classics, the ability compose poetry on given subjects using set poetic forms and calligraphy. At the provincial level examinations candidates were tested on the breadth of their studies in the Classics, and these examinations often last up to seventy-two hours. At the national level exams, candidates were examined on the ability to analyze contemporary political problems in addition to the usual examinations based on the Classics. 11 If one candidate could pass the local level in a district, he (because women were excluded from the imperial examination system, although there were cases in which women dressed as men attempted to examinations) could get the degree of hsiu-ts'ai, one who passed at the provincial capital became a chil-jen (recommended man), and one who was successful at a

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http://knows.jongo.com/res/article/1766 "Chinese examination system." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (December 21, 2009). 9 Cressey, Paul F. 1929. The Influence of the Literary Examinations on the Development of Chinese Civilization. The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 35, No. 2 (Sep., 1929), pp. 250-262 10 Ibid. 11 http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian3.html

national capital, get a chin-shih (presented scholar) degree.12 In 973, emporar decided to administer a final palace examination (tien-shih) himself to test all those who had successfully passed the highest level (national) examination.13 The three degrees are seen as roughly equal to western B.A., M.A. and Ph. D. degrees by some scholars.14 The content of the examination was Chinese Confucian classics, which included Four Books and Five Classics, and according to Miyazaki Ichisada, a candidate had to memorize over 400 thousand characters of textual material to master the classics which required exactly six years of memorizing, at the rate of two hundred characters a day.15 Students spent 20 to 30 years memorizing these neo-Confucian commentaries and the classics themselves, but the success was not for granted, and generally it came in an old age. The average age for receiving a chin-shih degree was thirty-six, and the retirement age was seventy.16 The success rates of the imperial examinations were extremely small: during the Tang Dynasty the passing rate was about two percent. But as the population grew, quotas were instituted during the Sung dynasty which increased the competition.17 This rate also decreased during the Qing Dynasty, according to Wakemans figures, only 1.5 percent achieved licentiate status (hsiu-tsai), of these 5 percent passed the triennial provincial exam, and of the chil-jen 20 percent would pass the triennial national capital examinations, which states the last figure of success as .01 percent.18 The ones who could pass three levels could be appointed as the literati

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Ssu-y Tng. Chinese Influence on The Western Examination System: I. Introduction. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Vol. 7, No. 4 (Sep., 1943), pp. 267-312. 13 Elman, Benjamin A. Political, Cultural and Social Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China. The Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 50, No. 1 (Feb., 1991), pp. 7-28. 14 Ssu-y Tng. Chinese Influence on The Western Examination System: I. Introduction. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Vol. 7, No. 4 (Sep., 1943), pp. 267-312. 15 MIYAZAKI, ICHISADA. 1981. China's ExaminationH ell, trans. Conrad Schirokauer. New Haven: Yale University Press. in Elman, Benjamin A. Political, Cultural and Social Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China. The Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 50, No. 1 (Feb., 1991), pp. 7-28. 16 CHAFFEE, JOHN. 1985. The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 35-36 17 Ibid. pp. 171-175. 18 WAKEMAN, FREDERIC, JR. 1972. "The Price of Autonomy: Intellectuals in Ming and Ch'ing Politics." Daedalus 101, 2:35-70. in Elman, Benjamin A. Political, Cultural and Social Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China. The Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 50, No. 1 (Feb., 1991), pp. 7-28.

and get an official salary, but those one who were not successful in the second and third level examinations would become teachers in local schools, or carry out social welfare measures.19 The Confucian Influence To govern by virtue, let us compare it to the North Star: it stays in its place, while the myriad stars wait upon it.20 This saying of Confucius states clearly the ideal way for governance, which explains why the imperial examination system was inspired by him. According to Dubs, the victory of confucianism came gradually during the Han dynasty and there were four reasons for it to triumph over other philosophies.21 Firstly, as Confucius was a government official he emphasized the ideal government. Thus his ethics were aristocratic in which the ruler should be kind (jen) to his people, and the subject who should be filial (hsiao), loyal (chung), and decorous (li) to his ruler.22 Secondly, as Confucius disciples became the teachers of China, they became scholarly authorities of ancient Chinese literature which was transmitted through a Confucian interpretation, and they finally became the tutors of the princes who were influenced by Confucianism.23 Thirdly as the examination system asked candidates about governmental issues and as Confucianism emphasized the good government, there were related through the Imprerial University which graduates learned Confucians to fill the bureaucracy. 24 Lastly, the governors noticed the benefit in unifying the country intellectually by making Confucianism the official philosophy among learned men, thus leading to its rise.25 After Confucianism won its victory, the government officials were examined on their knowledge of Confucian texts. In teaching, there should be no distinction of classes.26

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholar-bureaucrats Analects II, 1. 21 Dubs, Homer H., 1938. The Victory of Han Confucianism. Journal of American Oriental Society, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Sep., 1938), pp. 435-449 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 (Analects XV, 39)
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The most emphasized, commented characteristics of the civil service examination system of China is its meritocratic character. The meritocracy, advocated by Confucius, gave way to the imperial examination system which admitted anyone who passed the examinations to be a scholar-bureaucrat.27 The base for emperors to establish and make use of such an examination system to measure talent was to limit alternative military and aristocratic power centers that could break down the unified country.28 This meritocratic character of the examination system, according to some scholars, also gave way to a relatively higher social mobility in China. For instance Cracke claims that, the examination system provided the bureaucracy with fresh blood by drawing on the evidence from Sung dynasty examination records which indicates that of the successful candidates over half could show no public officials of civil service status among the above-named (meaning father, grandfather, grand-grandfather) antecedents.29 Therefore, another scholar Hsu claims that, in China the downward and upward mobility was relatively high (he excludes the Yin privilege which is used by elite families on the behalf of their sons in the examination), because the families could not protect their prominence more than one at best two generations.30 But there are also counter-arguments to the meritocratic character of the examinations system which claims that the evidence used by Cracke was not considered properly and actually the examination system was one for the continuation of the established elite bureaucracy because a candidates family could afford him to be idle (not working as farmer or merchant, as an artisan) to provide him to study for the examination if they were rich, but being from a poor family decreases a gentlemens chance to compete and become successful in the examinations.. Wittfogel states that the restriction governing outsiders (who were artisans and merchants) was only way of interfering with the democratic

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism Elman, Benjamin. (2002) A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China. London: University of California Press. 29 Kracke, E. A. Jr., 1947. Family vs. Merit in Chinese Civil Examinations under the Empire. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Vol. 10, No. 2 (Sep., 1947), pp. 103-123. 30 Hsu, Francis L. K., 1949. Social Mobility in China. American Sociological Association. Vol. 14, No. 6 (Dec., 1949), pp. 764-771

functioning of the examination system. Protective measures (refers to the Yin privilege) were also taken to strengthen and maintain the power of the bureaucratic in-group.31 Cultural Implications of the Examination Civil service examinations had two layer cultural effect in the Chinese society. The first one is the formation of an examination culture among the elite (literati) starting during Sung dynasty and reaching a peak in Ming and Qing times. This culture consisted of the examination ceremony, the calligraphic art perfection demanded from the candidates, the mastery of classical language, the Confucian texts and understanding they had to memorize, etc., and as Elman states a culture shared by degree-holders which distinguish them from commoners. 32 The second layer is related to the culture created in the local level rather than the elite examination culture. The examination life appears as stories of in the anectodal literature, even though the stories are not written by common people.33 Conclusion As we can see, the Chinese imperial examinations were not just a matter of entrance into the civil service as today is, it signified much more than that like to base it as an life aim, and to penetrate into a different class. Even though, the society of imperial China is not as mobile as todays society, due to the civil service examination system it was relatively much more mobile than its contemporaries in Europe and Ottoman Empire.

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Wittfogel, Karl A., 1947. Public Office in Liao Dynasty and the Chinese Examination System. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Vol. X, No. 6 (1947), pp. 23-40. 32 Elman, Benjamin. (2002) A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China. London: University of California Press. 33 CHAFFEE, JOHN. 1985. The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 169-170.