See Also: Chinese examination system(encyclopedia)
Chinese writing system(encyclopedia)
Bar Examination(law)
self-examination(dictionary)
RE-EXAMINATION(law)
examination(dictionary)
Examination(medicine)
self-examination(medicine)
examination(dictionary)
EMG examination(medicine)

Chinese examination system (sh)




In China, system of competitive examinations for recruiting officials that linked state and society and dominated education from the Song dynasty (960-1279) onward, though its roots date to the imperial university established in the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220).

Candidates faced fierce competition in a series of exams dealing primarily with Confucian texts and conducted on the prefectural, provincial, and national levels. Despite a persistent tendency to emphasize rote learning over original thinking and form over substance, the exams managed to produce an elite grounded in a common body of teachings and to lend credibility to claims of meritocracy. Too inflexible to be capable of modernization, the system was finally abolished in 1905. See also Five Classics; Four Books.