Civil Service Examination System Research Articles

Studies, cultivation of the mind, and formation of character: The life of scholars in Jiangnan in the Late Ming Dynasty

During the late Ming Dynasty, the region of Jiangnan fostered a high number of remarkable figures who had extensive and important influence on the living world of officials and gentry as a whole. Apart from the requirements of the imperial civil service examination system, the family or clan’s education of descendants was particularly important. With respect to the plan for the life of a scholar, the civil service examinations were an avenue or ladder to becoming an outstanding member of society or entering the realm of success, and by this means, one could potentially achieve the objectives of wealth and high rank recognized by secular society. Progress in one’s studies lay at the heart of family culture and education, and this was naturally largely tied to the civil services examinations, while also being related to expectations regarding political life and service to the state, but for the most part, a fair degree of attention was also given to cultivation of the mind and the formation of character. This was not merely localized, but furthermore has had profound and far-reaching influence on Chinese society since the late Ming Dynasty. Further examination or analysis on these levels not only aids in revealing the atmosphere in that era, but furthermore also contributes to clearing such paradigmatic historical memories and impartially observing the shape of the lives of local intellectuals over the course of history at large. Setting out from Jiangnan allows us to better understand the sociocultural history of China since the traditional era as well as the living world of the Chinese people.

Taking refuge in melancholy amidst natural landscapes: Zhang Dai’s idle life in the Ming-Qing transition

During the middle to late periods of the Ming Dynasty, the commercial economy experienced striking development, yet political corruption and congestion of the imperial civil service examination system deprived many scholars of a pathway for elevation. Many people therefore opened up new avenues, preparing for the examinations while simultaneously exploring different ways of life, expanding new fields of activity so as to realize value in life. Zhang Dai 張岱, who originated from a great clan in Shaoxing, was one such person. Whilst reading, assembling scholars, critiquing theater, and engaging in other activities, he gradually created considerable renown and achievements for himself. In reviewing Zhang Dai’s life, his inability to enact change in the face of the incoherent society of the late Ming Dynasty was the first great tragedy of his life. He endured by leading a life of pleasure, realizing his ambition of accomplishing great things in a roundabout fashion. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he experienced the second tragedy in his life, which caused him to nostalgically ponder the events of the past and, in his extreme grief, he resorted to the writing brush to express his thoughts and emotions, including writing history to pass on what was left of his life. Throughout his life, Zhang Dai produced many written works, perennially relying upon his writing to make a living, and leisure, extravagance, comfort, sorrow, lamentations and grief for the world all became subjects of his writing, ultimately allowing him to find a different path in life and achieve longevity in academic and cultural history.

New development: Re-investigating the influence of China on the British civil service examination system

IMPACT In the UK, civil servant selection was arranged through patronage until the publication of the 1854 Northcote–Trevelyan Report, which led to the establishment of a competitive examination system for selecting civil servants. The UK may have referenced China's competitive examination system during this process. Missionaries, merchants and diplomats learned about the Chinese government’s system and disseminated it to Europe. This practice was described in books, making European countries, including the UK, aware of such a system. Although the availability of related information in books provides circumstantial evidence to support the Chinese influence on the British examination system, more direct evidence has previously been lacking. Therefore, the authors searched the records of debates in the UK Parliament between 1853 and 1860 and found relevant evidence regarding the Chinese influence on the British examination system. Although much has been written about British colonial rule, less is known about the exchanges of civil service systems and the critical role played by colonial administrations. This article offers valuable insights into a long history of policy transfer among countries, often appropriating better practices, to improve public and civil services.

South Korean Historiography on Civil Service Examination, Max Weber, and the Cold War Transpacific Invention of Confucian Modernity

Abstract: This article first offers a postcolonial critique on Japanese colonial historiography and post-1945 South Korean historiography on Confucian tradition of Korea that they both have shared a very essentialized understanding on Confucian tradition of Korea as unique nature of Korean society based on the same overarching evolutionary modernization narrative in spite of their contradictingly different definition of it as either premodern backwardness or Confucian modernity. In order to go beyond these still dominant essentialized bipolar views on Confucian tradition of Korea, based on a transnational perspective, this paper seeks to show how post-1945 South Korean historiography has redefined Confucian tradition of Korea. Then, to do so, this paper tries to historicize post-1945 South Korean historiography's appropriation of Max Weber's bureaucracy and modernization theories from U.S. academia of social science and East Asian studies for its studies of Koryŏ-Chosŏn civil service examination and social status system. Then, this paper goes further to look at how post-1945 South Korean historiography on late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn history has struggled from 1945 to early 2000 to redefine and reinvent Confucian tradition of Korea such as Koryŏ-Chosŏn civil service examination as the unique origin of its own meritocratic modernity that is as close as "Western Modernity," based on this appropriation of Max Weber's bureaucracy and modernization theories. Then, this paper finally turns to rethink the meaning of this appropriation within the broader context of Cold War and South Korean postcoloniality.

Intergenerational mobility through inhabited meritocracy: Evidence from civil service examinations of the early- and mid-Ming dynasty.

The civil service examination system emerged to strengthen the emperor's power by recruiting political elites through open examinations. Did it, during the early- and mid-Ming dynasty, facilitate intergenerational mobility? Rather than oversimplifying it as a single-stage system of meritocracy, we propose a two-stage evaluation framework. In the first stage, the Metropolitan Exam featured merit-based evaluations and generated credentials necessary for becoming political elites. The subsequent non-eliminating Palace Exam then functioned to assess the students' organizational fit in line with an emperor's political calculations. In particular, those whose families served in the bureaucracy were favored, while those from affluent families were discriminated against. We test this two-stage framework using the records of 12,427 students who passed 46 exams between 1400 and 1580, a period characterizing the heyday of this system. Our empirical findings from the mixed-effect regression models confirm this argument and suggest promising directions for future research.

Languages, Scripts, and Chinese Texts in East Asia

Languages, Scripts, and Chinese Texts in East Asia

A Longevity Mechanism of Chinese Absolutism

A counterpart of what is known as “European exceptionalism”—political stability and institutional arrangement that enabled modern economic growth and political development—is a “Chinese anomaly.” This anomaly takes the form of a sharp contrast with premodern Europe: Chinese imperial rulers stayed in power longer than their European counterparts, but this political stability was accompanied by a high level of institutional stasis. In this article, we argue that a well-known Chinese institution, the civil service examination (CSE) system, contributed to China’s imperial longevity. We use detailed historical data on individual CSE performance to demonstrate the longevity-contributory mechanisms of CSE—constraining access to power by aristocrats and other wealth holders. We argue that a key to unpacking the so-called Chinese anomaly is to understand the role of bureaucracy in political development in China and potentially in other regions.

Understanding the long‐term effects ofKeju: The case of entrepreneurship in China

AbstractWe show that contemporary differences in entrepreneurship within China can be traced back toKeju, a civil service examination system for selecting state bureaucracy in the age of monarchy. Combining current individual‐level survey data with historical prefecture‐level data on the density ofJinshi(the highest qualification inKeju) during the Ming–Qing period, we find that individuals in prefectures with highJinshidensity exhibit a lower probability of participation in entrepreneurial activities today. Evidence from a range of identification methods suggests that the relationship is robust and causal. We also argue that theKejutradition could influence entrepreneurship through its effect on individuals' propensity to work for the state and risk aversion. Finally, we show that persistence is lower in prefectures with higher political violence during the Cultural Revolution and economic openness presently.

The State Celebration Examination and the Civil Service Examination System in the Late Chosŏn Period

The implementation of a regularly scheduled civil service examination every three years was a common feature of the civil service examination systems in Chosŏn Korea, Ming and Qing China, and Lê and Nguyễn Vietnam. In Chosŏn, however, the custom of implementing the civil service examination as an element of the rites marking the observance of “joyous occasions” (kyŏngsa 慶事) emerged in the fifteenth century. This particular type of examination was known as the “state celebration examination” (kyŏngkwa 慶科). As justifications for its implementation proliferated in the late Chosŏn period, the state celebration became the linchpin of the civil service examination system. While there emerged in China and Vietnam in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the “grace examination” (Ch. enke 恩科), a conceivable counterpart to the Korean state celebration examination, the justifications for and frequency of this examination were comparatively restricted. The centrality of the state celebration examination could thus be described as an important and unique characteristic of the civil service examination system in Korea. This article investigates the question of why state celebration examinations were held in Chosŏn. It focuses on the process by which the state celebration examination became so frequent in the late Chosŏn period in terms of the increasingly diverse justifications for its implementation.

The Operation of School and Civil Service Examination System in the Famine and Infectious Diseases in the Joseon Dynasty: Focused on the Little Ice Age in the late 17th century

The Operation of School and Civil Service Examination System in the Famine and Infectious Diseases in the Joseon Dynasty: Focused on the Little Ice Age in the late 17th century

Система государственных экзаменов для чиновников «кэцзюй» в императорском Китае

The research objectives are as follows: to reveal philosophical foundations of the state administration system in Imperial China by the example of the civil service exam; to discover principles for choosing candidates for civil service positions requiring such qualities as competence, erudition and loyalty towards the ruling power. Scientific originality of the paper lies in the fact that the author suggests a comprehensive approach to studying the functioning and evolution of the civil service examination system (keju) and compares the traditional approach to civil servants appointment and present-day selection criteria. The study is based on works of domestic and foreign sinologists and has interdisciplinary nature. The research findings are as follows: the author identifies specificity of the Chinese state apparatus formation, reveals nature and principles of the Chinese power.

A Longevity Mechanism of Chinese Absolutism

A counterpart of what is known as “European exceptionalism”—political stability and institutional arrangement that enabled modern economic growth and political development—is a “Chinese anomaly.” This anomaly takes the form of a sharp contrast with pre-modern Europe: Chinese imperial rulers stayed in power longer than their European counterparts but this political stability was accompanied by a high level of institutional stasis. In this paper, we argue that a well-known Chinese institution, the civil service examination (CSE) system, contributed to China’s imperial longevity. We utilize detailed historical data on individual CSE performance to demonstrate the longevity-contributory mechanisms of CSE—constraining access to power by aristocrats and other wealth-holders. We argue that a key to unpacking the so-called “Chinese anomaly” is to understand the role of bureaucracy in political development in China and potentially in other regions.

The Poetics and Politics of Sensuality in China: The “Fragrant and Bedazzling” Movement (1600–1930)

The Poetics and Politics of Sensuality in China: The “Fragrant and Bedazzling” Movement (1600–1930)

Analysis and Implications of Chinese Civil Service Examination System

Analysis and Implications of Chinese Civil Service Examination System

Selection and Management of Medical Official during the Yuan Dynasty.

Although the healthcare system of the Yuan Dynasty followed that of the Song Dynasty, there are certain differences between these two dynasties in terms of practices. Including appointing 'Yihus' in 'Zhusehuji' and setting up 'Guanyitijusi' to oversee Yihus, the Yuan Dynasty developed an effective management system for their physicians and, soon after the coronation of Khubilai, built 'Yixue (Medical school)' all over its territories in order to establish an organized and substantial medical training system. Moreover, the Yuan Dynasty not only revived the civil service examination system system between 1314 and 1320 as well as the medical examination system, but also increased the quota for qualification to twice that of Confucian examination in Song. These changes resulted in producing many brilliant people at the time. In the second half of the reign of Emperor Chengzong it was decided that the incompetence of the government healthcare organizations and the abundance of charlatans could not be neglected any longer. Existing policies and systems was limited in educating and training proper physicians, and this problem was not restricted to the field of medicine. The need for new systems that could reform the social order led to the restoration of the civil service examination system. The civil service examination system for Confucianism and for medicine began in 1314 and 1316, respectively. The purpose of the medical examination system was to select medical officials. The medical examination system which started in 1316 had a significant impact on the medicine of the Yuan dynasty for many reasons. Firstly, the qualification to apply to the medical examination did not remain constricted to 'Yixue' but opened to all 'Zhusehuji'; and secondly, the examination system did not have a restriction on the number of applicants was not restricted. The most important aspect of the examination system was that the number of test takers that passed the first test was one hundred and the number of passers of the second test were thirty, which were not low compared to the number of passers of the Confucianism examination. As such, the impact of the medical examination on the Yuan society was substantial. The Confucian examination selected 300 persons to pass the first test. The second test had 100 test takers which was equally divided among the four social classes at 25 percent each. The medical system selected 100 persons in the first test and 30 in the second. What is important is that unlike the Confucian examination system, the medical system was not divided into four classes. Hypothetically, the 30 qualified persons could all be South Chinese. In terms of the number of passers, it was much more promising for the South Chinese to flourish through the medical test than through Confucian examination test. Such facts support the claim that the Yuan Dynasty emphasized the field of medicine compared to the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Dynasty implemented the civil service examination system early on, the medical system was not implemented until 1115, which started with the founding of 'Yixue' across the country and assigning student capacity. During the Song Dynasty, the number of students in the medical system was 15 percent of that in the Confucianism system, and compared to that in Yuan, it raised to 30 percent, which is twofold. The indications of the Yuan Dynasty valuing medicine and making an effort to educate and train medical experts can be seen in the 'Yihu system', 'Guanyitijusi', Yixuetijusi', and medical school as well as the ratio of the medical system capacity.

Human capital and fertility in Chinese clans before modern growth

This paper studies the effect of changes in the return to human capital on the fertility–education relationship. The setting is in Anhui Province, China in the thirteenth to twentieth centuries. Over this period, key changes occurred in the civil service examination system, providing a means to test whether incentives for acquiring education influenced fertility decisions. I form an intergenerationally linked dataset from over 43,000 individuals from all social strata to examine the evidence for a child quantity–quality tradeoff. First, as the civil service examination system became more predictable and less discretionary starting in the seventeenth century, raising the return to human capital, I find evidence that households with a lower number of children had a higher chance that one of their sons would participate in the state examinations. This finding is robust to accounting for differences in resources, health, parental human capital, and demographic characteristics. Importantly, the finding is not limited to a small subset of rich households but present in the sample as a whole. Second, the negative relationship between fertility and education disappeared as the lower chance to become an official during the nineteenth century implied a decline in the return to human capital. Taken together, my findings support the hypothesis that fertility choices respond to changes in the return to human capital.

Networks and Meritocracy in Elite Recruitment: The Chinese Civil Service Examinations, 1400-1580

The Chinese civil service examination (CCSE) system was a meritocratic institution, whereby talented men, regardless of family background, achieved upward social mobility. Using information on 12,7...

The Late-Qing Illustrated Shujing from the Sinology Department of the Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences at the Russian Academy of Sciences

The article deals with the 1905 lithographic illustrated edition of Shujing tu shuo (The Book of Historical Documents with Illustrations and Commentary). This edition of the ancient Confucian Classics is rather special, since it was designed as a comic book implementing principles of “explanation through pictures”. The canonical Ancient Chinese text is available in the book but is greatly simplified for the unprepared reader. The comments explain the engraved line drawings following and representing separate portions of the canonical text. Being the last official Qing edition of Shujing, it was destined to become a popular version of the Confucian classic. It was to be used as a textbook in all public provincial schools. It is noteworthy that illustrations contain some motifs that do not belong to the canonical text of Shujing, but were borrowed from Chinese mythology and popular literature. In 1905, when Shujing tushuo saw the light of day the civil service examination system, based upon Confucian orthodoxy, was abolished in China. We deal with a new interpretation of the canonical Confucian text in quite a peculiar form addressed to a much broader readership. This article is to demonstrate inconsistency of the conventional thesis of rigidity of the official Confucian orthodoxy in Qing Empire. Inquiry into imagery and textual contents of this edition and their interaction could throw light on the ideological, political and social causes and motives behind the new Qing version of classical Shujing. That could provide grounds for judging on transition from the traditional to modern consciousness in China at the beginning of the 20 th century.

In Search of the Way: Thought and Religion in Early-Modern Japan, 1582–1860 by Richard Bowring

Reviewed by: In Search of the Way: Thought and Religion in Early-Modern Japan, 1582–1860 by Richard Bowring Mark T. McNally In Search of the Way: Thought and Religion in Early-Modern Japan, 1582–1860. By Richard Bowring. Oxford University Press, 2017. 352 pages. Hardcover £75.00/ $115.00. The field of Tokugawa intellectual history outside of Japan has grown and matured over the last several decades. The various forms of Confucianism that developed during the Edo period, as well as the scholarly reactions against them, dominated the field during the 1970s and 1980s, but other areas have come under scrutiny since then, enriching it in important ways as a result. The complexity and diversity that have emerged have now been encapsulated in a single volume with Richard Bowring's In Search of the Way: Thought and Religion in Early-Modern Japan, 1582–1860. By [End Page 317] bringing together the various thinkers and intellectual movements in this book, which he describes as a continuation of his previous work, The Religious Traditions of Japan, 500–1600, Bowring provides his readers with the analytical juxtaposition needed to appreciate the rich variety of intellectual traditions of the time and to see where they cohere with, or diverge from, one another. A volume of this kind is essentially impossible to summarize. For those with only a passing familiarity with the subject, the major figures and their ideas are covered, with analytical descriptions that readers will likely find both interesting and useful. As one would expect, Bowring devotes much of his book to canonical figures such as Hayashi Razan (1583–1657), Yamaga Sokō (1622–1685), Itō Jinsai (1627–1705), Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728), Nakae Tōju (1608–1648), Kumazawa Banzan (1619–1691), Arai Hakuseki (1657–1725), Yamazaki Ansai (1619–1682), Ishida Baigan (1685–1744), Kamo no Mabuchi (1697–1769), Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801), and Hirata Atsutane (1776–1843), among many others. Those with more experience in Tokugawa intellectual history will welcome the discussion of subjects that usually receive treatments outside of the field, such as Buddhist and Shinto scholarship. The discussion of Buddhist scholarship is perhaps surprisingly detailed for an era known mostly for developments within Confucianism. Despite the best efforts of seventeenth-century Buddhist scholars to maintain the intellectual relevance of Buddhism to Tokugawa society, its academic decline created the context within which Confucianism began its rise to prominence (p. 59). This intellectual decline accompanied a general stagnation in the development of Buddhist doctrine, under the strict direction of the bakufu (p. 181). However, as Bowring argues, japanologists might forget that the division between Sōtō and Rinzai Zen that historians commonly associate with the Kamakura period was, in fact, a product of the Edo period (p. 188). Despite the rise of Confucianism, especially what japanologists commonly refer to as Neo-Confucianism—namely, the teachings associated with the Song-dynasty scholars Cheng Yi (1033–1107), Cheng Hao (1032–1085), and Zhu Xi (1130–1200)—Bowring observes that the academic institution associated with the bakufu and administered by the Hayashi family did not become "official" until 1802, only sixty-six years before the overthrow of the Tokugawa (p. 241). By "official," Bow-ring likely means the imposition of an intellectual orthodoxy that, in the absence of a civil service examination system, had less significance in Japan than it did in China, Korea, or Vietnam. He notes that for the century and a half or so prior to that the Hayashi Academy was "private" (p. 63), an admittedly odd word to signify the lack of a Confucian orthodoxy. Razan, the founder of the line of scholars who supervised the academy, was never more than a "librarian" (p. 108) who, although "occasionally indulged," was "never allowed to forget [his] status" (p. 63). Thus, much of what he and his son Gahō (1618–1680) asserted in their writings as proof of their own claims to the orthodox mantle of Neo-Confucianism was bluster and hyperbole, bearing very little resemblance to the realities of the seventeenth century. With the exception of Arai Hakuseki, perhaps the only Tokugawa intellectual who wielded "considerable authority" as shogunal adviser during the early years of the [End Page 318] eighteenth century, the...

Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Examination: A Critical Review

An efficient civil service is the sine qua non for effective implementation of public policies and delivery of public services. This study analyses Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination system, pinpoints problems and provides some recommendations for having a sound recruitment system in Bangladesh. In fact, BCS job is the most prestigious job in Bangladesh. The findings of the study demonstrate that BCS examination system in Bangladesh lengthy, quota-dominated and politically patronised. Graduates of Bangladesh are, thus, becoming increasingly frustrated. Predominance of quota policy is also a hindrance against merit system. This paper intends to help policymakers to apprehend the nagging problems of BCS examination in Bangladesh and the recommendations will help to have a merit based and transparent examination system for recruiting competent and meritorious personnel in the service.