Imperial examinations

Imperial examination
"Imperial examinations" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	科舉
Simplified Chinese	科举
Hanyu Pinyin	kējǔ
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin kējǔ Wade–Giles k'o1-chü3 IPA [kʰɤ́.tɕỳ] Wu Suzhounese khou-ciù Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization fō-géui Jyutping fo1-geoi2 Southern Min Tâi-lô kho-kú
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	khoa bảng khoa cử
Chữ Hán	科榜 科舉
Korean name
Hangul	과거
Hanja	科擧
Transcriptions Revised Romanization gwageo McCune–Reischauer kwagŏ
Japanese name
Hiragana	かきょ
Kyūjitai	科擧
Shinjitai	科挙
Transcriptions Romanization kakyo

The Chinese imperial examinations were 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 widely utilized as 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, while leaving clear problems resulting from a systemic lack of technical and practical expertise.

The examination helped to shape China's intellectual, cultural, political, shopping, arts and crafts, and religious life. The increased reliance on the exam system was in part responsible for Tang dynasty shifting from a military aristocracy to a gentry class of scholar-bureaucrats. Starting with the Song dynasty, the system was regularized and developed into a roughly three-tiered ladder from local to provincial to court exams. The content was narrowed and fixed on texts of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy. By the Ming dynasty, the highest degree, the jinshi (進士/进士), became essential for highest office, while there was a vast oversupply of holders of the initial degree, shengyuan (生員), who could not hope for office, though these were granted social privilege. Critics charged that the system stifled creativity and created officials who dared not defy authority, yet the system also continued to promote cultural unity. Wealthy families, especially merchants, could opt into the system by educating their sons or purchasing degrees. In the 19th century, critics blamed the imperial system, and in the process its examinations, for China's lack of technical knowledge and its defeat by foreign powers.

The influence of the Chinese examination system spread to neighboring Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan (though briefly) and Ryūkyū. The Chinese examination system was introduced to the Western world in reports by European missionaries and diplomats, and encouraged the British East India Company to use a similar method to select employees. Following the initial success in that company, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants in 1855. Other European nations, such as France and Germany, followed suit. Modeled after these previous adaptations, the U.S established its own testing program for certain government jobs after 1883.