The imperial exam system may be defined as fair play in a man’s world. It was open to all men of letters – in the gender sense – and carried no restrictions as regards to age or family background. Scores were the sole criterion on which contestants were judged. There was also no limit on the number of attempts at each level of the exam. During the 1,300 years the system was in force it was not uncommon to see the names of young adults, octogenarians and even nonagenarians on lists of juren. In 1775, the 40th year of the Qianlong reign, for example, the names of one nonagenarian, 20 octogenarians and five septuagenarians appeared on the lists of juren from around the country. The imperial examinations, therefore, offered an impartial route to social mobility for everyday citizens.
The exam’s emphasis was on liberal arts. In the Tang Dynasty, for example, examinees were well advised to produce examples of their poetry prior to taking the exam. This enabled an assessment not only of their literary grace, but also of their calligraphy. In the practice known as scrolling, examinees would copy their literary works on to scrolls and present them to political, cultural and social personages, in hopes of recommendations to the Board of Rites.
The imperial examination really played an important role in the feudal times in China. By this way the talents were found and selected by the emperors to serve the feudal government. At the same time the contents of the examination was so dull which restricted the thoughts of intellectuals. The imperial examination had a great influence on Chinese people. It inspired the people to study hard to attend the examination and achieve their pursuits. Even today Chinese people still value education and examination.
As the imperial exams focused almost exclusively on Confucian classics, they helped popularize Confucian education and establish Confucianism as one of China’s three pillars of wisdom.
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