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Imperial Examinations
A system of examinations in Imperial
China and
to a lesser extend also in
Vietnam,
that was organized in order to select candidates for the civil service,
including for certain high-ranking offices at the Imperial Court.
Wealthy families, especially merchants, often opted into
the system by educating their sons, e.g. the
Chen Clan from Guangzhou, who in the Qing Dynasty (ca.
AD 1644 - 1911) founded
the
Chen Family Temple, a centre of education used to prepare their junior members
for the Imperial Examinations (fig.).
There are records of Imperial Examinations as early as in the Han Dynasty (BC
206 - AD 220), though the system
became the main path to civil office only in the mid-Tang Dynasty (ca.
AD 618 - 690). In 1905, near the end
of the last Dynasty, the system was abolished.
Steles erected on
a stone
Bi Xi
turtle (fig.)
and inscribed with the names of doctoral laureates can still be seen in Hanoi's
Temple of Literature (fig.)
today, as well as the ceremonial hats and
ao
quan, i.e. the ceremonial robes, worn by the civil mandarins who
successfully passed the
Imperial Examinations (fig.).
See also
Kui Xing,
Temple of Literature,
and
LIST OF CHINESE DYNASTIES.
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