Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China

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The Chinese Empire emerged from regimes characterized by brutal leadership. Past emperors tried to unify vast territories with different groups of people. It was not possible to subjugate an area as big as China without the use of military force as a way to demand honor and respect from subjects. The dictatorial power of the Emperor is made possible by the presence of large armies.

However, political leaders were aware that the presence of armies do not guarantee stability. A society is stable if it is filled with capable men that can work as administrators, innovators, businessmen, and productive citizens (Bary & Bloom 612). In the creation of a stable empire, the importance of able administrators cannot be overemphasized. Thus, the civil service exam was created in order to initiate a selection process.

The civil service exam made it possible to select and train men of character, integrity and wisdom. Their able leadership paved the way for the establishment of a Chinese empire ready to confront the modern world.

Administrators are placed in a certain locale in order to manage it in behalf of the emperor. It created a stable chain of command, minus the need for a military presence. One can just imagine the stability it provided, which was a stark contrast to the presence of a garrison that serves only to intimidate. The administrator made it possible to manage the allocation of resources as well as the settlement of disputes.

At the same time it provided an atmosphere of normalcy where people can interact with their leader without insecurity and fear. The same thing cannot be said if the only structure of authority in the city is a garrison filled with battle-scarred soldiers and a general who may not be sympathetic to the plight of the people.

An administrator on the other hand can come from the same province, and therefore, he is knowledgeable of the culture, language and customs of the people.

The administrator served as an important conduit between the people and the emperor. It can also be argued that the administrator can easily prevent an uprising as he can easily communicate to the people and the local leaders. Another important purpose of administrators from the point of view of the emperor is that he can assign someone who can focus on a particular industry.

In the Song dynasty there was a desperate need to regulate the production of iron. The emperor was fortunate to have men of skill and integrity like Bao Cheng and Su Shi. They were capable men who handled the affairs of that particular area and developed a way to increase the efficiency of the iron smelting process.

But the emperor had no idea that such gifted men are available to handle this sensitive post. The emperor only knew of their capabilities because Bao Cheng and Su Shi passed the civil service exams (Willis 265).

The civil service exams cannot be used as a guarantee against failure. In every system there is need for talented people. At the same time they need access to reliable information. Reliable information can only be gleaned from a body of knowledge refined through years of experience and consolidation.

This body of knowledge requires a repository as well as able teachers that can pass on valuable information to the next generation. In the modern world, the repository and transmission of knowledge is handled by universities. The same thing cannot be said of pre-modern China (Hansen 12).

The absence of a university and the overdependence on the civil service exams created a false sense of security. The emperors from the Song dynasty to the Qing dynasty depended on the said system to produce quality leaders.

However, integrity, loyalty to the emperor and excellent people skills are not the only requirements to establish a stable government. There is also the need for wisdom among leaders. But wisdom can only be achieved through the acquisition of knowledge.

The overreliance on the civil service exams to establish a core group of reliable and effective leaders was made evident in the monetary crisis that occurred in the Song dynasty. In the 11^th century the government officials of the Song dynasty were faced with the problems associated with rapid economic growth. They needed coins to facilitate growth, through the efficient movement of goods within China.

During this period the officials were able to mint six billion coins (Willis 266). But there was continuous shortage of coins. Upon closer examination it was discovered that officials decided to lower the percentage of copper in the coins, every time a new batch was issued for the general public. Thus, the coins that were minted years before were more valuable than the coins that were minted afterwards.

The discovery of this practice led many people to hoard coins and this explains the shortage. In this example the leaders who passed the civil service exams did not have the foresight and the knowledge needed to avert the said monetary crisis.

It can be argued that the weakness of the civil service exams was partly due to overdependence on the teachings of Confucius (Ebrey 151). Without a doubt Confucius was a man of great wisdom but it must be pointed out that there are many aspects of governance that Confucius was unable to discuss. It does not require a historian to know about these things.

An overview of human history will reveal that some of the wisest men who govern human societies have their own weakness and limitations. Confucius was not an expert in fiscal management because the officials of the government at that time were not able to solve their monetary problems.

Conclusion

The civil service exam was used to select and train future government officials. In a land that is as vast and complicated as China, there was a need for a proven system that can carefully select leaders that were capable and ready to serve. The men that were chosen were men of integrity and character but at the same time they had the intellectual capacity to manage a province or a particular industry.

The civil service exam became a major component in the educational system of the Chinese empire from the Song dynasty to the Qing dynasty. This system created a way not only to select and train leaders but also to develop a mechanism to develop a leader that came from a particular area.

Therefore, when this leader was commissioned to lead in behalf of the emperor, he provided a more stable form of governance. It was a welcome relief from the previous practice that relied on military force to subdue people through fear and coercion.

Nevertheless, the civil service exam was not a perfect solution the problems faced by a pre-modern China. One of the major weaknesses of the civil service exam and the education system that was built around it was its overreliance on the teachings of Confucius.

Works Cited

Bary, Theodore and Irene Bloom. Chinese Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Print.

Ebrey, Patricia. Chinese Civilization. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. Print.

Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600. New York: Norton Publishers, 2000.

Willis, John. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994. Print.

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Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China

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