  the imperial examination was 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 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. the examination system helped to shape china's intellectual, cultural, and political 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 (), became essential for highest office, while there was a vast oversupply of holders of the initial degree, shengyuan (çå¡), who could not hope for office. 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 ryÅ«kyÅ«. the chinese examination system influenced europe and the development of the civil service system in the united states of america as well. ==general history==  although, in a general way, the formative ideas behind the imperial exams can be traced back at least to zhou dynasty times (or, more mythologically, [[y
Chinese_culture Civil_services Confucianism East_Asian_culture Education_in_China History_of_Imperial_China History_of_education_in_China Public_administration