page_title: Imperial examination in Chinese mythology
section_title: Confucian rationalism
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial examination in Chinese mythology / Confucian rationalism
caption_attribution_description: "Zhong Kui, the Demon Queller, has been a popular subject in figure painting from as early as the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907). The early Zhong Kui portraits were hung at the end of the year to drive away evil spirits. The pine trees, rocks, and river in this painting imply that Zhong is standing in a winter forest, common within early depictions. From around the 15th century, however, Zhong is depicted as a demon queller and bringer of fortune, and imagery in this painting also links him to this new role. For example, a vase held by two demons represents peace, the red coral branch inside wealth, and the fungi at the demon’s waist longevity. The five bats refer to the five blessings: longevity, wealth, health, virtue, and a graceful death. Zhong, holding his jade sceptre, looks up into the sky as if calling to the bats, originally considered as assistants to Zhong because of their ability to search for hidden demons in the dark. New Year Pictures are still hung both to drive away demons and bring good luck, and often feature the Demon Queller." —Ashmolean Museum
context_page_description: The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best potential candidates to serve as administrative officials, for the purpose of recruiting them for the state's bureaucracy. With the avowed purpose of testing and selecting candidates for merit, the examination system markedly influenced various aspects of society and culture in Imperial China, including Chinese mythology.
  The imperial civil service examinations were designed as objective measures to evaluate the educational attainment and merit of the examinees, as part of the process by which to make selections and appointments to various offices within the structure of the government of the Chinese empire, or, sometimes, during periods of Chinese national disunion, of offices within the various states. During more recent historical times, successful candidates could receive the jinshi, and other degrees, generally followed by assignment to specific offices, with higher level degrees and competitive ranking within the degrees tending to lead to higher ranking placements in the imperial government service.
context_section_description: From a certain viewpoint, the examination system represented the most rationalistic aspect of the Confucian system. The system of testing was designed according to the principle of a society ruled by men of merit, and to achieve this by objectively measuring various candidates knowledge and intelligence. However, in actual operation, the system also aspects of religious and irrational beliefs more complex than this (Yang, C. K., 265–266). The idea of Fate is a mythological motif which had a significant role in the cultural context of the examination system involving cosmic forces which predestine certain results of human affairs: particularly that individual success or failure is subject to the will of Heaven, and that the results of taking the imperial examinations could be influenced by the intervention of various deities (Yang C. K., 265–268).
caption: Zhong Kui the Demon Queller with Five Bats
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