Perfection of the Imperial Examination During the Tang Dynasty

Yang Hongjian

Yang Hongjian， honorary curator of Longhai Railway History Museum and consultant for Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge Memorial Hall， is a researcher of railway history from Xuzhou， Jiangsu. His major works include Memory on Railway， On Jinpu Railway， and Our Bridge.

The Jiangnan Examination Hall is located by Qinhuai River， China’s most famous historical and cultural river. It was first built in the 4th year of the Xiaozong reign （Qiandao era） of the Southern Song Dynasty and became the largest Examination Hall during Ming and Qing Dynasties. After the abolition of the imperial examination， the Examination Hall has gone through wars and changes. Today， the China Imperial Examination Museum in Nanjing， built on the former site of Examination Hall， introduces the time-honored Imperial Examination in a refreshing way. This book will， from the perspective of Jiangnan Examination Hall， portray the history of China Imperial Examination and detail people who lived here and stories that happened here.

Nanjing Imperial Examination Museum

Yang Hongjian

Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House amp; Xanadu Publishing

December 2021

9.99 ￡

The foundation of the imperial examination system was laid during the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Gaozu of Tang （566 CE -- 635 CE） adopted the Sui Dynasty system of using the imperial examination to select officials， and Emperor Taizong of Tang （598 CE -- 649 CE） perfected the system through incessant reformations and improvements. As a result of these efforts， the examination became an important method for selecting civil servants.

The Tang Dynasty imperial examination was divided into a regular examination and an irregular examination. The regular examination was administered" according to conventional procedures. The six subjects were cultivated talent， classicist， presented scholar， expert in law， expert in writing， and expert in arithmetic. Among these themes， classicist was the easiest and presented scholar was the most difficult. As a result， it was often said that “30 is too old to have just passed the classicist theme， but 50 is rather young to have passed the presented-scholar theme”. The irregular examination， on the other hand， was only set up by the emperor to select talents on certain occasions. The subjects and time of the examination were not fixed， and the emperor typically oversaw the examination process personally. Candidates who passed this examination were given official positions， and they received better compensation than those who passed the regular examination.

Portrait of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty

Taizhiyan is a book that details the Tang Dynasty imperial examination system， tales， and other related activities

Beginning in 742 CE， the jinshi （“presented-scholar”） subject of the Tang permitted candidates to submit written poems to the Ministry of Rites before taking the examination， which allowed examiners to gain a comprehensive understanding of candidates beforehand. Additionally， the chief examiner accepted recommendations from senior officials， meaning that certain people were accepted before the examination ever" took place. Candidates obtained such recommendations by" compiling their literary works into manuscripts that they then submitted to high-ranking officials.

Very few scholars were accepted during the Tang Dynasty， but names were not hidden on the test （a process typically accomplished by sealing away the candidates’ personal information）， and there was also no system to prevent conflicts of interest between examiners and candidates. Accordingly， the “red-inked brush” of the examiner was influenced， to some extent， by high society and the upper classes in this system that employed a combination of recommendation and test-based selection. These practices were easily exploited by the powerful to manipulate results and cheat on the imperial examination， but such tactics were banned by the time of the Song Dynasty.

Development of the Imperial Examination System During the Song Dynasty

After Emperor Taizu of Song ascended to the throne， he strengthened the imperial examination’s system. In 973 CE he set a precedent for palace examinations， and from this point on， this examination became the highest level of the system. After the normalisation of the palace examination in the Song Dynasty， presented scholars all came to be nominally admitted by the emperor himself， and they were called “students of the emperor”" as a result. Of course， students who were eliminated by the palace examinations were often left dissatisfied， so in an attempt to resolve the issue， the palace examination ended the practice of eliminating candidates and merely ranked them starting in 1057.

Portrait of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty

List of the names of accepted scholars from the Song and Yuan dynasties

Initially， the Song Dynasty did not administer the examination with any clear regularity. In fact， it wasn’t decided that the test would be held every three years until 1066. This stipulation led to the custom of “holding a great competition every three years”.

As the imperial examination system was perfected during the Song Dynasty， an unprecedented number of literati organisations flourished in turn. Emperor Zhenzong of Song （968 CE --1022 CE）， an ardent advocate of using the imperial examination to select officials， personally wrote Essays on Encouraging Studies. The text contains a famous line that reads， “One can find a bountiful harvest within books.” In this sentence， “within books” refers to taking the imperial examination， and “bountiful harvest” hints at the" grand rewards bestowed upon successful candidates. In short， the line quite directly uses the prospect of position and wealth to encourage young persons to study and participate in the examination.

Porcelain figures depicting the theme of “none is more precious than reading”， Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty also significantly reformed the imperial examination system. It gradually implemented such practices as using a pseudonym and having test scripts transcribed so examiners could not identify a candidate by their handwriting. This latter method involved covering up the candidate’s name， having the candidate’s answers transcribed by an intermediary onto another script， and then giving the transcribed version to an examiner for scoring. After the first examiner reviewed the papers， the grades they provided were sealed， and then the examination papers were handed to another examiner to be reviewed once again. After the second examiner finished their evaluation， the test script was then sent to a determining official who removed the grade seal， balanced the sum of the two grades， and determined the final grade of the test scripts. If there was a significant difference between the first and second evaluation， then the determining official could look over the test scripts directly and decide upon a final score. The establishment of these features caused the test scripts to take on the central role in deciding whether a candidate was accepted or not. It eliminated perverse practices that threatened the fairness of the process， and it encouraged a large number of civilians who had not been recommended by high-ranking officials to participate in the examination.