For well over a thousand years, the civil service of Imperial China, the officials who ran the empire, was principally selected from those who had successfully passed through a series of ferociously competitive exams. Passing the first level gave one the rank of licentiate, which carried with it status and the right to take the second level of exams. Passing the second ('provincial') provided a significant chance of eventual appointment to office as well as the opportunity to take the third level of exam ('metropolitan'). Passing the third level was a near guarantee of official appointment. In the early part of the final dynasty, there were about half a million licentiates out of a population of several hundred million, only about 18,000 people who had reached the next level. The provincial exam that separated the two groups had a pass rate of about one percent. It was offered every three years and could be, and often was, taken multiple times. The metropolitan exam produced 200 to...
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