China: A palace examination at Kaifeng. Song Dynasty painting (960-1279 CE)

The imperial examination (Chinese: 科舉; pinyin: Kējǔ; Wade–Giles: K'o-chü) 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.

The tests were designed as objective measures to evaluate the educational attainment and merit of the examinees, as part of the process by which final selections and appointments to office would be made. Candidates could receive the jinshi (chin-shih), and other degrees, generally followed by assignment to specific offices, with higher level degrees tending to lead to higher ranking placements in the imperial government service.

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