The imperial examination is the method of choosing officials by examination. Candidates sat the examination and those who did well were taken into the government, rather than being chosen by birth.
In 605, the first year of Daye, Emperor Yang of Sui created the jinshi examination, and selection of officials by examination was established. It changed the hereditary, aristocratic selection of officials that had been practised since the Wei and Jin.
In 973 (Kaibao 6 of the Northern Song) Emperor Taizu of Song personally examined the jinshi candidates; the palace examination then became a fixed stage, and the system matured.
In 1905, the thirty-first year of Guangxu of the Qing, a Qing edict abolished the examinations, and a system of selecting officials by examination that had lasted some 1,300 years came to its end.
Imperial Examinations is the class in the chapter on Education on selecting officials by examination. It covers the system from the creation of the jinshi examination in 605, the first year of Daye of the Sui, through the Northern Song when the palace examination became standard, to its abolition by Qing edict in 1905, some 1,300 years of choosing officials by examination.
