{{Draft|author=MBauwens|date=2026-02-02}} The '''Keju''' (科舉), or imperial civil service examination, was China's historic system of selecting scholar-officials through competitive examinations, representing one of the world's first implementations of meritocratic governance. == Description == Iza Ding explains the historical significance:
"It was imperial China where meritocratic ideals were first brought to life. The keju, or imperial civil service examination, selected scholar-officials who had mastered the Confucian canon – after years, if not decades, of study – for entry into the ruling elite. The exams were initially restricted to nominees, but by the early seventh century eligibility had expanded to most free men. This was centuries before European leaders began to debate whether to extend the franchise beyond propertied males. Some historians believe the keju represented a commitment to excellence among the ruling class; others argue that by uplifting commoners, it helped Chinese emperors to weaken their aristocratic rivals. It was never without its critics, and became a stimulus of dynastic crisis at several points during the 1300 years of its existence. Revolutionaries, more than anyone, resented the keju. Hong Xiuquan, the failed scholar who led the Taiping Rebellion of 1850-64, sat it four times without success before proclaiming himself the younger brother of Jesus, chosen by God to overthrow the corrupt dynasty bolstered by its travesty of an exam. He very nearly succeeded. A few decades later, in a bid to modernise and fend off Western encroachment, the Qing court abolished the keju altogether. Suddenly, millions of young men who would otherwise have been buried in the Four Books and Five Classics found themselves with nothing to do. Many joined the revolution that ended two millennia of imperial rule in 1911. Yet forty years later, only three years after the Communist Party came to power, the state restored a national examination system. Mao, like Hong Xiuquan, hated exams. On the centenary of the fall of the Taiping Rebellion, a movement he admired, he railed against standardised testing: 'Our method of conducting exams is a method for dealing with the enemy, not the people.' A proper exam, he suggested, would publish the questions in advance and let students trade places and copy one another's answers. 'Too much studying is harmful,' Mao insisted, noting that few top scorers in the keju had gone on to accomplish great things. Two years later, the education system collapsed in the Cultural Revolution. Urban students were sent to the countryside to 'learn from peasants' after China nearly fell into civil war. But even Mao couldn't undo China's exam culture. For centuries, exams had been not just the preferred but the only way to staff the governing class – a lasting, if not always happy, marriage between personal ambition and state purpose. As soon as Mao was gone, Deng Xiaoping brought exams back. The most significant returnee was the national college entrance exam, the gaokao."
== See Also == * [[Gaokao]] * [[Meritocracy]] * [[Chinese History]] == Source == * [https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n02/iza-ding/studying-is-harmful "Studying is Harmful" by Iza Ding, London Review of Books] [[Category:Governance]] [[Category:Education]] [[Category:China]] [[Category:History]]