Question

Under which dynasty did China first establish its Civil service program?

• A. The Han
• B. The Qin
• C. The Tang
• D. The Zhou
• E. The Sui

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

The Han

The administrative system of the traditional Chinese government, the members of which were selected by a competitive examination. The Chinese civil-service system gave the Chinese empire stability for more than 2,000 years and provided one of the major outlets for social mobility in Chinese society. It later served as a model for the civil-service systems that developed in other Asian and Western countries. The Qin dynasty (221-207 BC) established the first centralized Chinese bureaucratic empire and thus created the need for an administrative system to staff it. Recruitment into the Qin bureaucracy was based on recommendations by local officials. This system was initially adopted by the succeeding Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), but in 124 BC, under the reign of the Han emperor Wudi, an imperial university was established to train and test officials in the techniques of Confucian government.