Ty old times, before the establishment of the examination system, the choice of men for the public service depended on their scholarship. In the Han dynasty, for example, classical students hind a fair chance. In the Tang dynasty poets were chosen because then able qeri gave great attention to this branch of literary activity. After this, in the Sung dynasty, officers were chosen who were clever at thinking out improved modes of governing. ihat was the time for Wang An-shih to obtain influence-at Court and to prevail on the Emperor to adopt his scheme according to which money was lent to farmers and the government became a luge bank. he results did not justify the hopes this theorist had inspired. Then in the Yuen dynasty, which occupied the latter half of the 13th and former half of the 14th centuries poetic power was'again in favour. Dramas and songs were written in pro-fashion and a mandarin literature sprang up. hose who had gifts suited to produce this sort of literature were advanced in the public service. In the Ming dynasty, embracing the period from 1360 to 1644, the existing system of examinations was inaugurated. The intellectual power of the candidate for office is tested by essays. He is drilled for all the years of his youth in the study of the Classics. He is directed to write an essay on a text out of Confucius or out of the older classics.
The fault in this method of testing is that the amount of knowledge required is limited to the classical ages, and that literary finish is estimated more highly than political information. The magistrate ought to have legal experience. He ought to know by special study the history of his country and the laws he has to administer. He ought to know something himself of revenue questions because he has to collect revenue. These things are not required in the composition of an essay and they are not required in the discharge of a magistrate's duties.
"The present system is modern and has existed indeed for about five centuries only. It is China's own invention and it has rendered the development of special students in legal questions a necessity. The Shikyé is the growth of the system of examinations. He is a student of law who qualifies himself to be legal secretary to a magistrate. There are manuals of law, manuals for coroner's inquests, a course of study which is called the Ising-ming. This last is traced to Laotze, the founder of the Taoists, and to his followers Shéntze and Hanfeitze. An account of it is given in the history of Szemach'ien, so that it is 2,000 years old. The study of the Criminal Law has always been a separate branch from the study of the Classics and of Confucianism. The administration is still by the choice of the governors Confucian. The civil power takes place above the military and the Viceroy gives order to the General. he present system is very firmly established. It suits common minds which are naturally in the majority. Many men of second-rate ability are among the candidates and with them the examination system is popular, It is better to have been examined and rejected than not to be examined at all, A large proportion of successful essays are printed. When in this form they are found to be marked by the examiners both with commas and small circles, The commas mark sentences and their significance is purely logical. 'I'he small circles are made beside characters to mark emphasis, energy, beauty, and the comparative importance of the argument. Hence they are chiefly marks of the admiration of the reader but are in part logical. They are made by the exami ner sat pleasure. When essays are printed the circles are always printed with them, so that the essay as printed expresses the mind of the official reader as well as of the writer. Most of the essays are never seen by the chief examiner who only reads essays which are approved by the subordinate examiners. In 1760 the present system limiting the number of M.A. degrees for each province was completed. It was the result of forty years of Imperial and official attention. Tu Shantung on account of liberal contributions of money to the government the fixed number of M. A. degrees admissible at one time was raised from 69 to 73. This is an ingenious device to promote loyalty. The system is as viewed by the foreigner open still to great improvement, but a Chinese would not wish to say so, because he would perhaps be represented as disloyal. The Censors do not urge the Emperor to increase the number of degrees allowed in any province, nor do the members of the Cabinet. A desire is felt to keep the number of able men entitled to promotion as low as possible because of the difficulty of finding posts suitable for them. 'The fewer the number of candidates the easier is it for Government to maintain control. The rule is to promote as many as there is occasion' for, not as many as deserve promotion, All over China there are capable persons who never obtain office. If the number of degrees allowed were increased these able but unknown men would have a chance. he present system favours men who have money. They push themselves in where better men would serve their country to more advantage. Men who would govern well are often Who chiijen or MIA, examination is held in the autumn of every second or third year. When the candidates come out after being shut up four days the examiners attack the mass of essays which may amount, with poems ineluded, to 280,000, which large number is arrived at by calculation in the following manner. Suppose that there are 20,000 candidates and each candidate gives in three essays' of regulation Tength, one poem, five more essays, and five short essays. his is 14 for each candidate and 14 x 20,000=280,000. If there be a full examination staff there may be four examiners, eighteen assistant examiners, and, in Peking twelve Censors, all appointed by the Emperor. From about 21st September to 18th October is the longest time allowed for the completion of the examination of the essays. Among the essay writers a few years ago there was one case in Peking of suicide. One patient died of cholera. More than 300 candidates spoiled their essays by drawing flowers upon them and they also" talked deliriously. Che frightful strain the nerves of the twenty thousand or more candidates terminates on 21st September. After this day they await the result of the essays, which occupies the greater part of a month. the examiners cannot leave the hall of 20,000 cells till they have done their work. Then the telegraphing com-merices and all the Empire knows who is the Chiai-yuen or first of the twenty thousand, Here the Greece of the Olympic games seems to touch the world of to-day. Singular it is that the telegraph should enter into the examination system of China, but it is not more singular than it is significant. China cannot long hinder the new leaven of modern civilisation from pervading all her institutions. Actual 2 Knowledge ought to be required and not merely essay-writing power, Also the examiners' circuits should be so arranged and the rules so modified that the nervous system of candidates should not be so strained as it is at present to an unwise extent.
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.