Due to the long period of peace established by the Qing dynasty, a large number of candidates were able to make significant progress in their studies and apply for the exams. [37][38] As a result of the new focus on practical learning, from 1384 to 1756/7, all provincial and metropolitan examinations incorporated material on legal knowledge and the palace examinations included policy questions on current affairs. The Confucian-based examinations meant that the local elites and ambitious would-be members of those elites across the whole of China were taught with similar values. In 1840 the Mongolian exam was abolished because there were only 6 candidates. Without the necessary economic support, even studying for the exams would not have been possible. [16] In 742, Laozi was replaced in the examination by the glossary Erya. The hardest of these examination categories, the presented scholar jinshi degree, became more prominent over time until it superseded all other examinations. To further reduce the influence of military leaders, they were routinely reassigned at the end of a campaign, so that no lasting bond occurred between commander and soldier. Creel, H.G. His answer to the glut of graduates was to found new schools (shuyuan) for the selection of officials, with the ultimate goal of replacing the examinations altogether by selecting officials directly from the school's students.

[102] For a time, the national examination system was also abandoned in favor of directly appointing students of the Taixue to government posts. It is China's national level exam to enroll government employees. In the Song dynasty, the ratio of success to failure for the metropolitan exam was about 1:50. The policy of appointing civil officials as ad hoc military leaders was maintained by both the Ming and Qing dynasties after the initial phase of conquest.

It became routine for civil officials to be appointed as front-line commanders in the army.

The highest rank for a dedicated military career was reduced to unit commander.

[132], Englishmen in the 18th century such as Eustace Budgell recommended imitating the Chinese examination system but the first English person to recommend competitive examinations to qualify for employment was Adam Smith in 1776.

[16], The cultivated talent examination (xiucai ke) originated in the Han dynasty when Emperor Wu of Han declared that each province had to present one cultivated talent per year to be appointed in the government.