自隋朝起,封建政府开始从科举考试(imperial examination)合格的应试者中选拔官员。参加科举考试的人有两种:一种由学馆选送的学生构成,叫做生徒 (shengtu)；另一种叫做乡贡(xianggong),由县试合格者构成。唐朝的科举考试一般由礼部(Ministry of Rites)主持。考生考取后,再经吏部(Ministry of Personnel)复试,根据成绩授予相应的官职。科举制度一直被多朝沿用,直到中国最后一个封建王朝—清朝。然而,明清时期,科举制度演变成严格、呆板的制度,阻碍了中国考试制度的现代化和科学化发展。

  Since the Sui Dynasty,the feudal government started to select officials from the qualified candidates in the imperial examinations.There were two kinds of people taking the imperial examination.One was comprised of students chosen by academies, who were called shengtu; the other kind,called xianggong, was made up of those who had passed the examinations held by counties.The imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was usually held by the Ministry of Rites.Those who passed the examination would be re-examined by the Ministry of Personnel and be conferred with relevant official positions according to their examination results.The imperial examination system was used throughout many dynasties until China's last imperial dynasty,the Qing Dynasty.However, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the imperial examination system became a strict and rigid institution which stopped China from adopting modern and scientific methods.