A painting of a Chinese official with two servants. The markings on this Chinese official's chest indicate that he has passed the civil service exam and attained high rank in the bureaucracy.

Source: Portrait of Jiang Shunfu, Wikimedia

For most of early Chinese history, government officials were simply chosen by wealthy landlords who had an enormous influence over the Chinese government. However, during the Han Dynasty, a new system was established in which people who wanted to work for the government took a civil service examination. Those who did well on the exam could attain very high positions in the Chinese empire.

Imagine for a second that you were in charge of coming up with a test that all future Presidents of the United States would need to pass before they could become president. What type of knowledge would you want to test them over? What things are important for a good leader to know?

Interactive exercise. Assistance may be required. Check off the subject areas below. When you are finished, click "submit" and the subject-areas that government officials in Ancient China were actually tested over will be highlighted!

How did the subjects you picked match up with what the Chinese thought was important?