Goryeo Civil Service Examinations

Timeline

1. 958Kaesong · KaesongGoryeo's King Gwangjong adopted the Chinese examination concept and established the jinshi examination, selecting scholar-officials for office through examinations in poetry and the meaning of the classics, marking the formal beginning of the civil service examination system on the Korean Peninsula.
2. 1122–1146National Academy in Kaesong · KaeseongDuring King Injong's reign, provincial and palace examinations were held regularly, with mingjing, jinshi, and other tracks running in parallel, and the National Academy and local schools became preparation centers for candidates. Between 1131 and 1440 the examinations stably recruited officials, and the civil service roster was continuously renewed.
3. 1170–1270Kaesong · KaesongAfter the 1170 military coup, the status of civil officials declined and the examinations were intermittently suspended, but the institutional framework was not abolished, and the military regime still used the examinations to recruit some scholars.
4. 1270–1392Kaesong · KaesongIn the late Goryeo period, a system of examination tracks including jinshi, mingjing, and medicine took shape; against the backdrop of the Yuan–Ming transition, the examinations became intertwined with powerful families and monastic and secular forces, and after Goryeo's fall in 1392 the system was reformed and continued by the Joseon dynasty.