Ming Imperial Examination System

Timeline

1. 1370Nanjing · Ming dynastyIn the third year of Hongwu, an edict opened the imperial examinations, selecting candidates through classical exegesis and policy essays, establishing the basic direction of Ming official selection.
2. 1377Nanjing · Ming dynastyBecause most of those selected were of humble origin and the talented could not advance, the examinations were suspended in the tenth year of Hongwu, replaced by recommendation and tribute students from schools to fill official posts.
3. 1384Nanjing · Ming dynastyIn the seventeenth year of Hongwu the examinations were reopened, with questions drawn from the Four Books and Five Classics and the eight-legged essay as the required format; the three-tier system of provincial, metropolitan, and palace examinations was re-established.
4. 1385–1390Provinces of the Ming dynasty · Ming dynastyAfter the restoration, provincial examinations were held in each province and metropolitan examinations in the capital according to fixed regulations in the later Hongwu era, making examination-based selection once again the main path for replenishing the Ming bureaucracy.