Ming Dynasty Of Ancient China Analysis

During the Ming Dynasty of Ancient China, 1368 B.C.E. - 1644 B.C.E., passing difficult literary examinations was required to fulfill government official positions because of Confucianism’s renewed influence throughout society. In The Examination by Malcolm Bosse, Lao Hong, the youngest brother in the novel, assists Lao Chen, the intellectual older brother, to take challenging literary exams throughout the empire. Withholding a promise from their deceased mother, they travel from a tiny village called Chengdu, located in Sichuan province, all the way to Beijing for the palace exams. Along their treacherous expedition by foot and boat, Hong becomes initiated into a secret society called White Lotus and is entrusted to spy and carry messages for

In an article appropriately titled “Ming Dynasty” from Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., it said: “The Ming regime restored the former literary examinations for public office, which pleased the literary world, dominated by Southerners….almost all the top Ming officials entered the bureaucracy by passing a government examination.” (Encyclopædia Britannica). During Ming rule, literary examinations were used to determine whether or not someone was suitable for a higher position in the government or as a public worker. The best of the best officials were determined by successful high-scoring examinations. These examinations played a large role in society: they reduced corruption and inefficiency within the central system of the nation by eliminating those who are inept. A long time ago, the officials of the empire were not the smartest and were from the North, while the people who resided in the southern part of the nation were educated better because of a greater influence of Confucianism; thus, this created a more unified nation with control of the political structure from various backgrounds. In The Examination, Bosse, mainly focuses on his characters’ lifetime journeys fueled by literary exams to compete for the highest government positions: “They were all sons of officials, it turned out. They could have entered government service without taking the examination, but they were taking it because advancement thereafter into the higher echelons of power only came to those who did well in the exams” (Bosse 257). In this passage, Bosse points out the importance of passing a literary examination. Those who were poorly educated would score low on the examination test and therefore would receive a low ranking in society. To achieve a higher position, it would be imperative for those people to pass and rank high in the