Nanjing's Ming imperial examinations reinstituted

1381

Hongwu restored the civil service examination system that the Mongols had suspended, reopening the Confucian meritocratic pathway to power. Thousands of scholars streamed into examination halls to compose eight-legged essays on the Four Books of classical Confucianism. The decision cemented the scholar-official class as Ming China's governing elite for three centuries and shaped Chinese intellectual life profoundly.