With the Tang Dynasty, the political system of feudal society in China developed greatly. At this time, the imperial examination system came into being and improved, which was a basic system for the central government to select officials at all levels in China feudal society, with far-reaching influence.
Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, officials have been selected from local dignitaries. Children of powerful people, regardless of merits and demerits, can be officials. Many people with humble origins but real talent and learning cannot hold senior positions in the central and local governments. In the seventh year of Emperor Yangdi (587), centralization was strengthened with Emperor Wendi. The old system of selecting officials was abolished by selecting people with real talents and practical knowledge as officials at all levels. Officials are selected through examinations in different subjects. He ordered the States to recommend talents to take the exam, and those who passed the exam could become officials. According to "Sui Shu Gaozuji", in the eighteenth year of Emperor Wendi (589), he was established as "two imperial examiners determined to be honest, fair and impartial". At that time, there were two subjects, namely scholar and Ming Jing. It was not until the second year of Yang Di's great cause (606) that the imperial examination system was formally born. The so-called "imperial examination" is to select scholars by subjects. From then on, a scholar with a low family background can learn to be an official on the basis of talent. The right to select officials is also centralized from local governments to the imperial court. However, the Sui Dynasty didn't often take exams, and fewer people were admitted. The contents and methods of examinations in various subjects have not yet formed a fixed system.
The Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui system and implemented the imperial examination system with Jinshi as the mainstay. It is more detailed, more perfect and gradually institutionalized in subject setting, category division, examination content and examination room rules. There are many exam subjects, among which Jinshi and Mingjing are the most important. Tang Taizong, Wu Zetian and Tang Xuanzong were the key figures to improve the imperial examination. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, he advocated taking morality as the foundation and knowledge as the foundation. The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were held regularly every year, and the permanent subjects included Scholar, Ming Jing, Buried, Shu Ming and Ming suan. Farming, Shu Ming and Shu Ming are specialized subjects on law, writing and mathematics, and professionals are selected. Ming Jing and Jin Tu are the most important subjects. In the Sui Dynasty, Jin Tuke only tried strategy theory (his views on current politics) and Zhenguan (the year number of Emperor Taizong) tried classics (classics and history books) for eight years. The Ming Classics part focuses on whether the Confucian classics can be recited, which is relatively rigid. The admission rate of taking the soil entrance examination is only 12%. The first place in the local entrance examination is called a clerk. There are quite a few people who have never been buried in the soil from their teenage exams to their old age. Those who have been buried in the exam at the age of 50 are regarded as "less buried". "Emperor Taizong really has a long-term strategy and earned a hero." This poem, written by Zhao Wei in the Tang Dynasty, vividly depicts the difficulty of entering Tudeng. Once you are admitted to Tudengdi, you will be named Scholar Lin, which means you can achieve something. When Tang Gaozong took the entrance examination, he added "Laozi" and other articles to form the "Three Tests". The first game is similar to the current fill-in-the-blank problem. The second is the oral test, and the third is the current affairs strategy. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he turned to concurrently study poetry and fu. In addition, poetry and fu have become the most important examination contents. This is also an important reason why great poets appeared in the Tang Dynasty and Tang poetry reached its peak in the field of poetry. Wu Zetian paid special attention to the imperial examination. He once had a few days' examination for candidates in Luoyang Palace, and ordered the re-examination examiner of the official department to paste his name and take a secret examination, which set a precedent for the later "palace examination" and "paste his name". History says that "the empress dowager reigned in the world for more than 20 years, and at that time, all officials achieved their goals with articles, followed them for a long time, and slept in the wind" (Selected Works of General Canon). An exception was also made to the martial arts course, that is, the martial arts examination was conducted at the same time in the year of the imperial examination. The content includes riding and shooting, walking and shooting, carbine and so on. Those who take the exam can appoint military attache. Guo Ziyi, a famous soldier in the Tang Dynasty, stepped into the official career from martial arts, and later put down the Anshi Rebellion.