What role did the imperial examination system play in the cultivation and maintenance of China traditional culture?

The first imperial examination system recommended Confucianism to all social strata, which became the spiritual core of China traditional culture.

With the reconstruction of the unified empire in Sui and Tang Dynasties, Confucianism, which serves the needs of unified centralized politics, has been re-valued. Jinshi and Mingjing are two main subjects in the imperial examination in Tang Dynasty. Ming Jing mainly tests Confucian classics such as Five Classics, Three Rites and Three Biographies, while Jinshi mainly tests countermeasures and poems. The imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty basically followed the Tang system, with new changes and developments, mainly reflected in attaching great importance to Confucian culture and adding Confucian classics to the imperial examination items. After the mid-Song Dynasty, the strategic position guided by Confucianism became increasingly prominent. During the reign of Xining, Wang Anshi reformed the imperial examination system, abolished the examination contents such as poetry fu and later Mohism, and changed to the examination of classics, techniques and theories. The establishment of Jinshi branch and its emphasis on Confucian classics examination had a far-reaching influence in the late feudal society of China. In the Song Dynasty, a thorough civil servant was in power, giving preferential treatment to Confucian scholars, which expanded the way for scholars to be promoted as officials. People with talent and virtue from any background can pass the exam. Of course, children of wealthy families and powerful people have more time for education. In the Song Dynasty, one-third or more of the successful officials were from civilian families, and such a high proportion of social promotion was amazed by any dynasty society.

Confucianism is the dominant ideology in the imperial examination, and Confucian classics have become a must-read list for candidates. Through the imperial examination, the state expanded Confucianism into the common belief of the intellectual class, and with its unique cultural advantages, led the whole society to form the spiritual cohesion necessary for a nation. Under the system of selecting officials in imperial examinations, centralization, Confucian class and Confucianism are trinity, thus ensuring the sustainable development of traditional social culture in China.

The second imperial examination system strengthened the cultural tradition of emphasizing reading and writing, promoted the development of school education and created a large number of outstanding cultural talents.

China has attached importance to education, historical and cultural knowledge and the artistry of language and literature since ancient times. Under the imperial examination system, examination is the basic way to select officials. The content of the exam is Confucian classics and poems. Only by studying hard at a cold window can ordinary people realize their desire to be among the upper classes of society. Therefore, the school education linked to the imperial examination was regarded as a preparatory place for imperial examination talents in ancient times. The old adage of "learning to be an excellent official" was truly reflected in the system of selecting officials in the imperial examination after the Tang and Song Dynasties, which formed the traditional quality of China people attaching importance to education and studying hard.

In the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty, the most important thing was the Jinshi, which mainly examined poetry and prose. Driven by the interests of selecting scholars in poetry and fu, the creative enthusiasm of the Tang people was high, and the formation of poetry and fu in the Tang Dynasty really had a considerable relationship with the imperial examination system. In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination changed from emphasizing poetry and fu to emphasizing classics, meaning, strategy and reason, and the strategies written in ancient Chinese became the decisive result of the imperial examination. Ouyang Xiu, a great prose writer, once discovered and promoted a group of talented ancient writers through the imperial examination. The creation of ancient prose became the mainstream of literature in the Song Dynasty, and the movement of ancient prose began in the middle Tang Dynasty, and it has won so far.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the imperial examination system was mature and China's traditional culture flourished. In the middle Tang Dynasty, with the expansion of imperial examinations, a large number of talents such as Liu Zongyuan, Bai Juyi, Liu Yuxi, Han Yu and Ada poured into official career. The Song Dynasty paid more attention to the imperial examination system, and the status and treatment of scholars were improved unprecedentedly. Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, Su Shi, Sima Guang, Huang Tingjian, Cheng Yi, Shen Kuo and other first-class cultural and scientific talents have emerged. They are all scholars. It can be seen from the above that the imperial examination system had a positive impact on the culture of Tang and Song Dynasties.