Nothing like this existed in China, where there was one monolithic state covering a fifth of humanity, and anyone with any ambition had to pass one standardized examination, which took three days and was very difficult and involved memorizing vast numbers of characters and very complex Confucian essay writing.
Intet tilsvarende eksisterede i Kina, der var bare en monolitisk stat omfattende en femtedel af menneskeheden, og enhver med hvilken som helst ambition skulle bestå én standardiseret eksamen, som tog tre dage og var meget svær og bestod af at huske en stort antal skrifttegn og skrive afhandlinger om meget indviklet konfuciansk lærdom.