Editing Meritocracy (section)

===Imperial China===
{{Further|Chinese Legalism|Imperial examinations}}
{{Conservatism in China}}
Some of the earliest example of an administrative meritocracy, based on civil service examinations, dates back to [[Ancient China]].<ref name="APHq">Kazin, Edwards, and Rothman (2010), 142. ''One of the oldest examples of a merit-based civil service system existed in the imperial bureaucracy of China.''</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Tan|first1=Chung|first2=Yinzheng|last2=Geng|title= India and China: twenty centuries of civilization interaction and vibrations|year=2005|publisher=University of Michigan Press|page=128|quote=China not only produced the world's first "bureaucracy", but also the world's first "meritocracy"}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Konner|first=Melvin|title=Unsettled: an anthropology of the Jews|url=https://archive.org/details/unsettledanthrop00konn|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Viking Compass|page=[https://archive.org/details/unsettledanthrop00konn/page/217 217]|isbn=9780670032440|quote=China is the world's oldest meritocracy}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tucker|first1=Mary Evelyn|year=2009|title=Touching the Depths of Things: Cultivating Nature in East Asia|journal=Ecology and the Environment: Perspectives from the Humanities|page=51|publisher=[[Harvard Divinity School]]|quote=To staff these institutions, they created the oldest meritocracy in the world, in which government appointments were based on civil service examinations that drew on the values of the Confucian Classics}}</ref>{{efn|name=fna}} The concept originates, at least by the sixth century BC, when it was advocated by the Chinese philosopher [[Confucius]], who "invented the notion that those who govern should do so because of merit, not of inherited status. This sets in motion the creation of the imperial examinations and bureaucracies open only to those who passed tests".<ref>{{cite book|last=Sienkewicz|first=Thomas J.|title=Encyclopedia of the Ancient World|year=2003|publisher=Salem Press|page=434|quote=Confucius invented the notion that those who govern should so because of merit and not inherited status, setting in motion the creation of the imperial examinations and bureaucracies open only to those who passed tests.}}</ref>

As the [[Qin dynasty|Qin]] and [[Han dynasty|Han]] dynasties developed a meritocratic system in order to maintain power over a large, sprawling empire, it became necessary for the government to maintain a complex network of officials.<ref name="BC" /> Prospective officials could come from a rural background and government positions were not restricted to the nobility. Rank was determined by merit, through the [[civil service examination]]s, and education became the key for social mobility.<ref name="BC">Burbank and Cooper (2010), 51.</ref> After the fall of the Han dynasty, the [[nine-rank system]] was established during the [[Three Kingdoms]] period.

According to the ''[[Princeton Encyclopedia of American History]]'':<ref name="APH">Kazin, Edwards, and Rothman (2010), 142.</ref>

{{Blockquote|One of the oldest examples of a merit-based civil service system existed in the imperial bureaucracy of China. Tracing back to 200 B.C., the Han dynasty adopted [[Confucianism]] as the basis of its political philosophy and structure, which included the revolutionary idea of replacing nobility of blood with one of virtue and honesty, and thereby calling for administrative appointments to be based solely on merit. This system allowed anyone who passed an examination to become a government officer, a position that would bring wealth and honor to the whole family. In part due to Chinese influence, the first European civil service did not originate in Europe, but rather in India by the British-run [[East India Company]]... company managers hired and promoted employees based on competitive examinations in order to prevent corruption and favoritism.}}