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	Podcast:		Footnoting History
	Episode:		Passing Exams in Imperial China
	Category:		Society & Culture
	Duration:		00:23:54
	Publish Date:		2020-05-01 22:00:00
	Description:		(Lucy) The civil service examinations taken by the bureaucrats and administrators of imperial China were not merely academic. They also served as social rites of passage. Moreover, they were designed to test the moral aptitudes of test-takers for a lifetime of upholding Confucian ideals. Naturally, they were a source of individual stress, as well as a key part of imperial power and authority for centuries, outlasting several dynasties. This episode looks at the roles civil service examinations played in premodern China, and the mythos that grew around them.
	Total Play:		0