Imperial China is famed for its civil service exam, but what kind of questions did it include? Were they comparable to modern exams? Have many exam papers survived?
u/xingfenzhen gives the questions from the 1904 exam in
(and see also the reply by u/Vox_Imperatoris there). Some examples:
首题为：“大学之道，在明明德，在亲民，在止于至善义”；
Explain: The great learning is about enlightenment moralities, at being close to the people, at promoting good actions.
“裴度奏宰相宜招延四方贤才与参谋请于私第见客论”。
Discuss: Pei Du presented (the idea) that the prime minister should be able to discuss plans with sages and advisers in his own house. (At Pei’s time every discussion needed to be done at court before the emperor)
“日本变法之初，聘用西人而国以日强，埃及用外国人至千余员，遂至失财政裁判之权而国以不振。试详言其得失利弊策”。
When Japan began its reforms, they employed westerners thus they became strong. Now Egypt also employed more than 1000 foreigners but end up losing money and power and become a client state. Discuss the reason behind this.
The last of these is a very modern question, concerning recent international event, but the first two are classic questions that could have been asked a millennium earlier.
See also u/Tiako on the general structure in https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ydtya/what_were_the_questions_on_ancient_chinese_civil/
If you want more,
is a great resource for learning more about the Ming-Qing examination system. Comprehensive, and lots of stuff that is difficult to find elsewhere, e.g., pp 388-399: A close look at the eight-legged essay, with two examples by Wang Ao (1450-1524), a first-ranked examinee twice (running into a jealous examiner for the 3rd (palace) examination, who was the only Ming three-times first-ranker and wanted to preserve that status). Despite his difficulty with his third exam, Wang Ao's 3rd essay was regarded as great, and his writing influenced future essays greatly.
Follow-up question: does anyone know about the process of assessment or evaluation that went along with these exams. That is, how did they grade the answers (with a rubric, a scoring scale, via holistic scoring, etc.)? And were the test readers professional examination judges or actual civil servants holding positions similar to those which the examinees aspired?
Also, did any "test prep" services exist in these times? As in providing prospective examinees with access to old exams and their grades then formally helping them practice based on such awareness?
Adding onto this, is there evidence that the use of the test produced more competent civil servants/more effective governance than the patronage systems prevalent in the West until the 19th century?