The civil servant examination system in imperial China was started in the Sui
Dynasty and abolished in the late Ching Dynasty in 1905. It was thought that the system
would not influence scholars any longer. However, such kind of daily teaching
and learning at schools of Taiwan and China is still conditioned and dominated by the
examination system.
The main purpose of this paper is to inquire the three important issues of the civil
servant examination system in imperial China through modern viewpoints. The three
issues are discussed one by one, including imbalanced supply and demand of schooling,
the function of examination for promoting social mobility, and the possibility of abolishing
social selection by open examinations.
From the study, it is found that the emphasis of social equality, the scarcity of social
resources, and the imbalance of supply and demand in human resources still exist
in Taiwan and China. Therefore, it is considered that such kind of open examination
system similar to the civil servant examination will still be existent in Chinese society
中國科舉制度起於隋而終於晚清，當 1905 年上諭廢科舉時，世人以為影響士
人千年的制度終於走入歷史，考試不再領導教學。然事與願違，長期以來，兩岸
教育制度中依然看到舊科舉的影子。本文旨在從現代的角度，挑出三個古今都持
續面對的大問題來做探討，希望能夠找出啟示。三個問題分別是：人才供需是否
失調、科舉能否促進社會流動、及考試選才方式能否廢除。最後發現在強調社會
公平的傳統價值觀、社會資源僧多粥少、及人才供需失衡等等因素影響下，類似
過去科舉以公開考試取才的方式，仍將續存兩岸。
