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.
Ništa slično nije postojalo u Kini, gdje je bila samo jedna jedinstvena država koja je obuhvaćala petinu čovječanstva i svatko tko je imao ikakvu ambiciju morao je položiti standardizirani test koji je trajao tri dana i bio vrlo težak. Uključivao je pamćenje ogromnog broj znakova i pisanje vrlo složenih konfucijanskih eseja.