title: Eddy Merckx

text: Dutch cyclist Joop Zoetemelk said "First there was Merckx, and then another classification began behind him." Cycling journalist and commentator Phil Liggett wrote that if Merckx started a race, many riders acknowledged that they likely would be competing for second place. Ted Costantino wrote that Merckx was undoubtedly the number one cyclist of all time, whereas in other sports there are debates that go on about who is actually the greatest of all time. Gianni Motta told of how Merckx would ride without a racing cape when it was snowing or raining in order to go faster than other riders. Even after his retirement, many subsequent stars still feel overshadowed by his fame and race results. Merckx befriended Fiorenzo Magni when he began racing for an Italian team. He was criticized by opposing riders for his relentless pursuit of victory that prevented even lesser known riders from collecting a few victories. When told that he won too much, Merckx stated that "The day when I start a race without intending to win it, I won't be able to look at myself in the mirror."


title: Eddy Merckx

text: Merckx was leading the 1969 Giro d'Italia upon the conclusion of the sixteenth stage in Savona. After the stage, Merckx went to the mobile lab that traveled with the race and conducted the drug tests. Merckx's first test came up positive for fencamfamine, an amphetamine. A second test was conducted and also came up positive. Controversially, the results of the test were announced to the press before Merckx and his team were informed. The positive test meant Merckx was to be suspended for a month. Race director Vincenzo Torriani delayed the start of the seventeenth stage in an attempt to persuade the president of the Italian Cycling Federation to allow Merckx to begin the stage. However, the president was not in his office and Torriani was forced to start the stage, disqualifying Merckx in the process. In the succeeding days, the UCI removed the suspension put in place.


title: Eddy Merckx

text: From the start, Merckx claimed his innocence saying that "I am a clean rider, I do not need to take anything to win." Prior, Merckx was tested 8 times negative in this Giro. The major part of the international press believed in Merckx’ innocence, stating that with his lead, it was illogic he would use banned substances in an easy stage, moreover knowing a doping test was likely to follow (being the leader). He maintains that his samples were mishandled. After the incident, several conspiracy theories emerged including: the urine that tested positive was not Merckx's, and Merckx had been given a water bottle with the stimulant in it. All moves to give Italian Felice Gimondi a better chance at victory.


title: Eddy Merckx

text: On 8 November 1973, it was announced that Merckx had tested positive for norephedrine after winning the Giro di Lombardia a month earlier. Upon learning of the first test being positive in later October, he had a counter-analysis performed which also turned up positive. The drug was present in a cough medicine that the Molteni doctor, Dr. Cavalli, prescribed to him. Merckx was disqualified from the race and the victory was awarded to second-place finisher Gimondi. In addition, Merckx was given a month suspension and fined 150,000 lira. Merckx admitted his fault in taking the medicine but said that the name norephedrine was not on the bottle of cough syrup he used. Norephedrine was later removed from the WADA-list of banned substances.


title: Eddy Merckx

text: On 8 May 1977, Merckx, along with several other riders, tested positive for pemoline, a stimulant in Stimul, at La Flèche Wallonne. The group of riders was charged by the Belgian cycling federation, and the riders were each given a 24,000 pesetas fine and a one-month suspension. Initially, Merckx announced his intention to appeal the penalty, saying he only took substances that were not on the banned list. Merckx's 8th-place finish in the race was voided. Years later, Merckx admitted he did take a banned substance, citing that he was wrong to have trusted a doctor.


title: Eddy Merckx

text: Due to Merckx's positive tests during his career, he was asked by the event organizers to stay away from the 2007 UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. The organizers stated that "[they] had to be role models", while Merckx wrote them off claiming them to be crazy. Merckx was not alone, as several other riders were asked to keep their distance from the event.


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: Shen Yue (; born February 27, 1997) is a Chinese actress, singer and model. She is known for her leading roles in the television series "A Love So Beautiful" (2017), "Meteor Garden" (2018), and "Count Your Lucky Stars" (2020)".


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: Shen Yue was born in Wugang, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, China. She studied Journalism and Communication at Hunan Normal University in 2014. She was also an intern at Hunan Satellite TV. During her second year in college, her photographer friend posted a photo of her online, which attracted the attention of her future agent. She was then selected to participate in the reality show "Summer Sweetie" broadcast by Hunan Broadcasting System and later became an intern in "Happy Camp".


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: Shen Yue made her acting debut in the Chinese television series Autumn Harvest Uprising in 2017, and proceeded to play a supporting role in the science fiction comedy television series "Let's Shake It". The same year, she was cast as the female lead in the campus romance drama "A Love So Beautiful".


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: Shen Yue rose to fame with her role as Chen Xiaoxi in the 2017 campus romance drama "A Love So Beautiful" alongside actor Hu Yitian, based on the novel "To Our Pure Little Beauty" by Zhao Gangan, which aired on Tencent Video on 9 November 2017.


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: In 2018, she portrayed the female lead Dong Shancai in the 2018 television series "Meteor Garden", based on the Japanese shōjo manga series written by Yoko Kamio. It was a remake of the 2001 Taiwanese adaptation, also called "Meteor Garden". The series was a hit in the Southeast-Asian region, and led to increased popularity for Shen Yue overseas.


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: Later on, she became a guest on a variety show with music performance called "Phanta City" with her Meteor Garden costars, Dylan Wang, Darren Chen, Connor Leong and Caesar Wu. She then became a cast member of the Chinese variety show "The Inn 2" with her "Meteor Garden" co-star Dylan Wang.


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: In 2019, she performed in the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala, presenting the sketch "Office's Story (办公室的故事)" alongside other veteran artists. The same year Shen Yue starred in "Another Me", a television drama based on the film "Soul Mate" (2016) alongside Chen Duling.


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: In 2021, Shen Yue starred alongside Jasper Liu in the romantic comedy drama "Use For My Talent", which is a remake of the Korean drama, "Clean with Passion for Now". She made her big screen debut in "The Yinyang Master" which was released in February 2021. On August, Shen Yue starred in the youth comedy drama, "Be Yourself" where she played a stubborn "tomboy".


title: Shen Yue (actress)

text: In 2022, Shen Yue starred in the romantic fantasy comedy drama "Mr. Bad", opposite Zheyuan Chen and directed by Ching-Jung Lee.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The NHL Entry Draft () is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirements (North American players 18–20 years old and European/international players 18–21 years old; all others enter the league as unrestricted free agents). The NHL Entry Draft is held once every year, generally within two to three months after the conclusion of the previous regular season. During the draft, teams take turns selecting amateur players from junior or collegiate leagues and professional players from European leagues.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The first draft was held in 1963, and has been held every year since. The NHL Entry Draft was known as the NHL Amateur Draft until 1979. The entry draft has only been a public event since 1980, and a televised event since 1984.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: Up to 1994, the order was solely determined by the standings at the end of the regular season. In 1995, the NHL Draft Lottery was introduced where only teams who had missed the playoffs could participate. The lottery winner moved up the draft order a maximum of four places, meaning only the five worst teams, based on regular season points in a given season, could pick first in the draft, and no team in the non-playoff group could move down more than one place. The chances of winning the lottery were weighted towards the teams at the bottom of the regular season standings. From 2013 to 2015, there was no limit of moving up in the draft order, so the lottery winner would automatically receive the first overall pick, and any teams above it in the draft order would still move down one spot. From 2015 to 2020, there were three lottery winners that received the top three picks, and any teams above it in the draft order would move down no more than three spots. In 2021, the lottery system was changed to include two lottery winners, and they received the top two overall picks, and any teams above it in the draft order would move down no more than two spots.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: Beginning in 2022, the two lottery winners are limited to move up no more than ten places in the draft order, meaning that only the bottom eleven teams based on regular season points, could win first pick in the draft. If a team outside the bottom eleven teams wins the first draft lottery they move up ten spots (e.g. fourteenth team wins the lottery and moves up to fourth overall) and lowest finishing team from the previous season is then awarded the first overall selection.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The first NHL Entry Draft (at that time known as the "NHL Amateur Draft") was held on June 5, 1963, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. In 1967, NHL president Clarence Campbell and Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) president Fred Page announced a new tentative five-year agreement on August 19, 1966, with several proposed changes to the existing system, effective July 1, 1967. The direct sponsorship of junior teams by the NHL was to be phased out in the upcoming year, and no new sponsored players could be registered or be required to sign a contract restricting movement between teams. The agreement eliminated the A, B and C forms, which had angered the parents of amateur players and were the source of legal action threats when the professional team refused to release a player. Junior-aged players became eligible for the draft once they graduate from junior hockey, or to be signed as a free agent in the year the player reaches his 20th birthday. The NHL agreed to pay development fees to the CAHA for the drafted players. The new agreement came at a time that also leveled the playing field for new NHL clubs in the 1967 NHL expansion.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: In 1979, the rules were changed allowing players who had previously played professionally to be drafted. This rule change was made to facilitate the absorption of players from the defunct World Hockey Association. Consequently, the name of the draft was changed from "NHL Amateur Draft" to "NHL Entry Draft". Beginning in 1980, any player who is between the ages of 18 and 20 is eligible to be drafted. In addition, any non-North American player over the age of 20 can be selected. From 1987 through 1991, 18 and 19-year-old players could only be drafted in the first three rounds unless they met another criterion of experience which required them to have played in major junior, U.S. college and high school, or European hockey.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: In 1980, the Entry Draft became a public event, and was held at the Montreal Forum. Prior to that year the Entry Draft was conducted in Montreal hotels or league offices and was closed to the general public. The first draft outside of Montreal was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, in 1985. Live television coverage of the draft began in 1984 when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covered the event in both English and French for Canadian audiences. The 1987 Entry Draft, held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, was the first NHL Draft to be held in the United States. SportsChannel America began covering the event in the United States in 1989.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: Prior to the development of the Draft, NHL teams sponsored junior teams, and signed prospects in their teens to the junior teams. Players were signed to one of three forms: the "A" form, which committed a player to a tryout; a "B" form, which gave the team an option to sign a player in return for a bonus; and the "C" form, which committed a player's professional rights. The "C" form could only be signed by the player at age eighteen or by the player's parents, often in exchange for some signing bonus. The first drafts (up until the 1968 Amateur Draft) were held to assign players who had not signed with an NHL organization before the sponsorship of junior teams was discontinued after 1968.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The selection order in the NHL Entry Draft is determined by a combination of lottery, regular season standing, and playoff results. While teams are permitted to trade draft picks both during the draft and prior to it (sometimes several years prior), in all cases, the selection order of the draft picks is based on the original holder of the pick, not a team which may have acquired the pick via a trade or other means. The order of picks discussed in this section always references the original team.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The basic order of the NHL Entry Draft is determined based on the standings of the teams in the previous season. As with the other major sports leagues, the basic draft order is intended to favour the teams with the weakest performance who presumably need the most improvement in their roster to compete with the other teams. Subject to the results of the NHL Draft Lottery (discussed below), the teams pick in the same order each round, with each team getting one pick per round.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The number of teams in the second and third group depends on whether the Conference finalists also won their division. The teams in each group (other than the Stanley Cup winner and runner up) are ordered within that group based on their point totals in the preceding regular season (with the lowest point total picking first). Tie-breakers are governed by the same rules used to determine ties in the regular season standings. The order of picks 1–16 may change during the first round of the draft based on the results of the NHL Draft lottery. In the subsequent rounds, the basic order based on point totals is used.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: When teams lose their rights to a first-round draft choice, because that player was not signed to a contract and consequently re-entered the entry draft or became an unrestricted free agent, they are awarded a compensatory draft pick. This selection will be the same numerical choice as the first round draft pick who was not signed, but in the second round. For example, if a team cannot sign the seventh overall first round draft choice, it will receive the seventh pick in the second round of the next draft as compensation.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: At the conclusion of the regular season, the 16 teams that did not qualify for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the initial draft picks in the first round. The teams are seeded in the basic draft order based on their regular season point totals. The odds of winning the lottery are weighted on a descending scale that gives the greatest chance of winning to the team with the lowest point total (18.5%), and the worst chance to the team with the highest point total (1.0%).


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The prize for winning the draft lottery is to be upgraded to pick first in the first round of the draft, with each team that preceded the winner in the basic draft order bumped one pick lower. For example, if the team with the 5th worst point total wins the lottery, it would pick first, and the teams with the worst through 4th-worst records would pick second through fifth. The remaining teams would be unaffected. The teams would return to the basic order for the second and all subsequent rounds.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: From its inception through 2015, there was one winner of the lottery; from 1995 to 2012, the team that won the draft lottery moved up no more than four positions in the draft order. If the winner of the lottery was among the five worst teams in a given season, that team won the first pick in the draft. Otherwise, the team will move up no more than four spots, and that team will not receive the first pick in the draft; from 2013 to 2015 the lottery winner received the first pick overall regardless of regular season point totals amongst the non-playoff teams. Beginning with the 2016 draft and lasting until the 2020 draft, the first three selections were determined by the lottery. Any team that did not make the playoffs had a weighted chance to select in the first, second or third slot. Beginning in 2021, only two draws will be held for the first two selections. Starting with the 2022 lottery; the teams winning one of the two lotteries will only be allowed to move up a maximum of ten spots in the draft order and teams will only be allowed to win the lottery twice in a five year period. The remaining teams maintain their order of selection based on the points accrued the previous season. As the top two slots are determined by the lottery, no team can drop more than two places from the position established based on previous season point totals.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: The NHL Draft Lottery takes place just before or during the Stanley Cup playoffs and is hosted at Sportsnet's studios in Toronto from 2015 onwards. From 2006 to 2014, the draft lottery took place at TSN's studios in Toronto. The odds for the first overall pick are determined as follows:


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: All players who will be 18 years old on or before September 15 and not older than 19 years old before December 31 of the draft year are eligible for selection for that year's NHL Entry Draft. In addition, non-North American players over the age of 20 are eligible.


title: NHL Entry Draft

text: SportsChannel America began covering the NHL Draft in the United States with the 1989 NHL Entry Draft being the first NHL draft ever televised.


title: Christina Moore

text: Christina Moore (born April 12, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, fashion designer, model and screenwriter. She was in the main cast of the sketch comedy series "MADtv", played Laurie Forman on "That '70s Show" during its sixth season, and played Candy Sullivan on "Hawthorne". She had a recurring role in "90210".


title: Christina Moore

text: Moore was born in Palatine, Illinois. She became interested in performing as a young girl at her family's church by getting involved with children. When she was in high school, she toured with a children's musical theatre troupe throughout the city of Chicago.


title: Christina Moore

text: Her first professional job was in summer stock in Lincoln City, Indiana, where she performed in "Young Abe: the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Outdoor Musical Drama". Her theatre roles included productions of "Annie", "Cinderella" and "Big River". Her father is Carroll Moore and her mother is Joy Moore. She has one younger sister.


title: Christina Moore

text: After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts, Moore moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Her television credits include the UPN comedy "The Bad Girl's Guide" and the drama "Hyperion Bay," recurring roles on "Pasadena" and "Unhappily Ever After", and guest appearances on "24", "Just Shoot Me!", "Friends", and "Suddenly Susan."


title: Christina Moore

text: Moore joined the cast of "MADtv" in 2002 as a featured performer for the eighth season, where she was noted for her impressions of Christina Aguilera, Shannon Elizabeth, Sharon Stone, Trista Rehn and Brittany Murphy. With Josh Meyers, she is one of two former "MadTV" members to join the cast of "That '70s Show".


title: Christina Moore

text: Moore appeared in "Married...with Children" as the Gorgeous Woman in the episode "Twisted" (1996). She left the "MADtv" at the conclusion of the eighth season to join the cast of "That '70s Show". She replaced Lisa Robin Kelly as Laurie Forman during the show's sixth season. In 2005, she starred in the TV series "Hot Properties", which had aired 13 episodes. She also starred in "Without a Paddle" and Dave Barry's "Complete Guide to Guys". She also appeared in "Two and a Half Men" as Cynthia Sullivan in the episode "The Soil is Moist" (2008). She played Alan Harper's rebound lover on "Two and a Half Men". In 2008, she began a recurring role on The CW's "90210" as Tracy Clark, the sexy and mischievous mother of Naomi Clark. She also narrates various audio books, including Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series and "Yellow Star". She was part of the main cast of "Hawthorne" playing Candy Sullivan.


title: Christina Moore

text: Moore is a founding member of "Bitches Funny", an all-female sketch group that has performed in New York City and Los Angeles for the past five years. She also had a recurring role in the Disney Channel shows "Jessie" and "Bunk'd" as Christina, the mother of the Ross children, in "Sonny with a Chance" as Tammi, Tawni's mother, as well as Vanessa Baxter's empty-headed sister April on the former ABC sitcom "Last Man Standing".


title: ESPN+

text: ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). It is one of Disney's three flagship subscription streaming brands in the United States, alongside Disney+ and Hulu, and operates using technology of Disney subsidiary BAMTech, now known as Disney Streaming Services.


title: ESPN+

text: ESPN+ is marketed as an add-on to ESPN's core linear networks, with some of ESPN+'s content previously offered exclusively to cable subscribers via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. ESPN+ does not include access to these services, as they continue to only be available through television providers. Thus, some of ESPN's sports rights are not carried on ESPN+.


title: ESPN+

text: Featured content on ESPN+ includes combat sports (including coverage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Top Rank boxing), college sports, hockey (including 75 exclusive National Hockey League games per-season and all out-of-market games), rugby union, soccer (including out-of-market Major League Soccer matches), golf (including PGA Tour Live and coverage of the PGA Championship), tennis, and cricket. Major League Baseball's out-of-market sports package, also operated through BAMTech, is sold through the platform as an add-on. The service also features archive content, ESPN original documentaries, and access to premium content on ESPN.com.


title: ESPN+

text: In August 2016, The Walt Disney Company acquired a minority stake in BAMTech, a spin-out of MLB Advanced Media's streaming technology business, for $1 billion, with an option to acquire a majority stake in the future. It was also announced that Disney subsidiary ESPN was planning to develop an over-the-top service based on BAMTech technology as "an exploratory OTT project", drawing primarily from ESPN-owned rights for events not broadcast on television. ESPN already used BAMTech's platform for its TV Everywhere service WatchESPN. Disney CEO Bob Iger remarked that despite declines in the pay television industry due to cord-cutting, "live sports has really thrived, even in a world where there's so much more for people to do and to watch."


title: ESPN+

text: In August 2017, Disney invoked its option to acquire a controlling stake in BAMTech, and announced that it planned to launch its ESPN OTT service in 2018, followed by a Disney entertainment OTT service in 2019 (thus ending its relationship with Netflix). At this time, Disney stated that the new ESPN service would draw from ESPN-owned sports rights, as well as MLB, NHL, and Major League Soccer content (although lacking major ESPN-owned rights such as the NBA and NFL), and that an accompanying redesign of the ESPN app would make it a "premier digital destination" for sports content. During Disney's fourth-quarter earnings call, Iger revealed that the service would be known as ESPN+. In December 2017, Disney announced its intent to acquire 21st Century Fox after the spin-off of certain businesses. The deal was to include the Fox Sports Networks group of regional sports networks (which Disney was ordered to divest under antitrust grounds), which led to suggestions that Disney wanted to incorporate FSN's regional sports rights into the service.


title: ESPN+

text: In February 2018, Iger stated that ESPN was aiming for a monthly price of $4.99. ESPN+ and BAMTech were placed into the newly formed Disney business segment, Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, on March 14, 2018. On April 2, 2018, ESPN announced that ESPN+ would officially launch on April 12, 2018, and confirmed its $4.99 per-month pricing.


title: ESPN+

text: On August 21, 2018, ESPN.com's existing subscription service ESPN Insider was discontinued and folded into ESPN+, adding its premium web content (such as exclusive beat reports, and advanced sports statistics, analytics, and fantasy sports tools) to the service. Both services shared the same monthly price, but ESPN Insider subscribers continued to receive the complimentary subscription to "ESPN The Magazine" that was included (until its discontinuation in September 2019), and annual subscribers were grandfathered under its previous $39.99 per-year price (as opposed to $49.99 for ESPN+).


title: ESPN+

text: On October 31, 2018, ESPN executive Russell Wolff was named executive vice president and general manager. In October 2019, ESPN+ began to add pre-roll advertising to on-demand content on the service. Concurrent with the launch of Disney+ on November 12, 2019, the Disney Bundle was introduced, allowing users to subscribe to ESPN+, Disney+, and the ad-supported tier of Hulu for $12.99 per-month.


title: ESPN+

text: On October 22, 2020, it was announced that a larger amount of ESPN.com articles (primarily analysis) would become paywalled behind ESPN+. It was also announced that video simulcasts of the ESPN Radio programs "The Dan Le Batard Show", "Greeny", "The Max Kellerman Show", and "Chiney & Golic Jr.," as well as "Jorge Ramos y Su Banda", would be moved exclusively to ESPN+ from the ESPN networks.


title: ESPN+

text: In July 2022, Disney announced that the standalone monthly price of ESPN+, which reached $6.99 per month in 2021 following two smaller increases, would jump by three dollars, or 43%, to $9.99 per month beginning in late August. Observers speculated that the increase was intended to promote uptake of the Disney Bundle, which continued at the then current $13.99 price point, while remaining competitive relative to other standalone sports streaming services.


title: ESPN+

text: Its launch content included boxing (including Top Rank events and archive content through 2025, and includes 36 exclusive fight cards), college sports events (including Ivy League events, with the conference having reached a 10-year media rights deal with ESPN prior to the service's launch), coverage of Tennis Grand Slams, as well as international cricket (India national cricket team, Cricket Ireland, and New Zealand Cricket), soccer (including Major League Soccer, the United Soccer League, the U.S. Open Cup, 2019 Copa America, the English Football League (including Cup), Serie A, Eredivisie, A-League, FFA Cup, W-League, FA Cup, and UEFA Nations League) and rugby union events (including SANZAAR tournaments, Bledisloe Cup, Currie Cup, Major League Rugby, Mitre 10 Cup, and Pro14). In October 2018, ESPN+ obtained the rights for the Swedish Allsvenskan and the Danish Superliga as well, declaring their intent to broadcast one match per week for each league. In February 2021, ESPN+ obtained the rights for the Belgian Pro League, and are expected to broadcast 3 matches per week.


title: ESPN+

text: ESPN+ features out of market Major League Soccer matches at no additional charge for subscribers (replacing the previous MLS Live service), and the service held exclusive rights to all regionally televised Chicago Fire matches through 2020 (as the second MLS team, behind Los Angeles FC's deal with YouTube TV, to sell its regional rights to a streaming service). As of the 2021–22 season, ESPN+ carries out-of-market National Hockey League games under the "NHL Power Play on ESPN+" banner (replacing the previous NHL.tv service). MLB.tv is also available for purchase within the ESPN+ platform, and offers daily games during their regular seasons.


title: ESPN+

text: PGA Tour Live (which was also ran by BAMTech) was included for the 2018 PGA Tour season, but moved to NBC Sports Gold in 2019. ESPN+ will offer supplemental feeds during the PGA Championship beginning 2020, including during CBS broadcast windows. In 2022, PGA Tour Live returned to ESPN+ as part of a new long-term deal through 2030.


title: ESPN+

text: In March 2019, the American Athletic Conference announced a 12-year media rights deal with ESPN, under which ESPN+ will carry the majority of events not aired by ESPN's linear channels. In May 2019, it was announced that ESPN+ would carry 18 World TeamTennis matches. In September 2019, ESPN+ announced its acquisition of rights to Germany's Bundesliga soccer league beginning in 2020, under a six-year deal.


title: ESPN+

text: In the 2019–20 season, ESPN+ acquired the third-tier media rights for all but two Big 12 Conference teams; these telecasts are carried under the branding "Big 12 Now". The deal excluded the Oklahoma Sooners–whose third-tier rights were held by the SoonerSports.tv streaming service and Bally Sports Oklahoma, and the Texas Longhorns–who have an existing agreement with ESPN and IMG College to run Longhorn Network.


title: ESPN+

text: During the 2020 Major League Baseball season's Wild Card Series round, ESPN+ aired "Squeeze Play"—which featured live look-ins and analysis of the seven series ESPN held rights to (in a similar manner to the "ESPN Bases Loaded" service it offered during the NCAA baseball tournament), as well as Statcast broadcasts of selected games.


title: ESPN+

text: On March 10, 2021, ESPN re-acquired rights to the National Hockey League under a new seven-year deal beginning in the 2021–22 season. Under this contract, ESPN+ holds exclusive rights to 75 games per-season, which will also be available on Hulu, simulcast rights to all games on ABC (including the NHL All-Star Game, and the Stanley Cup Finals in selected seasons), and streams all out-of-market games.


title: ESPN+

text: A week later, as part of ESPN's renewal of its rights to the NFL, ESPN+ gained simulcast rights to "Monday Night Football" broadcasts beginning in the 2021 NFL season. Beginning in 2022, ESPN+ will hold exclusive rights to one NFL International Series game per-season in a Sunday morning window.


title: ESPN+

text: In September 2021, Disney began to wind down the U.S. version of Hotstar, a streaming service targeting Indian Americans, and migrated its content exclusively to ESPN+ and Hulu. This, in particular, includes its rights to home matches of the India national cricket team and Indian Premier League, which had been sub-licensed to ESPN+ via its sister network Star Sports.


title: ESPN+

text: On April 8, 2022, ESPN announced a deal with the Savannah Bananas to live stream two games of their Banana Ball World Tour on April 8 and 9.


title: ESPN+

text: In May 2022, ESPN announced its acquisition of the third-tier media rights to Oklahoma Sooners athletics; the events will be carried on ESPN+ under the "SoonerVision on ESPN+" branding, and will include one exclusive football game per-season (which had previously been distributed by Bally/Fox Sports pay-per-view). The deal will be in effect through the 2024–25 athletics season, after which the Sooners will exit the Big 12 and move to the Southeastern Conference (SEC)—whose media rights are fully-owned by ESPN. Later that month, ESPN announced a rights agreement with the Northwoods League to stream select games of their 2022 season each day exclusively on ESPN+, along with the Northwoods League All-Star Game, the Major League Dreams Showcase, the League playoffs and Summer Collegiate World Series.


title: ESPN+

text: In May 2018, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced new five-year digital and linear television rights deals with ESPN, effective January 2019. 20 "UFC on ESPN+ Fight Night" cards per-year are streamed exclusively by the service, as well as preliminaries for 10 "UFC on ESPN Fight Night" cards per-year. ESPN+ will also hold rights to supplemental content such as "Dana White's Contender Series", archive content and PPV encores, and offer sales of UFC Fight Pass within the platform. The first ESPN+ event, , generated 525,000 new subscribers on the day of the event alone.


title: ESPN+

text: On March 18, 2019, it was announced that ESPN had reached a two-year extension of its contract with the UFC. Beginning with UFC 236, ESPN+ became the exclusive U.S. distributor of all UFC pay-per-view events for residential customers; they are no longer sold through television providers, and viewers must have an ESPN+ subscription in order to buy them.


title: ESPN+

text: ESPN+ initially focused on overflow content, similar to that of ESPN3 (which is distributed to subscribers of participating internet and television subscribers). Some of ESPN3's content has since moved to ESPN+. It has since been incorporated more extensively into ESPN's later media rights deals.


title: ESPN+

text: ESPN+ also carries ESPN original programming and documentaries, such as the "30 for 30" franchise (with some premiering on ESPN+ prior to their premiere on ESPN), and exclusive original series and studio programs:


title: Andy Grammer

text: Andrew Charles Grammer (born December 3, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is signed to S-Curve Records.


title: Andy Grammer

text: His debut album, "Andy Grammer", was released in 2011 and spawned the singles "Keep Your Head Up" and "Fine by Me". His second album "Magazines or Novels" was released in 2014, and featured "Honey, I'm Good" which is his most successful song to date, peaking at number 9 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. This single has been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was ranked one of the ten best-selling songs of 2015 by Nielsen SoundScan.


title: Andy Grammer

text: The "Magazines or Novels" album also featured the certified gold single "Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)".


title: Andy Grammer

text: Andrew Charles Grammer was born in Los Angeles, the son of Kathryn Willoughby and recording artist Robert Crane "Red" Grammer. He is of German and English descent. He grew up in Chester, New York and graduated from Monroe-Woodbury High School. As a child, he learned to play the trumpet and later the guitar and piano. He began writing songs at 15. At 20, he left Binghamton University in Vestal, New York, and returned to Los Angeles, where he currently resides. In 2007, he graduated from the California State University, Northridge, with a B.A. in music industry studies.


title: Andy Grammer

text: While at college, Grammer met Aijia Grammer, whom he would marry in July 2012 in Fullerton, California. He and Aijia have two daughters: Louisiana K Grammer (born July 28, 2017) and Israel Blue Grammer (born April 3, 2020). He and Aijia adhere to the Baháʼí Faith.


title: Andy Grammer

text: Grammer started as a busker on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. He was discovered by his manager Ben Singer in July 2009 and signed with S-Curve Records in April 2010. Grammer's popular songs include: "Honey, I'm Good.", "Keep Your Head Up", "Fine by Me", "Fresh Eyes", "Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)", and "Don't Give Up on Me".


title: Andy Grammer

text: His debut video "Keep Your Head Up", which featured actor Rainn Wilson, was an iTunes Video of the Week in 2010, and won MTV's "O Music Awards" for the most innovative video on April 25, 2011. He performed the song on "The Rachael Ray Show" on November 17, 2010. It has since debuted at No. 94 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Grammer's debut album sales for the first week earned him the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart. He opened for Plain White T's for the second leg of their "Wonders of the Younger" tour in the spring of 2011. In January 2011, he was named an "Artist to Watch" by "Billboard" magazine. He performed at SXSW 2011, playing BMI's Acoustic Brunch, where he was one of the artists contributing to a recording produced by Hanson to benefit the victims of the 2011 Japan earthquake.


title: Andy Grammer

text: Grammer credits his music influences to three genres of music: guitar players like Jason Mraz, John Mayer and Jack Johnson; modern pianists like Coldplay, The Fray, and OneRepublic; and hip-hop vocalists like Common, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, and Kanye West.


title: Andy Grammer

text: His debut album, "Andy Grammer", was released on June 14, 2011, on S-Curve Records. The self-titled album was produced by Matt Wallace from Maroon 5, Matt Radosevich, Dave Katz, and Sam Hollander of Gym Class Heroes.


title: Andy Grammer

text: He joined Natasha Bedingfield on her Less is More Tour, which began June 2011, and Colbie Caillat on her US and Canada tour, which began August 2011. The Grammy Museum, in Los Angeles, featured him in the first installment of its homegrown local artist series starting in May 2011.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On March 25, 2014, he debuted "Back Home", the lead single from his second album, "Magazines or Novels". The song, co-written with Ryan Met from the group AJR, was released to iTunes on April 8, 2014. The album was released August 5, 2014.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On November 11, 2014, he released his biggest single to date, "Honey, I'm Good." which peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified triple-platinum by the RIAA.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On August 31, 2015, he was announced as one of the celebrities who will compete on the 21st season of "Dancing with the Stars". He was paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd until an ankle injury forced her to withdraw. His new partner was Allison Holker. Grammer and Holker were eliminated on Week 8 of competition and finished in 7th place.


title: Andy Grammer

text: In addition to his stint on the show, he released a new single "Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)" on August 24, which was another gold-certified hit for him, and was included on a re-issued deluxe version of his "Magazines or Novels" album.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On October 27, 2015, he performed the National Anthem prior to the start of the opening game of the World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. In January 2016, he performed an a cappella version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Denver Broncos–New England Patriots in Denver.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On July 29, 2016, Grammer released a new single titled "Fresh Eyes", which was another platinum hit for him that reach #19 on the Spotify Global Viral 50 Chart.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On June 9, 2017, Grammer released his new single featuring LunchMoney Lewis titled "Give Love". Grammer also wrote and performed the song "A Friend Like You" for the animated film "".


title: Andy Grammer

text: The third single from his album "The Good Parts", titled "Smoke Clears", was released on November 3, 2017. The album was released on December 1, 2017.


title: Andy Grammer

text: On February 21, 2019, Grammer released his new single, "Don't Give Up On Me", from the soundtrack of the film "Five Feet Apart". It is also the lead single from his fourth studio album, "Naive", which was released on July 26, 2019.


title: Andy Grammer

text: Grammer made a guest appearance on the episode "SPARF-a-Rooney" of the Disney Channel series "Liv and Maddie", performing the song "Honey, I'm Good."


title: Imperial examination

text: The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by merit rather than by birth started early in Chinese history, but using written examinations as a tool of selection started in earnest during the Sui dynasty (581–618) then into the Tang dynasty of 618–907. The system became dominant during the Song dynasty (960–1279) and lasted for almost a millennium until its abolition in the late Qing dynasty reforms in 1905. Aspects of the imperial examination still exist for entry into the civil service of contemporary China, in both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC).


title: Imperial examination

text: The exams served to ensure a common knowledge of writing, Chinese classics, and literary style among state officials. This common culture helped to unify the empire, and the ideal of achievement by merit gave legitimacy to imperial rule. The examination system played a significant role in tempering the power of hereditary aristocracy and military authority, and in the rise of a gentry class of scholar-bureaucrats.


title: Imperial examination

text: Starting with the Song dynasty, the imperial examination system became a more formal system and developed into a roughly three-tiered ladder from local to provincial to court exams. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), authorities narrowed the content down to mostly texts on Neo-Confucian orthodoxy; the highest degree, the "jinshi" (), became essential for the highest offices. On the other hand, holders of the basic degree, the "shengyuan" (), became vastly oversupplied, resulting in holders who could not hope for office. Wealthy families, especially from the merchant class, could opt into the system by educating their sons or by purchasing degrees. During the late 19th century, some critics within Qing China blamed the examination system for stifling science and technical knowledge, and urged for some reforms. At the time, China had about one civil licentiate per 1000 people. Due to the stringent requirements, out of the two or three million annual applicants who took the exams, there was only a 1% passing rate.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Chinese examination system has had a profound influence in the development of modern civil service administrative functions in other countries. These include analogous structures that exist in Japan, Korea, Ryūkyū, and Vietnam. In addition to Asia, reports by European missionaries and diplomats introduced the Chinese examination system to the Western world and encouraged France, Germany as well as the British East India Company (EIC) to use similar methods to select prospective employees. Seeing its initial success within the EIC, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants across the board throughout the United Kingdom in 1855. The United States would also establish such programs for certain government jobs after 1883.


title: Imperial examination

text: Tests of skill such as archery contests have existed since the Zhou dynasty (or, more mythologically, Yao). The Confucian characteristic of the later imperial exams was largely due to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han during the Han dynasty. Although some examinations did exist from the Han to the Sui dynasty, they did not offer an official avenue to government appointment, the majority of which were filled through recommendations based on qualities such as social status, morals, and ability.


title: Imperial examination

text: The bureaucratic imperial examinations as a concept has its origins in the year 605 during the short-lived Sui dynasty. Its successor, the Tang dynasty, implemented imperial examinations on a relatively small scale until the examination system was extensively expanded during the reign of Wu Zetian. Included in the expanded examination system was a military exam, but the military exam never had a significant impact on the Chinese officer corps and military degrees were seen as inferior to their civil counterpart. The exact nature of Wu's influence on the examination system is still a matter of scholarly debate.


title: Imperial examination

text: During the Song dynasty the emperors expanded both examinations and the government school system, in part to counter the influence of military aristocrats, increasing the number of degree holders to more than four to five times that of the Tang. From the Song dynasty onward, the examinations played the primary role in selecting scholar-officials, who formed the literati elite of society. However the examinations co-existed with other forms of recruitment such as direct appointments for the ruling family, nominations, quotas, clerical promotions, sale of official titles, and special procedures for eunuchs. The regular higher level degree examination cycle was decreed in 1067 to be three years but this triennial cycle only existed in nominal terms. In practice both before and after this, the examinations were irregularly implemented for significant periods of time: thus, the calculated statistical averages for the number of degrees conferred annually should be understood in this context. The "jinshi" exams were not a yearly event and should not be considered so; the annual average figures are a necessary artifact of quantitative analysis. The operations of the examination system were part of the imperial record keeping system, and the date of receiving the "jinshi" degree is often a key biographical datum: sometimes the date of achieving "jinshi" is the only firm date known for even some of the most historically prominent persons in Chinese history.


title: Imperial examination

text: A brief interruption to the examinations occurred at the beginning of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, but was later brought back with regional quotas which favored the Mongols and disadvantaged Southern Chinese. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the system contributed to the narrow and focused nature of intellectual life and enhanced the autocratic power of the emperor. The system continued with some modifications until its abolition in 1905 during the last years of the Qing dynasty. The modern examination system for selecting civil servants also indirectly evolved from the imperial one.


title: Imperial examination

text: Candidates for offices recommended by the prefect of a prefecture were examined by the Ministry of Rites and then presented to the emperor. Some candidates for clerical positions would be given a test to determine whether they could memorize nine thousand Chinese characters. The tests administered during the Han dynasty did not offer formal entry into government posts. Recruitment and appointment in the Han dynasty were primarily through recommendations by aristocrats and local officials. Recommended individuals were also primarily aristocrats. In theory, recommendations were based on a combination of reputation and ability but it is not certain how well this worked in practice. Oral examinations on policy issues were sometimes conducted personally by the emperor himself during Western Han times.


title: Imperial examination

text: In 165 BC Emperor Wen of Han introduced recruitment to the civil service through examinations, however these did not heavily emphasize Confucian material. Previously, potential officials never sat for any sort of academic examinations.


title: Imperial examination

text: Emperor Wu of Han's early reign saw the creation of a series of posts for academicians in 136 BC. Ardently promoted by Dong Zhongshu, the Taixue and Imperial examination came into existence by recommendation of Gongsun Hong, chancellor under Wu. Officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the Confucian classics, from which Emperor Wu would select officials to serve by his side. Gongsun intended for the Taixue's graduates to become imperial officials but they usually only started off as clerks and attendants, and mastery of only one canonical text was required upon its founding, changing to all five in the Eastern Han. Starting with only 50 students, Emperor Zhao expanded it to 100, Emperor Xuan to 200, and Emperor Yuan to 1000.


title: Imperial examination

text: While the examinations expanded under the Han, the number of graduates who went on to hold office were few. The examinations did not offer a formal route to commissioned office and the primary path to office remained through recommendations. Though connections and recommendations remained more meaningful than the exam, the initiation of the examination system by Emperor Wu was crucial for the Confucian nature of later imperial examinations. During the Han dynasty, these examinations were primarily used for the purpose of classifying candidates who had been specifically recommended. Even during the Tang dynasty the quantity of placements into government service through the examination system only averaged about nine persons per year, with the known maximum being less than 25 in any given year.


title: Imperial examination

text: The first standardized method of recruitment in Chinese history was introduced during the Three Kingdoms period in the Kingdom of Wei. It was called the nine-rank system. In the nine-rank system, each office was given a rank from highest to lowest in descending order from one to nine. Imperial officials were responsible for assessing the quality of the talents recommended by local elites. The criteria for recruitment included qualities such as morals and social status, which in practice meant that influential families monopolized all high ranking posts while men of poorer means filled the lower ranks.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Sui dynasty continued the tradition of recruitment through recommendation but modified it in 587 with the requirement for every prefecture ("fu") to supply three scholars a year. In 599, all capital officials of rank five and above were required to make nominations for consideration in several categories.


title: Imperial examination

text: During the Sui dynasty, examinations for "classicists" ("mingjing ke") and "cultivated talents" ("xiucai ke") were introduced. Classicists were tested on the Confucian canon, which was considered an easy task at the time, so those who passed were awarded posts in the lower rungs of officialdom. Cultivated talents were tested on matters of statecraft as well as the Confucian canon. In AD 607, Emperor Yang of Sui established a new category of examinations for the "presented scholar" ("jinshike" ). These three categories of examination were the origins of the imperial examination system that would last until 1905. Consequently, the year 607 is also considered by many to be the real beginning of the imperial examination system. The Sui dynasty was itself short lived however and the system was not developed further until much later.


title: Imperial examination

text: The imperial examinations did not significantly shift recruitment selection in practice during the Sui dynasty. Schools at the capital still produced students for appointment. Inheritance of official status was also still practiced. Men of the merchant and artisan classes were still barred from officialdom. However the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui did see much greater expansion of government authority over officials. Under Emperor Wen (r. 581–604), all officials down to the district level had to be appointed by the Department of State Affairs in the capital and were subjected to annual merit rating evaluations. Regional Inspectors and District Magistrates had to be transferred every three years and their subordinates every four years. They were not allowed to bring their parents or adult children with them upon reassignment of territorial administration. The Sui did not establish any hereditary kingdoms or marquisates ("hóu") of the Han sort. To compensate, nobles were given substantial stipends and staff. Aristocratic officials were ranked based on their pedigree with distinctions such as "high expectations", "pure", and "impure" so that they could be awarded offices appropriately.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Tang dynasty and the Zhou interregnum of Empress Wu (Wu Zetian) expanded examinations beyond the basic process of qualifying candidates based on questions of policy matters followed by an interview. Oral interviews as part of the selection process were theoretically supposed to be an unbiased process, but in practice favored candidates from elite clans based in the capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang (speakers of solely non-elite dialects could not succeed).


title: Imperial examination

text: Under the Tang, six categories of regular civil-service examinations were organized by the Department of State Affairs and held by the Ministry of Rites: cultivated talents, classicists, presented scholars, legal experts, writing experts, and arithmetic experts. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang also added categories for Daoism and apprentices. The hardest of these examination categories, the presented scholar "jinshi" degree, became more prominent over time until it superseded all other examinations. By the late Tang the jinshi degree became a prerequisite for appointment into higher offices. Appointments by recommendation were also required to take examinations.


title: Imperial examination

text: The examinations were carried out in the first lunar month. After the results were completed, the list of results was submitted to the Grand Chancellor, who had the right to alter the results. Sometimes the list was also submitted to the Secretariat-Chancellery for additional inspection. The emperor could also announce a repeat of the exam. The list of results was then published in the second lunar month.


title: Imperial examination

text: Classicists were tested by being presented phrases from the classic texts. Then they had to write the whole paragraph to complete the phrase. If the examinee was able to correctly answer five of ten questions, they passed. This was considered such an easy task that a 30-year-old candidate was said to be old for a classicist examinee, but young to be a jinshi. An oral version of the classicist examination known as "moyi" also existed but consisted of 100 questions rather than just ten. In contrast, the jinshi examination not only tested the Confucian classics, but also history, proficiency in compiling official documents, inscriptions, discursive treatises, memorials, and poems and rhapsodies. Because the number of jinshi graduates were so low they acquired great social standing in society. The judicial, arithmetic, and clerical examinations were also held but these graduates only qualified for their specific agencies.


title: Imperial examination

text: Candidates who passed the exam were not automatically granted office. They still had to pass a quality evaluation by the Ministry of Rites, after which they were allowed to wear official robes.


title: Imperial examination

text: Wu Zetian's reign was a pivotal moment for the imperial examination system. The reason for this was because up until that point, the Tang rulers had all been male members of the Li family. Wu Zetian, who officially took the title of emperor in 690, was a woman outside the Li family who needed an alternative base of power. Reform of the imperial examinations featured prominently in her plan to create a new class of elite bureaucrats derived from humbler origins. Both the palace and military examinations were created under Wu Zetian.


title: Imperial examination

text: In 655, Wu Zetian graduated 44 candidates with the "jìnshì" degree (), and during one seven-year period the annual average of exam takers graduated with a "jinshi" degree was greater than 58 persons per year. Wu lavished favors on the newly graduated "jinshi" degree-holders, increasing the prestige associated with this path of attaining a government career, and clearly began a process of opening up opportunities to success for a wider population pool, including inhabitants of China's less prestigious southeast area. Wu Zetian's government further expanded the civil service examination system by allowing certain commoners and gentry previously disqualified by their non-elite backgrounds to take the tests. Most of the Li family supporters were located to the northwest, particularly around the capital city of Chang'an. Wu's progressive accumulation of political power through enhancement of the examination system involved attaining the allegiance of previously under-represented regions, alleviating frustrations of the literati, and encouraging education in various locales so even people in the remote corners of the empire would study to pass the imperial exams. These degree holders would then become a new nucleus of elite bureaucrats around which the government could center itself.


title: Imperial examination

text: Examples of officials whom she recruited through her reformed examination system include Zhang Yue, Li Jiao, and Shen Quanqi.


title: Imperial examination

text: From 702 onward, the names of examinees were hidden to prevent examiners from knowing who was tested. Prior to this, it was even a custom for candidates to present their examiner with their own literary works in order to impress him.


title: Imperial examination

text: Sometime between 730 and 740, after the Tang restoration, a section requiring the composition of original poetry (including both "shi" and "fu") was added to the tests, with rather specific set requirements: this was for the "jinshi" degree, as well as certain other tests. The less-esteemed examinations tested for skills such as mathematics, law, and calligraphy. The success rate on these tests of knowledge on the classics was between 10 and 20 percent, but for the thousand or more candidates going for a "jinshi" degree each year in which it was offered, the success rate for the examinees was only between 1 and 2 percent: a total of 6504 "jinshi" were created during course of the Tang dynasty (an average of only about 23 "jinshi" awarded per year). After 755, up to 15 percent of civil service officials were recruited through the examinations.


title: Imperial examination

text: During the early years of the Tang restoration, the following emperors expanded on Wu's policies since they found them politically useful, and the annual averages of degrees conferred continued to rise. This led to the formation of new court factions consisting of examiners and their graduates. With the upheavals which later developed and the disintegration of the Tang empire into the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period", the examination system gave ground to other traditional routes to government positions and favoritism in grading reduced the opportunities of examinees who lacked political patronage. Ironically this period of fragmentation resulted in the utter destruction of old networks established by elite families that had ruled China throughout its various dynasties since its conception. With the disappearance of the old aristocracy, Wu's system of bureaucrat recruitment once more became the dominant model in China, and eventually coalesced into the class of nonhereditary elites who would become known to the West as "mandarins", in reference to Mandarin, the dialect of Chinese employed in the imperial court.


title: Imperial examination

text: In the Song dynasty (960–1279) the imperial examinations became the primary method of recruitment for official posts. More than a hundred palace examinations were held during the dynasty, resulting in a greater number of "jinshi" degrees rewarded. The examinations were opened to adult Chinese males, with some restrictions, including even individuals from the occupied northern territories of the Liao and Jin dynasties. Figures given for the number of examinees record 70–80,000 in 1088 and 79,000 at the turn of the 12th century. In the mid-11th century, between 5,000 and 10,000 took the metropolitan examinations in a given year. By the mid-12th century, 100,000 candidates registered for the prefectural examinations each year, and by the mid-13th century, more than 400,000. The number of active jinshi degree holders ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 between the 11th and 13th centuries, representing 7,085 of 18,700 posts in 1046 and 8,260 of 38,870 posts in 1213. Statistics indicate that the Song imperial government degree-awards eventually more than doubled the highest annual averages of those awarded during the Tang dynasty, with 200 or more per year on average being common, and at times reaching a per annum figure of almost 240.


title: Imperial examination

text: The examination hierarchy was formally divided into prefectural, metropolitan, and palace examinations. The prefectural examination was held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Graduates of the prefectural examination were then sent to the capital for metropolitan examination, which took place in Spring, but had no fixed date. Graduates of the metropolitan examination were then sent to the palace examination.


title: Imperial examination

text: Many individuals of low social status were able to rise to political prominence through success in the imperial examination. According to studies of degree-holders in the years 1148 and 1256, approximately 57 percent originated from families without a father, grandfather, or great-grandfather who had held official rank. However most did have some sort of relative in the bureaucracy. Prominent officials who went through the imperial examinations include Wang Anshi, who proposed reforms to make the exams more practical, and Zhu Xi (1130–1200), whose interpretations of the Four Classics became the orthodox Neo-Confucianism which dominated later dynasties. Two other prominent successful entries into politics through the examination system were Su Shi (1037–1101) and his brother Su Zhe (1039–1112): both of whom became political opponents of Wang Anshi. The process of studying for the examination tended to be time-consuming and costly, requiring time to spare and tutors. Most of the candidates came from the numerically small but relatively wealthy land-owning scholar-official class.


title: Imperial examination

text: Since 937, by the decision of the Emperor Taizu of Song, the palace examination was supervised by the emperor himself. In 992, the practice of anonymous submission of papers during the palace examination was introduced; it was spread to the departmental examinations in 1007, and to the prefectural level in 1032. From 1037 on, it was forbidden for examiners to supervise examinations in their home prefecture. Examiners and high officials were also forbidden from contacting each other prior to the exams. The practice of recopying papers in order to prevent revealing the candidate's calligraphy was introduced at the capital and departmental level in 1015, and in the prefectures in 1037.


title: Imperial examination

text: In 1009, Emperor Zhenzong of Song (r. 997–1022) introduced quotas on degrees awarded. In 1090, only 40 degrees were awarded to 3,000 candidates in Fuzhou, which meant only one degree would be awarded for every 75 candidates. The quota system became even more stringent in the 13th century when only one percent of candidates were allowed to pass the prefectural examination. Even graduates of the lowest tier of examinations represented an elite class.


title: Imperial examination

text: In 1071, Emperor Shenzong of Song (r. 1067–1085) abolished the classicist as well as various other examinations on law and arithmetics. The jinshi examination became the primary gateway to officialdom. Judicial and classicist examinations were revived shortly after. However the judicial examination was classified as a special examination and not many people took the classicist examination. The oral version of the classicist exam was abolished. Other special examinations for household and family member of officials, Minister of Personnel, and subjects such as history as applied to current affairs ("shiwu ce", Policy Questions), translation, and judicial matters were also administered by the state. Policy Questions became an essential part of following examinations. An exam called the "cewen" which focused on contemporary matters such as politics, economics, and military affairs was introduced.


title: Imperial examination

text: Various reforms or attempts to reform the examination system were made during the Song dynasty by individuals such as Fan Zhongyan, Zhu Xi, and by Wang Anshi. Wang and Zhu successfully argued that poems and rhapsodies should be excluded from the examinations because they were of no use to administration or cultivation of virtue. The poetry section of the examination was removed in the 1060s. Fan's memorial to the throne initiated a process which lead to major educational reform through the establishment of a comprehensive public school system.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Khitans who ruled the Liao dynasty only held imperial examinations for regions with large Han populations. The Liao examinations focused on lyric-meter poetry and rhapsodies. The Khitans themselves did not take the exams until 1115 when it became an acceptable avenue for advancing their careers.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Jurchens of the Jin dynasty held two separate examinations to accommodate their former Liao and Song subjects. In the north examinations focused on lyric-meter poetry and rhapsodies while in the south, Confucian Classics were tested. During the reign of Emperor Xizong of Jin (r. 1135–1150), the contents of both examinations were unified and examinees were tested on both genres. Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (r. 1189–1208) abolished the prefectural examinations. Emperor Shizong of Jin (r. 1161–1189) created the first examination conducted in the Jurchen language, with a focus on political writings and poetry. Graduates of the Jurchen examination were called "treatise graduates" ("celun jinshi") to distinguish them from the regular Chinese jinshi.


title: Imperial examination

text: Imperial examinations were ceased for a time with the defeat of the Song in 1279 by Kublai Khan and his Yuan dynasty. One of Kublai's main advisers, Liu Bingzhong, submitted a memorial recommending the restoration of the examination system: however, this was not done. Kublai ended the imperial examination system, as he believed that Confucian learning was not needed for government jobs. Also, Kublai was opposed to such a commitment to the Chinese language and to the ethnic Han scholars who were so adept at it, as well as its accompanying ideology: he wished to appoint his own people without relying on an apparatus inherited from a newly conquered and sometimes rebellious country. The discontinuation of the exams had the effect of reducing the prestige of traditional learning, reducing the motivation for doing so, as well as encouraging new literary directions not motivated by the old means of literary development and success.


title: Imperial examination

text: The examination system was revived in 1315, with significant changes, during the reign of Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan. The new examination system organized its examinees into regional categories in a way which favored Mongols and severely disadvantaged Southern Chinese. A quota system both for number of candidates and degrees awarded was instituted based on the classification of the four groups, those being the Mongols, their non-Han allies (Semu-ren), Northern Chinese, and Southern Chinese, with further restrictions by province favoring the northeast of the empire (Mongolia) and its vicinities. A quota of 300 persons was fixed for provincial examinations with 75 persons from each group. The metropolitan exam had a quota of 100 persons with 25 persons from each group. Candidates were enrolled on two lists with the Mongols and Semu-ren located on the left and the Northern and Southern Chinese on the right. Examinations were written in Chinese and based on Confucian and Neo-Confucian texts but the Mongols and Semu-ren received easier questions to answer than the Han. Successful candidates were awarded one of three ranks. All graduates were eligible for official appointment.


title: Imperial examination

text: Under the revised system the yearly averages for examination degrees awarded was about 21. The way in which the four regional racial categories were divided tended to favor the Mongols, Semu-ren, and North Chinese, despite the South Chinese being by far the largest portion of the population. The 1290 census figures record some 12,000,000 households (about 48% of the total Yuan population) for South China, versus 2,000,000 North Chinese households, and the populations of Mongols and Semu-ren were both less. While South China was technically allotted 75 candidates for each provincial exam, only 28 Han Chinese from South China were included among the 300 candidates, the rest of the South China slots (47) being occupied by resident Mongols or Semu-ren, although 47 "racial South Chinese" who were not residents of South China were approved as candidates.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) retained and expanded the system it inherited. The Hongwu Emperor was initially reluctant to restart the examinations, considering their curriculum to be lacking in practical knowledge. In 1370 he declared that the exams would follow the Neo-Confucian canon put forth by Zhu Xi in the Song dynasty: the Four Books, discourses, and political analysis. Then he abolished the examinations two years later because he preferred appointment by referral. In 1384, the examinations were revived again, however in addition to the Neo-Confucian canon, Hongwu added another portion to the exams to be taken by successful candidates five days after the first exam. These new exams emphasized "shixue" (practical learning), including subjects such as law, mathematics, calligraphy, horse riding, and archery. The emperor was particularly adamant about the inclusion of archery, and for a few days after issuing the edict, he personally commanded the Guozijian and county-level schools to practice it diligently. As a result of the new focus on practical learning, from 1384 to 1756/57, all provincial and metropolitan examinations incorporated material on legal knowledge and the palace examinations included policy questions on current affairs. The first palace examination of the Ming dynasty was held in 1385.


title: Imperial examination

text: Provincial and metropolitan exams were organized in three sessions. The first session consisted of three questions on the examinee's interpretation of the Four Books, and four on the Classics corpus. The second session took place three days later, and consisted of a discursive essay, five critical judgments, and one in the style of an edict, an announcement and a memorial. Three days after that, the third session was held, consisting of five essays on the Classics, historiography, and contemporary affairs. The palace exam was just one session, consisting of questions on critical matters in the Classics or current affairs. Written answers were expected to follow a predefined structure called the eight-legged essay, which consisted of eight parts: opening, amplification, preliminary exposition, initial argument, central argument, latter argument, final argument, and conclusion. The length of the essay ranged between 550 and 700 characters. Gu Yanwu considered the eight-legged essay to be worse than the book burning of Qin Shi Huang and his burying alive of 460 Confucian scholars.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Hanlin Academy played a central role in the careers of examination graduates during the Ming dynasty. Graduates of the metropolitan exam with honors were directly appointed senior compiler in the Hanlin Academy. Regular metropolitan exam graduates were appointed junior compilers or examining editors. In 1458, appointment in the Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretariat was restricted to jinshi graduates. Posts such as minister or vice minister of rites or right vice ministers of personnel were also restricted to jinshi graduates. The training jinshi graduates underwent in the Hanlin Academy allowed them insight into a wide range of central government agencies. Ninety percent of Grand Chancellors during the Ming dynasty were jinshi degree holders.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Neo-Confucian orthodoxy became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon. At the same time, commercialization of the economy and booming population growth resulted in an inflation of the number of degree candidates at the lower levels. The Ming bureaucracy did not increase degree quotas in proportion to the increased population. Near the end of the Ming dynasty, in 1600, there were roughly 500,000 shengyuan in a population of 150 million, that is, one per 300 people. This trend of booming population but artificial limitation of degrees awarded continued into the Qing dynasty, when during the mid-19th century, the ratio of shengyuan to population had shrunk to one per each thousand people. Access to government office became not only extremely difficult, but officials also became more orthodox in their thinking. The higher and more prestigious offices were still dominated by "jinshi" degree-holders, similar to the Song dynasty, but tended to come from elite families.


title: Imperial examination

text: The social background of metropolitan graduates also narrowed as time went on. In the early years of the Ming dynasty only 14 percent of metropolitan graduates came from families that had a history of providing officials, while in the last years of the Ming roughly 60 percent of metropolitan exam graduates came from established elite families.


title: Imperial examination

text: The ambition of Hong Taiji, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty, was to use the examinations to foster a cadre of Manchu Bannermen who were both martial and literate to administer the government. He initiated the first exam for bannermen in 1638, offered in both Manchu and Chinese, even before his troops took Beijing in 1644. But the Manchu bannermen had no time or money to prepare for the exams, especially since they could gain advancement on the battlefield, and the dynasty went on to rely on both Manchu and Han Chinese officials chosen through the system inherited with minor adaptation from the Ming. During the dynasty a total of 26,747 "jinshi" degrees were earned in 112 examinations held over the 261 years 1644–1905, an average of 238.8 "jinshi" degrees conferred per examination.


title: Imperial examination

text: Racial quotas were placed on the number of graduates permitted. In the early Qing period, a 4:6 Manchu to Han quota was placed on the palace examination, and was in effect until 1655. Separate examinations were held for bannermen from 1652 to 1655 with a ten-point racial quota of 4:2:4 for Manchus, Mongols, and Han Chinese. In 1651, "translation" examinations were implemented for bannermen, however the purpose of these exams was not to create translators, but to service those Manchus and bannermen who did not understand Classical Chinese. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736–1795), Manchus and Mongols were encouraged to take the examinations in Classical Chinese. The translation examination was abolished in 1840 because there were not enough candidates to justify it. After 1723, Han Chinese graduates of the palace examination were required to learn the Manchu language. Bilingualism in Chinese and Manchu languages was favored in the bureaucracy and people who fulfilled the language requirements were given preferential appointments. For example, in 1688, a candidate from Hangzhou who was able to answer policy questions at the palace examination in both Chinese and Manchu was appointed as compiler at the Hanlin Academy, despite finishing bottom of the second tier of jinshi graduates. Ethnic minorities such as the Peng people in Jiangxi Province were given a quota of 1:50 for the shengyuan degree to encourage them to settle down and give up their nomadic way of life. In 1767, a memorial from Guangxi Province noted that some Han Chinese took advantage of the ethnic quotas to become shengyuan and that it was hard to verify who was a native. In 1784, quotas were recommended for Muslims to incorporate them into mainstream society. In 1807, a memorial from Hunan Province requested higher quotas for Miao people so that they would not have to compete with Han Chinese candidates.


title: Imperial examination

text: Imperial examinations were not immune to corruption, one notable example was the Yangzhou "xiangshi" protests for the juren rank in 1711. When it was found that numerous persons who were sons of the major salt-merchant families had passed the exams, this led the students who failed the exams to accuse the governor-general and the deputy examiner of accepting bribes. Thousands of candidates paraded on the streets and eventually held the director captive. A nine-month long investigation resulted from this and the outcome found the chief examiner and the successful candidates guilty and was subsequently put to death.


title: Imperial examination

text: The Chinese Christian Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was created in rebellion against the Qing dynasty led by a failed examination candidate Hong Xiuquan, which established its capital in Nanjing in 1851. Following the imperial example, the Taipings held exams starting in 1851. They replaced the Confucian Classes, however, with the Taiping Bible, the Old and New Testaments as edited by Hong. Candidates were expected to write eight-legged essays using quotations.


title: Imperial examination

text: In 1853, women were for the first time in Chinese history able to become examination candidates. Fu Shanxiang took the exam and became the first (and last) female zhuangyuan in Chinese history.


title: Imperial examination

text: By the 1830s and 1840s, proposals emerged from officials calling for reforms to the Imperial Examinations to include Western technology. In 1864, Li Hongzhang submitted proposals to add a new subject into the Imperial examinations involving Western technology, that scholars may focus their efforts entirely on this. A similar proposal was tabled by Feng Guifen in 1861 and Ding Richang (mathematics and science) in 1867. In 1872, and again in 1874, Shen Baozhen submitted proposals to the throne for the reform of the Imperial Examinations to include Mathematics. Shen also proposed the abolition of the military examinations, which were based on obsolete weaponry such as archery. He proposed the idea that Tongwen Guan students who performed well in mathematics could be directly appointed to the Zongli Yamen as if they were Imperial examination graduates. Li Hongzhang, in an 1874 memorial, tabled the concept of "Bureaus of Western Learning" (洋学局) in coastal provinces, participation in which was to be accorded the honour of Imperial examination degrees. In 1888, the Imperial examinations was expanded to include the subject of international commerce.


title: Imperial examination

text: With the military defeats in the 1890s and pressure to develop a national school system, reformers such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao called for abolition of the exams, and the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 proposed a set of modernizations. After the Boxer Rebellion, the government drew up plans to reform under the name of New Policies. Reformers memorialized the throne to abolish the system. The key sponsors were Yuan Shikai, Yin Chang, and Zhang Zhidong (Chang Chih-tung). On 2 September 1905, the throne ordered the examination system be discontinued, beginning at the first level in 1905. The new system provided equivalents to the old degrees; a bachelor's degree, for instance, would be considered equivalent to the "xiu cai".


title: Imperial examination

text: Those who had at least the degree of "shengyuan" remained fairly well off since they retained their social status. Older students who had failed to even become "shengyuan" were more damaged because they could not easily absorb new learning, were too proud to turn to commerce, and too weak for physical labor.


title: Imperial examination

text: The original purpose of the imperial examinations as they were implemented during the Sui dynasty was to strike a blow against the hereditary aristocracy and to centralize power around the emperor. The era preceding the Sui dynasty, the period of Northern and Southern dynasties, was a golden age for the Chinese aristocracy. The power they wielded seriously constrained the emperor's ability to exercise his power in court, especially when it came to appointing officials. The Sui emperor created the imperial examinations to bypass and mitigate aristocratic interests. This was the origin of the Chinese examination system.


title: Imperial examination

text: The short lived Sui dynasty was soon replaced by the Tang, who built on the examination system. The emperor placed the palace exam graduates, the jinshi, in important government posts, where they came into conflict with hereditary elites. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (713–756), about a third of the Grand Chancellors appointed were jinshi, but by the time of Emperor Xianzong of Tang (806–821), three fifths of the Grand Chancellors appointed were jinshi. This change in the way government was organized dealt a real blow to the aristocrats, but they did not sit idly by and wait to become obsolete. Instead they themselves entered the examinations to gain the privileges associated with it. By the end of the dynasty, the aristocratic class had produced 116 jinshi, so that they remained a significant influence in the government. Hereditary privileges were also not completely done away with. The sons of high ministers and great generals had the right to hold minor offices without taking the examinations. This privilege was introduced in 963 and allowed high officials to nominate their sons, nephews, and grandsons for civil service. However, after 1009, nominated candidates also had to study at the Guozijian and after completing a course, sit an examination. More than 50 percent passed. Lower level posts in the capital were awarded to these graduates.


title: Imperial examination

text: In addition, the number of graduates were not only small, but also formed their own clique in the government based around the examiners and the men they passed. In effect the graduates became another interest group the emperor had to contend with. This problem was greatly mitigated by the increase in candidates and graduates during the Song dynasty, made possible by its robust economy. Since the entire upper echelon of the Song dynasty was filled by jinshi, and imperial clan members were barred from posts of substance, there was no longer any conflict of the type relating to different preparatory backgrounds. Efforts were made to break the link between examiner and examinee, removing another factor contributing to the formation of scholar bureaucrat cliques. While the influence of certain scholar officials never disappeared, they no longer held any influence in organizing men.


title: Imperial examination

text: The scholar-bureaucrats, later known as Mandarins in the West, continued to exert significant influence throughout the rest of Chinese imperial history. The relationship between the emperor and his officials as seen from the side of the officials is encapsulated by Zhang Fangping's statement to Emperor Renzong of Song in the 1040s: "The empire cannot be ruled by Your Majesty alone; the empire can only be governed by Your Majesty collaborating with the officials." In 1071, Emperor Shenzong of Song remarked that Wang Anshi's New Policies were for the benefit of the people and not the "shidafu", the elite literate class. His grand chancellor, Wen Yanbo, retorted, "You govern the nation with "us", the officials, not with the people."


title: Imperial examination

text: The importance of clan identity as the chief marker of status seems to have declined by the 9th century, when the genealogical section of epitaphs excluded choronyms (combination of clan and place names) in favor of office titles. For the aristocracy, although status was still an important factor in marriage, wealth had become far more important by the time of the Southern Song (1127–1279) than the Tang era. During the Yuanyou era (1086–1093), it was reported that an imperial clanswoman had married a man surnamed Liu from the foreign quarter of Guangzhou. In 1137, a complaint was lodged against a military official for marrying his sister to the "great merchant" Pu Yali (a two-time envoy from Arabia). The foreign merchant family of Pu also sought marriage into the imperial clan.


title: Imperial examination

text: Although there was a military version of the exam, it was neglected by the government. The importance of the regular imperial examinations in governance had the effect of subordinating the military to civil government. By the time of the Song dynasty, the two highest military posts of Minister of War and Chief of Staff were both reserved for civil servants. It became routine for civil officials to be appointed as front-line commanders in the army. The highest rank for a dedicated military career was reduced to unit commander. To further reduce the influence of military leaders, they were routinely reassigned at the end of a campaign, so that no lasting bond occurred between commander and soldier. The policy of appointing civil officials as ad hoc military leaders was maintained by both the Ming and Qing dynasties after the initial phase of conquest. Successful commanders entrenched solely in the military tradition such as Yue Fei were viewed with distrust and apprehension. He was eventually executed by the Song government despite successfully leading Song forces against the Jin dynasty. It is possible that foreigners also looked down on Chinese military men in contrast to their civil counterparts. In 1042, the general Fan Zhongyan refused a military title because he thought it would demean him in the eyes of the Tibetans and Tanguts. Although it negatively impacted the military's performance at times, the new relationship between the civil and military sectors of the government avoided the endemic military coups of preceding dynasties for the rest of imperial Chinese history.


title: Imperial examination

text: During the Tang period, a set curricular schedule took shape where the three steps of reading, writing, and the composition of texts had to be learnt before students could enter state academies. As the number of graduates increased, competition for government posts became more fierce. Whereas at the beginning of the Tang dynasty, there were few jinshi, during the Song dynasty, there were more than the government needed. Several reforms to education were suggested to thin the number of candidates and improve their quality. In 1044, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, and Song Qi implemented the Qingli Reforms, which included hiring experts in the classics to teach at government schools, setting up schools in every prefecture, and requiring every candidate to have attended the prefectural school for at least 300 days to qualify for the prefectural exam. Prior to the Qingli Reforms, the role of the state was limited to supporting a few institutions, such as in 1022 when the government granted a prefectural school in Yanzhou with 151 acres of land. Some of the reformers directly participated in the creation of schools. Between 1035 and 1046, Fan Zhongyan and his followers set up 16 schools. Ouyang Xiu donated 1.5 million cash for the construction of a school in his home prefecture. Han Qi did the same as well. The Qingli Reforms were abandoned after only one year.


title: Imperial examination

text: While the Qingli Reforms failed, the ideal of a statewide education system was taken up by Wang Anshi (1021–1086), who proposed as part of his New Policies that examinations alone were not enough to select talent. His answer to the glut of graduates was to found new schools ("shuyuan") for the selection of officials, with the ultimate goal of replacing the examinations altogether by selecting officials directly from the school's students. An alternative path to office was introduced: the Three Hall system. The government expanded the Taixue (National University) and ordered each circuit to grant land to schools and to hire supervising teachers for them. In 1076, a special examination for teachers was introduced. Implementation of the reforms was uneven and slow. Of the 320 prefectures, only 53 had prefectural schools with supervising teachers by 1078 and only a few were given the ordered allotment of land. Wang died and his reforms languished until the early 12th century when Emperor Huizong of Song injected more resources into the national education project. In 1102, Huizong and his chief councilor Cai Jing (1046–1126) decided to combine schools and examinations and make schools the focus of both education and recruitment. In 1103, the Taixue grew to 3,800 students with 200 in the upper hall, 600 in the lower hall, and 3,000 in the Biyong or outer hall. In 1104, students started being processed up the three-colleges (Three Hall) ranking system from the county school to the Taixue for direct appointment in the bureaucracy. In 1106, the "eight virtues" method of selection was introduced. The "eight virtues" method was to select and promote students based on eight varieties of virtuous conduct. By 1109, schools had received more than 100,000 "jing" of land (1.5 million acres), taken from the state granaries. Total student numbers were reported at 210,000 in 1104, 167,622 in 1109, and over 200,000 in 1116. At its height the Song education system included approximately 0.2% of its one hundred million people.


title: Imperial examination

text: The new education policies were sometimes criticized and the importance of schools attacked. Su Shi believed that educational institutions were nothing more than places for students to learn the necessary techniques to pass the imperial exams. Liu Ban (1023–1089) believed that an education at home was sufficient: "Education that scholars receive at home is sufficient for them to become talented people. Why do they need to turn to teachers in government schools to do so?" In 1078, a student of the Taixue, Yu Fan, submitted a memorial accusing the instructors of bias and improper teaching. In the following year, Emperor Shenzong of Song confirmed the accusations after a Censorate investigation. In 1112, a memorial criticized the prefectural and county schools for a variety of abuses. It accused the local supervisors of not understanding the goal of educating greater talent, wasting funds by buying excess food and drink, buying superfluous decorations, profiting by selling grain at market price, borrowing from students, and engaging in acts of violence towards officials. The "eight virtues" system received many complaints about its lack of academic rigor. In 1121, the local three-colleges system was dismantled and the local schools ordered to return land to the government.


title: Imperial examination

text: The schools went into further decline starting from the Southern Song period (1127–1279) after the loss of the north to the Jin dynasty. The government was reluctant to fund them because they did not create immediate profits and as a result, cuts were made in teaching personnel, and the national university itself was reduced in size. The exception to this was in the 1140s when the court played an active role in reconstructing schools and made efforts to staff them with degree-holders. After this period, government involvement in state educational institutions ceased. According to contemporary complaints about the schools, they deteriorated in quality, were subjected to a variety of abuses and heterodox teaching, no teaching at all, and decline in revenue. Schools in imperial China never recovered from the decline starting from the Southern Song. For the rest of China's dynastic history, government funded academies functioned primarily as gateways to the examination system, and did not offer any real instruction to students. Functionally they were not schools but rather preparatory institutions for the examinations. Wang's goal of replacing the examinations was never realized. Although Wang's reforms fell short of their mark, they launched the first state led initiative to regulate the day to day education of its subjects through the appointment of teachers and funding of schools.


title: Imperial examination

text: Primary education was relegated to private schools founded by kinship clusters during the Ming dynasty, although private teachers for individual households remained popular. Some schools were charity projects of the imperial government. The government also funded specialized schools for each of the Eight Banners to teach the Manchu language and Chinese. None of these institutions had a standardized curriculum or age of admission.


title: Imperial examination

text: The problem of surplus graduates became especially acute starting from the 18th century. Due to the long period of peace established by the Qing dynasty, a large number of candidates were able to make significant progress in their studies and apply for the exams. Their papers were all of similar quality so that examiners found it difficult to differentiate them and make their selections. Officials began to think of new ways to eliminate candidates rather than how to select the best scholars. A complicated set of formal requirements for the examinations was created which undermined the whole system.


title: Imperial examination

text: Inevitably a large number of candidates failed the exams, often repeatedly. During the Tang period, the ratio of success to failure in the palace exam was 1:100 or 2:100. In the Song dynasty, the ratio of success to failure for the metropolitan exam was about 1:50. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, success to failure for the provincial exam was about 1:100. For every shengyuan in the country, only one in three thousand would ever become a jinshi. While most candidates were men of certain means, those from poor families risked everything on passing the exams. Ambitious and talented candidates who suffered repeated failures felt the bite of indignation, and failure escalated from disappointment to desperation, and sometimes even revolt.


title: Imperial examination

text: Huang Chao led a massive rebellion in the late Tang dynasty, after it had already been weakened by the An Lushan rebellion. He was born to a wealthy family in western Shandong. After repeated failures he created a secret society that engaged in illicit salt trading. Although Huang Chao's rebellion was ultimately defeated, it led to the final disintegration of the Tang dynasty. Among Huang Chao's cohort were other failed candidates such as Li Zhen, who targeted government officials, killed them and threw their bodies into the Yellow River. Zhang Yuanhao of the Northern Song defected to Western Xia after failing the examinations. He aided the Tanguts in setting up a Chinese-style court. Niu Jinxing of the late Ming was a general in Li Zicheng's rebel army. Having failed to become a jinshi, he targeted high officials and members of the royal family, butchering them as retribution. Hong Xiuquan led the mid-19th-century Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. After his fourth and final attempt at the shengyuan exam, he had a nervous breakdown, during which he had visions of a heaven where he was part of a celestial family. Influenced by the teachings of Christian missionaries, Hong announced to his family and followers that his visions had been of God, his father, and Jesus Christ, his brother. He created the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and waged war on the Qing dynasty, devastating parts of southeast China which would not recover for decades.


title: Imperial examination

text: Pu Songling (1640–1715) failed the examination multiple times. He immortalized the frustrations of candidates trapped in the relentless system in numerous stories that parodied the system.


title: Imperial examination

text: Reformers charged that the set format of the "eight-legged essay" stifled original thought and satirists portrayed the rigidity of the system in novels such as "The Scholars". In the twentieth century, the New Culture Movement portrayed the examination system as a cause for China's weakness in such stories as Lu Xun's "Kong Yiji". Some have suggested that limiting the topics prescribed in examination system removed the incentives for Chinese intellectuals to learn mathematics or to conduct experimentation, perhaps contributing to the Great Divergence, in which China's scientific and economic development fell behind Europe.