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> the benefits of meritocracy over feudalism China had meritocracy long before Europe, with public exams open to anyone for civil service in the empire.

• douche 11y ago
  We could debate the efficacy of the skills that were exhibited by imperial Chinese civil service exams, particularly at the contemporary era as Napoleon. A system that selects for devoting years or decades to studying Confucius and various commentaries thereon, and in learning to write formulaic "eight-legged" essays in an archaic dialect is meritocratic to some extent (although, to have the resources to adequately prepare for the exams required either the resources of the landed-gentry class, or pooling the resources of an extended clan to support a candidate to float all boats later through nepotism). Now that I think about it, I really should have written my senior thesis on comparisons between the 21st century US and Qing China after the gilded age of the Qianlong emperor...