Nearby Korea, being strongly influenced by Chinese bureaucratic concepts and Confucianism, also used this system in antiquity and flavors of it have carried over into the modern age. There were some differences, the Chinese exam created a kind of possible path for social mobility if you could find a way to study for it. Lots of families would pool their resources to send one son to an academy to learn how to pass the exam on hopes that, if they passed it, would help pull the entire family out of poverty and potentially support sending other sons.
In ancient Korea it had a different effect and tended to fix certain classes into the "classes from which the bureaucracy could be reliably drawn from". They still had the academies, but it tended to be the same class/castes who attended and passed the exam. In theory it was open, but in practice it worked this way [1].
Some of the preserved academies still exist and are major UNESCO sights. [2]
Modern South Korea still uses an examination system for civil servants [3], but has lost the caste system so in an interesting way has ended up more like the ancient Chinese concept. It tests civics, history, data analysis, etc. and I believe there are different tests for different levels of seniority and are required for promotion. It's common for test takers to have spent several years in dedicated study after university to prepare for the exam [4].
A semi-equivalent might be like a bar exam in other countries.
In ancient Korea it had a different effect and tended to fix certain classes into the "classes from which the bureaucracy could be reliably drawn from". They still had the academies, but it tended to be the same class/castes who attended and passed the exam. In theory it was open, but in practice it worked this way [1].
Some of the preserved academies still exist and are major UNESCO sights. [2]
Modern South Korea still uses an examination system for civil servants [3], but has lost the caste system so in an interesting way has ended up more like the ancient Chinese concept. It tests civics, history, data analysis, etc. and I believe there are different tests for different levels of seniority and are required for promotion. It's common for test takers to have spent several years in dedicated study after university to prepare for the exam [4].
A semi-equivalent might be like a bar exam in other countries.
1 - https://www.amazon.com/History-Korea-Antiquity-Present/dp/07...
2 - https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1498/
3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Korea_public_servi...
4 - https://youtu.be/zt4d_jGLXMY