In short, the Chinese imperial exam system ran for 1500 years. In part this selected for IQ which is partly hereditary. Men who scored well could get good jobs and could have more children. Say around 45 generations of this. If these were lab rats we know what the result would be. Smarter rats. IMO this created smarter Chinese.
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Formal Establishment (Sui Dynasty, 605 CE) – Emperor Yang of Sui introduced a structured examination system.
Expansion (Tang Dynasty, 7th century CE) – The exam system became more influential, testing candidates on Confucian classics, poetry, and governance.
Golden Age (Song Dynasty, 10th–13th century CE) – The system became the primary path to government positions, with an increased emphasis on essays and Confucian philosophy.
Ming and Qing Dynasties (14th–19th century CE) – The exam system reached its peak, with local, provincial, and national levels, including the prestigious jinshi (??) degree.
Abolition (1905, Late Qing Dynasty) – The system was officially abolished in 1905 as part of modernization reforms.
The Imperial Examination System in China had a significant impact on the reproductive success of those who passed the exams, particularly those who achieved the highest ranks. Several studies in historical demographics suggest that men who passed the exams tended to father more children on average than those who did not. Here’s why:
1. Higher Social Status & Marriage Opportunities
Success in the keju (??) system granted men access to elite government positions, which came with high salaries and prestige.
Higher-ranking scholars, especially jinshi (??) degree holders, were more likely to marry multiple wives or concubines, increasing their number of offspring.
Families sought to marry their daughters to successful scholars, ensuring their children would be raised in a literate and influential household.
2. Economic Stability & Childbearing Capacity
Passing the exams often led to government appointments, securing wealth and land, which allowed for larger families.
Economic security reduced infant mortality rates and allowed for more resources to be invested in raising children.
3. Polygyny Among the Elite
Successful scholars could afford concubines, which further increased the number of children they fathered.
In contrast, men who failed the exams had fewer financial resources, limiting their ability to support multiple wives and large families.
4. Selection Pressure for Scholarly Families
The exam system indirectly created a form of cultural eugenics, where literacy and intelligence became advantageous traits for reproduction.
Elite families often prepared their sons from a young age for the exams, creating multi-generational scholarly lineages.
Empirical Evidence
Some historical analyses (such as studies based on genealogical records from the Qing Dynasty) show that jinshi degree holders had more children on average than lower-degree or non-degree holders.
A 2019 study on Chinese elite reproduction found that successful exam candidates were more likely to have multiple wives and more offspring than those who failed.
Conclusion
The Imperial Examination System was not just a mechanism for social mobility but also played a crucial role in shaping demographic and genetic trends in China. Those who passed the exams generally had more children, reinforcing a scholarly elite class across generations.
Studies suggest that intelligence has a heritability of 50% to 80%, meaning half or more of the differences in intelligence among individuals are due to genetics.
