Sun, Mar 03, 2019 page3

• FEATURE: Civil servant selection still steeped in Sui-era ritual

  • By Liu Li-jen and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Each year, the Examination Yuan — the branch of government in charge of national exams for civil servants — holds 19 qualification exams for government employees, which involves anything from processing applications and arranging test sites to grading and finalizing the candidate selection.

  At the end of the process, the list is published in the official bulletin of the Ministry of Examination’s National Examination Center — but not until it has been marked and stamped by the chair of the Board of Examiners.

  The ritual dates to the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907 AD), when Chinese emperors used their mark to connote imperial assent, Department of Professional and Technical Examinations Director Huang Ching-chang (黃慶章) said.

  

  Examination Yuan Vice President Lee Yi-yang marks off people who passed in the annual government employee examination in Taipei on Jan. 1.

  Photo: Liu Li-jen, Taipei Times

  The continuation of the ancient practice signifies official approval of the exam and the expectation that selected public servants serve the nation to the best of their ability, Huang said.

  Adding to the solemnity of the occasion, the red ink for the stamp is made of cinnabar, as it was in imperial times, he said.

  Depending on the grade of the public servants being qualified, the board is chaired by the Examination Yuan’s president or vice president, or a member of the Examining Committee determined by lot, he said.

  The duty of chairing an exam is taken seriously by officials, Huang said, adding that a committee member once prepared a Qing Dynasty cinnabar ink stick for the occasion, while others have been known to use ink brushes made from the hair of infants gifted by friends or family, he said.

  The brushes used in the ceremonies are doubly auspicious for their connection to academic achievement and because they have been dipped in cinnabar, a substance thought to grant magical protection against evil, he said.

  Examination Yuan workers are known to put the lists on their office desk as good-luck charms, while some insist that the ink brushes should never be used again to preserve their potency, he said.

  In the past, the Examination Yuan framed the brushes to use as gifts for honored guests and government workers who assisted with the exams, Huang said.

  The Examination Yuan works closely with academics and technical experts to keep exam questions up to date, which is among its most challenging tasks, he said.

  The Examination Yuan constantly reviews exam questions and its grading methodology to make sure that it selects the most qualified and professionally competent civil servants, he said.

  “The attention to ceremony is an extension of the nation’s attitude to seek talented people for its civil service,” he said.

  The ministry has made strides in modernizing the examination process under Minister of Examination Tsai Tzung-jen’s (蔡宗珍) leadership, including by creating an app to streamline applications, he said.

  However, people still go to the exam center to see the list in person and celebrate their qualification with posts on social media, he said.
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