Jun 13th 2025

Max Weber, sensible German intellectual that he was, considered bureaucracy the best way to organise large societies. And societies don’t come any larger than China and India, where the decisions of bureaucrats shape the lives of more than a quarter of the world’s people.

Even as the countries’ private sectors have grown in recent decades, jobs in their civil services remain deeply coveted. Government jobs in India, especially in the federal services that run the country, remain a ticket to prosperity, prestige and better marriage prospects. In China, where the economy has slowed, securing a top-tier state job (known locally as “landing ashore”) is back in fashion—quite literally. Young people sometimes don “cadre-style” attire—windbreakers in muted colours and high-waisted suit trousers—in order to emulate officials.

But perhaps the biggest similarity between the two bureaucracies is the brutality of their selection processes, which hinge on a gruelling set of examinations. To give you a taste of the difficulty, The Economist has chosen some questions from the first part of recent exams. Have a go:

Choose which country's questions you want to answer.

China

Civil Service exam

1 of 5

Q1 of 5

A poem by Bai Juyi reads: “Green ants on my homebrewed wine, red-clay stove gleams with light. Snow impending in the evening sky, care to have a cup tonight?” Which of the following statements relating to the poem is correct?

Such questions are only a small part of a much larger process. In India those who pass the first exam in May or June must sit a second later in the year. This features nine papers taken over 27 hours. In China the written test takes place on one day in late November or early December. Candidates do a multiple-choice exam and then write a series of essays testing their understanding of policy, as well as their writing skills. Both countries hold in-person interviews as a final filter. Only a fraction survive the ordeal. Last year 1.1m people applied to join the top tier of India’s civil service, but around 1,000 (0.2% of those who actually sat the first exam) were offered a spot. In China a record 3.41m people registered and passed the initial screening for the national civil-service exam last year—well over twice the number who did so in 2014. Just over 39,700 (1.5% of those who sat the exam) secured a job.

In both countries the exams are considered the fairest way to filter candidates. Indeed, in India they were introduced by British colonial masters after Indians complained about the previous patronage-based system. In China, the guokao, as the exam is called, is modelled on the keju, which was instituted in 587 and was lauded for being relatively corruption-free and meritocratic. Candidates’ ability to leapfrog social classes was so cherished that, say some academics, the riots that followed the exam’s abolition in 1905 contributed to the toppling of the Qing dynasty, China’s last imperial rulers, a few years later.

The civil-service exam in China has shaped the country’s evolution. The keju was the “anchor of Chinese autocracy”, according to Yasheng Huang, who has written a book about it. Mind-bogglingly difficult, it required total intellectual commitment, sometimes from the age of five, leaving the most talented and ambitious members of society no time to foment new ideas. Gui Youguang, a 16th-century writer, passed the exam’s final stage aged 59, after decades of failed attempts, and died shortly after.

The guokao, which can only be taken by those aged 35 or under, remains an important tool for the state. After China embarked on market reforms in the 1970s, the bureaucracy took on a more important role in a complex, open society. As a result, the guokao was tweaked to examine candidates’ knowledge of laws and regulations. Over time the questions became more practical, testing common sense and numeracy. But in recent years the exam has also become a test of party loyalty, with ever more questions dedicated to Xi Jinping Thought.

Image: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Chinese essay questions

“Dedicate yourself to your field, constantly ‘refine’ and ‘repair’, and silently contribute to a warm and steadfast order of life for the people, while progressing steadily.” Based on your understanding of this sentence, draw on real-life examples and experiences, choose your own angle and title, and write an essay.

Write a report on the achievements, shortcomings and suggestions for improvement regarding the implementation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Law.

Conduct an in-depth analysis of the three dimensions of administrative law enforcement—”power” (力), “reason” (理) and “interest” (利). Draw on real-life examples and experiences, choose your own angle and title, and write an essay.

India’s civil service, in contrast, has remained relatively apolitical. After independence in 1947, leaders chose to retain the “steel frame” of the Imperial Civil Service, but changed the role of the bureaucrats it hired from upholding colonial rule to ensuring development. By 1979 competition to enter the service was so fierce that a second set of exams was introduced to test candidates’ breadth of knowledge. In 2012 a paper on ethics was added. India’s civil service is associated with prestige—but also corruption. In a recent high-profile example, a young civil servant in the eastern state of Odisha was accused of accepting a bribe of 1m rupees ($11,683) from a businessman. (He denies any wrongdoing.)

Indian essay questions

Is conscience a more reliable guide when compared to laws, rules and regulations in the context of ethical decision-making? Discuss.

Child cuddling is now being replaced by mobile phones. Discuss its impact on the socialization of children.

Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team. Discuss.

Success in both exams requires immense toil. Many examinees do not work in the year, even years, leading up to the test; those holding down jobs end up studying early in the morning or late at night. Thousands seek the help of coaching centres; the best ones offer full-time training and board.

Shikha Singh, for example, moved from a small town in central India to Delhi just to prepare for the exam surrounded by fellow aspirants. She has failed the test three times, but ramped up her efforts with each attempt. Ahead of her recent fourth try, Ms Singh put in ten-hour days, but worries that still might not be enough to cover the wide variety of subjects. In south-eastern China, Ms Zhong, a prospective civil servant from Jiangxi province, has put in similar shifts since quitting her job in 2023 and moving back in with her parents. Her concern is that preparation alone may not be enough in an exam that tests “innate ability”.

Even if they succeed, will their effort be worth it? Those who pass the exams reap instant and long-term benefits, such as housing and a pension (and often a job) for life. Once in their roles they are treated like royalty, with an army of staff to do their bidding and a special chair marked with a white towel.

Research from India suggests some correlation between exam performance and effectiveness as a civil servant. But in both countries critics believe the exams filter candidates according to the wrong criteria. By screening for rote-learning and test-taking, they neglect to assess actual public-policy skills such as management, teamwork and communication. This contributes to the poor performance of the bureaucracy. On a measure of government effectiveness calculated by the World Bank, China and India rank in the 74th and 68th percentiles globally.

In both countries efforts are under way to recruit people in other ways. China is experimenting with hiring some candidates for fixed terms according to their experience, rather than their exam performance. Similarly India has introduced a “lateral-entry” scheme to allow private-sector specialists to join the public workforce. But these remain nascent initiatives. Exams will remain the backbone of public-sector recruitment.

If the merits of this selection process are debatable, the costs—both human and economic—are more easily quantified. Aspirants who fail to meet the mark tend to try again. A cycle of application and rejection has an effect on morale: exam failure often pushes candidates to suicide in both countries. Ms Singh, the Indian candidate, feels she has lost social status because of her failed attempts. Her Chinese counterpart, Ms Zhong, is also weighed down by anxiety. “Only a few people pass the exam,” she says. “I wonder what those who fail do.”

It is an important question. Years of youth spent in study, instead of work, are an economic loss. The exams force college graduates to delay employment, reducing their long-term consumption. And the subjects so feverishly swotted up late at night are not necessarily of use once the exams are over. Knowing big cats’ biological intricacies or the details of Xi Jinping Thought might help candidates earn a civil servant’s towel-covered chair—but perhaps not a place in the private sector. ■