In this multidimensional analysis, Benjamin A. Elman uses over a thousand newly available examination records from the Yuan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, 1315-1904, to explore the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the civil examination system, one of the most important institutions in Chinese history. For over five hundred years, the most important positions within the dynastic government were usually filled through these difficult examinations, and every other year some one to two million people from all levels of society attempted them.

Covering the late imperial system from its inception to its demise, Elman revises our previous understanding of how the system actually worked, including its political and cultural machinery, the unforeseen consequences when it was unceremoniously scrapped by modernist reformers, and its long-term historical legacy. He argues that the Ming-Ch'ing civil examinations from 1370 to 1904 represented a substantial break with T'ang-Sung dynasty literary examinations from 650 to 1250. Late imperial examinations also made "Tao Learning," Neo-Confucian learning, the dynastic orthodoxy in official life and in literati culture. The intersections between elite social life, popular culture, and religion that are also considered reveal the full scope of the examination process throughout the late empire.

在这一多维分析中，本杰明·艾尔曼使用了一千多份元、明、清三代（1315-1904）的考试记录，探讨了中国历史上最重要的制度之一——科举制度的社会、政治和文化层面。五百多年来，王朝政府中最重要的职位通常都是通过这些艰难的考试来填补的，每隔一年就有来自社会各阶层的一两百万人参加考试。

从帝国制度的建立到消亡，埃尔曼对我们以前对这个制度如何运作的理解进行了修正，包括它的政治和文化机制，当它被现代主义改革者毫不客气地废除时的不可预见的后果，以及它的长期历史遗产。他认为，1370年至1904年的明朝科举与650年至1250年的唐宋文考有了实质性的突破。后期的科举考试也造就了“道学”、理学、官场生活和文人文化中的朝代正统学说。精英社会生活、通俗文化和宗教之间的交叉点也被认为揭示了整个帝国晚期的考试过程。