The Ming Examination Glut

Ming China's population roughly doubled while the number of government posts barely moved, and the examination system kept producing qualified men with nowhere to go. By the late Ming, the pass rate at the top level was well under one percent, and hundreds of thousands of degree-holders sat in the provinces — educated, entitled, unemployed, and increasingly bitter. Some formed political factions that paralyzed the court; some joined the rebellions that brought the dynasty down. A meritocracy that produces more merit than it can employ manufactures a class of frustrated insiders who become its critics.