The Grueling Civil Service Exams of India and China

In India and China, a single exam can determine the course of an entire life. Entry into the civil service promises status, stability, and power—but the path runs through years of punishing study and elimination rounds that test everything from history to abstract reasoning. In this episode, we explore why these exams endure as symbols of meritocracy, how their reliance on rote learning may fail to identify the best administrators, and what the immense personal cost reveals about opportunity and pressure in two rising powers. As both countries tentatively experiment with alternative recruitment, the story asks whether an exam designed to be fair has become too blunt—and too costly—for the modern state.https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/06/19/indias-and-chinas-civil-service-exams-are-notoriously-difficult