03.科举制度The imperial examination system

We all know that the imperial examination system was an important talent selection system in ancient China, but why did it not occur in the West? In a recent article, columnist Wei Zhou mentioned that the imperial examination created a bottom-up flow of social classes that was incompatible with the rigid hierarchy of ancient Western societies.
Why do you say this?
Firstly, why did China produce the imperial examination? Because in ancient China, the social mobility created by the imperial examinations was in the best interest of the rulers. What were the Chinese emperors afraid of? Fear of losing their imperial power. From the Qin and Han dynasties onwards, vassals and nobles were all targets of the emperor's suppression. The best way to suppress the nobility was to appoint officials from poor backgrounds, so successive emperors stressed the importance of the character and talent of officials over their family backgrounds. The Ming dynasty even stipulated that the children of certain nobles could not inherit noble status if they did not study. You see, as the commoners were able to move up the ladder, the nobility became weaker and weaker, and imperial power became more secure.
So why didn't the West have a system similar to the imperial examinations? Because in ancient times in the West the aristocracy was so powerful that the imperial power could not be weakened by such means, so 'education' had nothing to do with 'upward social mobility'. In ancient Rome, for example, you could not get into the Senate even if you were good at exams, and schools like Oxford and Cambridge did not admit commoners at all 200 years ago. Commoners were neither allowed nor required to enter higher social classes through examinations, so there were no imperial examinations in the West.
So in ancient China, the imperial examinations were not only a system for selecting talent, but also a means for the emperor to suppress the aristocracy. In the West, on the other hand, the hierarchy was so strict and the aristocracy so powerful that the imperial examination system did not play well in the West.
重点词汇
incompatible with 不相容，与……不一致
afraid of 难 ; 怕 ; 害怕 ; 不敢正视
imperial power 皇权
我们都知道，科举制是中国古代重要的人才选拔制度，但为啥西方没有出现科举呢？最近，专栏作家维舟在文章中提到，科举造成了社会阶层自下而上的流动，而这种流动，与西方古代社会森严的等级制度是不相容的。
为什么这么说？
先看为什么中国产生了科举？因为在中国古代，科举造成的社会流动，对统治者最有利。中国历代帝王怕什么？怕丢了皇权。从秦汉开始，诸侯、贵族都是皇帝打压的对象，要压制贵族，最好的办法就是任用出身贫寒的官员，所以历代皇帝都强调官员的品行才能比家世重要。明朝甚至规定，某些贵族的孩子不读书，就不能世袭贵族身份。你看，平民能向上流动，贵族势力越来越弱，皇权就更加稳固。
那西方为什么没有类似科举的制度呢？因为在西方古代，贵族势力太强大了，皇权没法用这样的手段来削弱它，所以“受教育”和“向社会上层流动”没关系。比如，古罗马时代，你考试好，也进不了元老院，而且像牛津、剑桥这些学校，在200年前压根儿不招收平民学生。平头百姓通过考试进入更高社会阶层，既不允许，也不需要，所以西方就没有科举。
所以说，在古代中国，科举不仅是选拔人才的制度，也是皇帝打压贵族的手段。而西方等级森严，贵族势力强大，所以在西方，科举制度玩不转。