Which policy did the Tang dynasty use to base official appointments on merit?

• A. It undermined the bureaucracy by relying on nobles.
• B. It created a merit-based bureaucracy through merit-based exams.
• C. It harmed governance by promoting incompetent officials.
• D. It relied on democratic elections to select leaders.

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is that the Tang dynasty built a government recruited by merit through formal examinations. They expanded and refined the civil service examination system (the keju), so officials were chosen based on what they knew and could do—especially their mastery of Confucian texts and their ability to write and think about policy—rather than who they were or whom they knew. This created a bureaucracy of educated scholars who earned positions through exam success, which broadened access beyond aristocratic birth and aimed to improve governance by placing capable administrators in charge. Democratic elections did not exist in imperial China, and relying on nobles would have kept power in a hereditary circle instead of rewarding merit.