The imperial examination (Chinese: ??; pinyin: Keju; Wade-Giles: K'o-ch? was a civil service examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best potential candidates to serve as administrative officials; for the purpose of recruiting them for the state's bureaucracy.

The tests were designed as objective measures to evaluate the educational attainment and merit of the examinees; as part of the process by which final selections and appointments to office would be made. Candidates could receive the jinshi (chin-shih); and other degrees; generally followed by assignment to specific offices; with higher level degrees tending to lead to higher ranking placements in the imperial government service.