scholar gentlemen

Scholar-officials, also known as Scholar-gentlemen, Scholar-bureaucrats or Scholar-gentry were civil servants appointed by the emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance from the Han dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912, China's last imperial dynasty. After the Sui dynasty these officials mostly came from the scholar-gentry (绅士 shēnshì) who had earned academic degrees (such as xiucai, juren, or jinshi) by passing the  imperial examinations. The scholar-officials were schooled in calligraphy and Confucian texts. They dominated the government and local life of China until 1911.