Song China stopped exam bribery by anonymizing papers

Song-dynasty China's imperial examinations were the primary gateway into the civil service, and examiners graded papers with the candidate's name, birthplace, and family background written plainly on the page. An examiner who recognized a name — a patron's son, a personal favorite, a rival's relative, or simply a candidate who had paid a bribe — could tilt a grade with little chance of being caught, regardless of how strictly the court tried to vet examiners' character beforehand.

Simply punishing examiners after the fact, once favoritism was discovered, did nothing to stop it happening in the first place, and no amount of screening could guarantee a grader's honesty would hold when a familiar or influential name appeared on the page in front of them.

Song Taizong first adopted huming ('name concealment'), sealing or removing identifying information from exam papers, on official Chen Jing's advice. The court went further with tenglu ('transcription'): a separate copying office recopied every exam script in a standardized hand before it reached graders, first trialed at the palace examination in 1005 and extended to the provincial examinations in 1015, so that not even a candidate's distinctive handwriting could tip off an examiner to their identity. Up to eight examiners graded each transcribed, anonymized paper independently.

Sealed names and transcribed papers into a standard hand, removing all identifying cues so graders could not act on bribery or favoritism.

Sealing names removed the most obvious cue for favoritism.

Transcription into a standard hand eliminated handwriting as a giveaway.

With no identifying cues, graders couldn't act on bribes or connections.

Multiple independent graders made it hard for one biased grader to sway results.

When you can't guarantee evaluator honesty, remove the information that enables bias rather than relying on willpower.

Examiners grading a Song-dynasty exam had no reliable way to know whose paper they were reading, removing both the temptation and the practical means to favor a specific candidate by name, family connection, or bribe, regardless of the examiner's own character or intentions.