Sabios para el emperador: el sistema de exámenes Ming y la fascinación hispánica por China (siglos XVI-XVII)

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact and reception of the Chinese imperial examination system in Hispanic culture during the 16th and 17th centuries, focusing on the influential work of Juan González de Mendoza. Through the testimonies of chroniclers such as Martín de Rada, it describes how the selection model of the “loytias” —as they were referred to in early Hispanic sources— or mandarins, based on academic merit and Confucian virtue rather than lineage, fascinated a class-based Europe. The text details the rigorous structure of these examinations and the ideal of “good government” they projected toward the court of Philip II. Finally, this idealized vision is contrasted with the historical reality of fraudulent practices, highlighting how China functioned as a political mirror and an administrative utopia for the Hispanic Monarchy.