A Career in the Underworld: Working at the Grassroots in the Netherworld

Protagonist: Fang Zhe The imperial examination system originated in the first year of the Daye era of the Sui dynasty. It lasted for a thousand years before being abolished in the thirty-first year of the Guangxu era of the Qing dynasty. For the 1,300 years of its existence, it served as an important means for the imperial court to select talent, advancing cultural development and encouraging social exchange and mobility in feudal society. The past can serve the present, and sound traditions can be carried on. Times and society may change, but examinations have remained a way to select outstanding talent. If this ingenious method works in the human world, why shouldn’t the Underworld learn from it? It’s not just the living who suffer from cutthroat competition. Even after death, who wouldn’t want to become a standout among ghosts? A career in the Underworld: discover a different path to officialdom in the land of the dead.