Abstract: Although the civil examination system in late imperial China was always considered a rigid method
for choosing officials because of the connection between the fundamental rationale for the examinations
and Neo-Confucianism，examinations in different reigns were also related to the current cultural influences
academia at the time． For the development of astronomy and mathematics，Kangxi Emperor，who was
keen on Western astronomy and mathematics and other forms of Western knowledge，gave the order that
“practical learning”such as astronomy and mathematics could not be examined． However，astronomical
calculation was developed under a Han learning paradigm by scholars who had absorbed Western learning
in the domain of Confucian philology in the Qianlong-Jiaqing era． Astronomical calculation seeped into
the civil examinations between the Qianlong and Jiaqing Ｒeigns appeared not only in the questions for
some Metropolitan，Provincial and Prefectural Licensing Examinations，but also in eight-legged essays
and policy essays for these examinations，and became one of the important criteria for the judgment of
candidates’knowledge．