The article explores the issue of participation of the traditional China merchant class in special examinations that gave the right to work in the state authorities. The author’s aim was to find the answer to the following question: why were merchants banned from the exams, whereas artisans and peasants were granted this opportunity. When they were finally given such an option, it immediately resulted in a huge wave of applicants willing to pass the difficult test, despite its great material and moral costs and the fact that there was no guarantee that the applicant could ever become a government official to become officials, even if they passed the ordeal with flying colors. The author concludes that for most of the applicants the main purpose was not the bureaucratic post itself but the degree that allowed them to enter the ranks of the privileged scholar class shênshih (绅士) and become part of the political elite of Chinese society, which gave them more opportunities to develop their trading business.