Abstract: In the drastic social change in the late Qing Dynasty, the trend of official selection and appointment was closely related to the selection of talents, which experienced three stages that moved forward one by one. Since the reigns of Emperors Daoguang and Xianfeng, the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty had adopted the new standard of "being capable of handling affairs with steadfast and persistent quality" to appoint officials in order to adapt to the changing situations, which broke the long-lasting selecting rules of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs. However, the tight financial condition and the practice of favoritism of recommenders led to unfavorable consequences such as bribery, excessive appointment and then poor official management. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, in despair to save the nation from extinction, the court and the commonality doubted the validity of imperial examinations and believed that the Western learning was "useful". The imperial court confirmed this idea and adopted the criterion of Western disciplines. Reforming the official selecting system and adopting new policy, each ministry and province continually selected students graduated from new schools and those who had studied abroad. Capability of handling affairs, specialized knowledge and technologies became the main criterions for talent selection. The tradition of emphasizing candidates' virtues, their practice and understanding of the theories of the sages in the past since the Sui and Tang Dynasties was discarded. This overcorrection is featured by fickleness, seeking quick success and instant benefits, which has had inestimable impact on the style of study, officials' behaviors and public morals for more than one hundred years.

Key words: official selection in the late Qing Dynasty, exceptional recruitment, being capable of handling affairs with steadfast and persistent quality, specialized knowledge, invalidity of imperial examinations