During the Tang dynasty, only a few dozen candidates were admitted as jinshi whenever the examinations were held, but during the Song dynasty this honor roll ran to several hundred names annually, and in the 20 years of Taizu's reign there were nearly 10,000 new jinshi.
唐朝時，每次科舉只取士數十人，到了宋朝每年都有上百人金榜題名。宋太宗在位的二十年間，錄取名單將近萬人。