Has the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ever held an imperial examination?

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had an imperial examination, but it was a farce. Please see:

Reflections on Imperial Examination in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

There are many articles in the history circle that admire the imperial examination of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. What is the truth is worth exploring. As far as I know, since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the cultural background is very poor. From the age of 14 to the age of 30, Hong Xiuquan, who failed the exam four times, has a natural hostility towards intellectuals. Therefore, the imperial examination in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a farce and tragedy. Many historical articles praise this kind of imperial examination, which is no different from propagating that Qin Shihuang attached importance to intellectuals and today he also attaches importance to intellectuals.

Historically, the Taiping Army occupied Nanjing, which needed the help of literati rule. It did pass the imperial examination. But what kind of imperial examination was it? At the beginning, when I was rushing to take the exam in Nanjing, the notice actually said: Those who are literate and do not rush to take the exam will be beheaded. That's cruel. Even so, in Nanjing, only 50 people were expelled from the examination room by the sword. Some of them, such as Zheng, Xia Zongxi and others, deliberately denounced and vented on the test paper in order to die. Subsequent imperial examinations were held to celebrate the king's birthday, which had nothing to do with governing the country, but a decoration of the new regime. Comparatively speaking, even the imperial examinations in the form of "Fu on the Capital of Dashun in Xijing" flattered by the Dashun regime in Li Zicheng are inferior.

The imperial examination of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not worth mentioning, but it can remind us of some problems worth pondering. In China, there is a tradition that a lout fears and despises intellectuals. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao and Jean Shang established the Daqi regime in Chang 'an, just because the poem "Liv turned the water pole with her black hand and ate horseshoes with her carnivorous lips" appeared in the south gate of Shangshu Province, killing more than 3,000 Confucian scholars in one breath. Reminiscent of China's natural hostility to intellectuals (or it is more appropriate to call it an alternative), various jokes satirizing the scholar's "xianggong" have been widely circulated among the people since ancient times, and "silly son-in-law" and "sour scholar" have made the scholar miserable. Sister Liu is one of them. Therefore, Mao Zedong said that farmers with cow dung on their feet are the most educated, and the more they read, the more stupid they become, which has its social foundation. In-depth discussion on this issue is an important topic in cultural studies. Furthermore, don't expect too much from today's education reform, today's civil service examinations and employment.