The director of Wu-nan is 52-year-old Yang lung-chuan, who has considerable civil service examination experience himself, passing the first exam in 1958, and the second one the following year. Because Yang graduated from a teachers college instead of a national university, his entry into the civil service meant achievement of greater status as well as expanded personal and career opportunities. This was especially true in the early 1950s, when there were few opportunities for advanced study.
"I actually passed four examinations in the four years after I graduated from college in 1957," Yang recalls. "First was the Ordinary Civil Service Examination for educational administration, followed by the Higher Civil Service Examination in the same subject. Then I took an exam to qualify for junior high school teaching credentials, and finally one for certification to teach in senior high school. "
Yang served in the military for two years after passing the examinations, then returned to his home town of Miaoli in central Taiwan to work as a teacher at the local junior high school. It seemed to be an unusual choice because he could have left his small town to work for the government in Taipei, or at least in a larger city. He even had a chance to enter the Ministry of Education. But his parents wanted him to stay home and care for them and his younger brothers, and going to Taipei was in fact more of a risk.
"An appointment system for those who succeeded in the exam hadn't been established yet, and we had to seek vacancies in the government by ourselves," Yang explains. The choice to stay in his home town was a safe one. He nevertheless felt that his performance on the exams qualified him for a higher position than teaching in a small town junior high school. After a few years, he decided to write a book in his spare time that would be useful to people attempting to pass the difficult civil service exams.
The project was done with no great expectations about high sales or profits. Yang used a simple question-and-answer format to discuss the psychology of education, as did other books of its kind. But when Yang's book was published in 1969, its popularity skyrocketed. The two other companies, which were already publishing similar books in question-and-answer format, had been using school textbooks as a source. Because these books ordered the questions and answers without much attention to logical arrangement, the facts and concepts in the original texts were lifted from context, thereby confusing their meanings. Yang's approach was more rational and sophisticated.
Encouraged by his initial success, Yang wrote five more books on examination subjects, and they all proved popular. "Being a successful candidate myself, I knew better [than the other writers] what the candidates really needed," Yang recalls. "My books still use a question-and-answer format, but I have been making constructive changes all along so the presentation is more effective. For example, I arrange the sequence carefully in accordance with the [order of] chapters in the original textbooks, so readers can consult these textbooks when necessary."
One special feature in Yang's books especially appeals to exam candidates: be adds a short note after each question, indicating whether or not it has appeared in previous exams; if it has, he gives the year when it appeared. The frequency of specific questions on tests alerts readers to what information is most important. An index provides a quick guide for finding specific questions.
A potential civil service employee searches for a Wu-nan text. The series contains up-to-date analyses of previous exam questions, answers, and other relevant data.
With the money generated by his first six books, Yang decided that he could quit his job as a teacher. In 1972, he used his revenue as capital to establish a publishing house in Miaoli. Within three years he earned enough to move his business to Taipei. This time his parents did not object. Three years later, Yang's Wu-nan Book Company was open for business on Tungshan Street, near National Taiwan University.
From its inception, Wu-nan has adopted an effective policy: the company invites people who have passed the civil service exams to write, edit, and revise its publications. "To be as objective and informative as possible, arguments from different and even opposite viewpoints are included in our books," Yang says. Wu-nan researchers must collect detailed information such as the dates of exams, the names of Examination Board members who write specific questions, and, of course, which questions appeared on which examinations.
"In the early years, that information was treated as confidential by the examination authorities, and only made public long after the exams were given," Yang explains. "But three years ago the Ministry of Examination began publishing this data regularly in a weekly publication."
The best sellers among Wu-nan books deal with subjects such as the Constitution and Chinese history and geography. Yang stresses that he considers it just as important to serve all his readers as it is to make a profit. "We also publish books in the unpopular subject categories covered by the exams," he says. "We are the only publisher that does this. Social work is one example of such a subject. Even if every candidate in the social work examination in the country bought our publications, we would still lose money. There are usually less than 100 people a year trying to enter that branch of the civil service."
Orders from bookstores throughout Taiwan reveal that Wu-nan dominates more than 50 percent of the market, even though the company has 20 competitors. "We always outperform the others," Yang says. "We revise our editions annually, while our competitors might sell the same edition for years." Yang and his staff put considerable time and effort into improving their presentation and in collecting further information about the exams. Their conscientiousness reinforces their reputation, but it also invites piracy. "Other publishing houses plagiarize our format, and even the content of our publications!" Yang exclaims. Wu-nan has filed lawsuits against the pirates, but legal actions have yet to produce any real impact on the problem.
Taiwan's booming economy now guarantees private sector jobs for virtually all young college graduates, so fewer of them show intense interest in pursuing a career in government service. Yang perceived this phenomenon as early as 10 years ago. With the market narrowing, the only way he could remain competitive was to secure better and more direct access to timely information, which is one reason he located his company just across the street from the National Taiwan University's College of Law. Yang has also diversified his line of publications by producing college textbooks in a wide variety of social sciences.
One example of these other publications is the Wu-nan edition of the Complete Volume of Six Laws, an omnibus of modern Chinese law very popular with law students and scholars. "About 20 experts worked on the volume for over two years," Yang says. "Today, this book enjoys the largest share of the market for books written on this subject in Taiwan." Wu-nan publishes more than 1,000 different titles, generating an annual turnover of US$2 million. About one-fifth of these still use the question-and-answer format with which Yang achieved his original success.
Civil service examinations are difficult hurdles, and it takes more than good review textbooks to ensure success. In response to the "consumer demands" of those wanting to enter the civil service, a few educational entrepreneurs have opened special cram schools (called puhsipan) to help people study and prepare for the examinations. Coursework covers both the required and special subjects included in the tough government examinations.
Required subjects include all those deemed necessary for any government official, including the teachings of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the ROC Constitution, and composition in Chinese. All Higher Examinations test knowledge in these areas. Special subjects vary with the type of examination. The Higher Examinations cover a total of nine subjects, many of which might not be part of the educational background of every candidate, especially if that candidate majored in a specialized field.
Tai Tien-wen—providing day and evening cram courses for those planning to take civil service or other examinations.
Tai Tien-wen, a former mass communications major and journalist, saw the market potential of a special private educational institute for people preparing to take the civil service exams, and opened the "Be A Champion School" in 1978 on Kaifeng Street in central Taipei. The small school began by offering courses that would help people overcome educational deficiencies that could prevent them from passing the exams. At the time, two other schools with similar aims were already in operation, but they proved less effective than Be A Champion and eventually closed down.
Today, Tai's school has grown into the largest of its kind in Taiwan, and employs a substantial administrative staff and approximately 100 teachers. Since most civil service exams are held irregularly (except the Higher and Ordinary Civil Service Exams), the school maintains a flexible class schedule. While the curriculum includes most of the subjects covered in the government exams, the selection and number of classes offered at anyone time depends upon which examinations have been scheduled by the government. Besides meeting the immediate examination needs of students through classwork, the school also publishes taped and printed teaching materials.
Tai has established eight branches of the school throughout the island in order to secure as wide a segment of the market as possible in places where the demand is greatest. "Our current enrollment exceeds 2,000, consisting mostly of college or university graduates, and two-thirds of them are female," he explains. "We provide both day and evening programs, as well as a weekend program. Two-thirds of the candidates take the evening program because they work at regular daytime jobs." The larger number of females is partially a result of the lower pay for civil service jobs; a higher percentage of men tend to look for careers in the more lucrative private sector.
Teachers earn an average of US$32 per hour at Be A Champion—a high salary in Taiwan. Such remuneration keeps the school well supplied with instructors. Tuition for the Higher Examination course is about US$600 for each six-month term, and US$400 for the Ordinary Exam class. But the costs do not deter people who are determined to enter civil service, and they consider the financial sacrifice well worth the educational returns from the school. "In Taipei alone there are about 10 competing schools," one student says. "Tuition [at Be A Champion] is high, facilities such as lighting are poor, and there are too many students per class. But the school attracts 50 percent of the market because its teachers are so good."
Tai explains why the faculty of the school draws such a positive response: "Teachers need special qualifications to work here. They must have a degree from a local public university, which means they will have a better knowledge of the ROC than those who have attended foreign schools. Teachers with B.A. degrees can teach the standard required subjects such as Chinese history and geography. But for subjects that involve more specialized professional skills, an M.A. degree, and hopefully experience in taking the civil service exams, is required. We have over 100 instructors here."
The school employs both part-time and full-time teachers, some of whom are government officials or professors at universities. Tai monitors classes from time to time to guarantee the performance of instructors, and students are polled to determine which teacher is most satisfactory. A teacher who loses popularity mayor may not be given a second chance. "The students demand a lot because they have paid a high tuition," says Tsai Yu-yuen, a 5-year junior college graduate in secretarial science who is attending classes at Be A Champion.
The 25-year-old Tsai quit her job as a secretary for a small trading company last February in order to attend the school. She plans to take the Higher Examination in commerce and finance. "My supervisors at my former company were too critical of me, and didn't pay me as much as I thought I deserved," she says. "I wanted to escape the frustration of that job, and many of my schoolmates who had passed the civil service exam encouraged me to come here."
Tsai is highly satisfied with her decision. "The courses are systematically arranged, and I have gained more knowledge in commerce and finance than during my college days," she says. "Whether or not I succeed in the coming exam, it's worthwhile to take these courses. Even if I fail, I'll try again next year. Taking courses in special cram schools may not be necessary for every candidate, but it's very helpful to people who need to study subjects that weren't included in their basic school education—or to anyone who can't study very well independently." She attends both the day and evening programs, and often stays after classes to study.
Be A Champion boasts in its brochures that thousands of its students have passed the civil service exams, and the hustle and bustle of the school gives the impression that the claim is true. But the appearance belies a plummeting enrollment that all similar schools suffer. In 1983, 6,000 students attended Be A Champion. Today the number is only slightly over 2,000.
"Why should people take such a difficult exam when so many other more attractive employment opportunities now exist in the private sector?" Tai asks, indicating the current shift in consumer demand for special coursework. His school curriculum is already responding to these changes by adding new subjects, such as preparation courses for people planning to take graduate school entrance exams.
The Labor Standards Law of 1984 and the growing Taiwan economy have improved working conditions in Taiwan, so civil service careers have dropped lower on the list of preferred job choices for most people. Middle-level civil servants earn salaries about 8 percent less than employees doing equivalent jobs in the private sector, despite a 12 percent rise in civil service salaries last July. Many public officials have already left the government due to insufficient opportunities for promotion.
Lee Mei-chuan, 29, is a secretary for an importer and the mother of a 10-month-old baby, and she expresses a common sentiment about government service: "I never thought about taking the exam because I landed a job without difficulty as soon as I graduated from my university six years ago. I now earn about US$1,000 a month, which is satisfactory for my needs. I wouldn't mind working for the government, but the exams are too difficult. The success rate is only 5.5 percent—even lower than for the college entrance exam. Why should I try when there is practically no chance for me to succeed?"
Ho Hsiao-li, a 35-year-old private tutor for junior high school students, feels that the low pay is a major drawback to government service. She has been working in the evening and on weekends since graduating from university. Her income is about US$1,400 per month, which is equal to the pay of a government section chief. On that income she bought her own house in suburban Taipei three years ago. "With my flexible working time, I can do what I like during the day," she says. "For example, I go to the stock market three times a week to check my investments, which are bringing me a handsome profit. I have no interest in the civil service exams at all."
But low pay and difficult examinations are only partial explanations for the declining popularity of government service. Public perceptions of government employment in Taiwan are also tainted by the corruption and poor performance sometimes witnessed among lower-ranking officials. While corruption is comparatively mild in Taiwan, especially when compared to neighboring Asian countries, its presence nevertheless influences public thinking. Lu Chiang-lung, a manager in a local mold manufacturing firm, complains that certain government officials exploit the citizens rather than serve them.
"The legal system is not completely developed, and it opens up opportunities for bribery," he says. "Some officials who work for the industrial authorities have suggested to me that a little 'extra' money from us would speed up approval of our applications for import tax reduction. Such civil servants shame the government and the country, and I see no reason why I should take the civil service exam just to become one of their colleagues."
Registration at the "Be A Champion" school classes are crowded and facilities cramped, but students say the teachers are first-rate.
Government employees today constitute only 3 percent of the national labor force. They were once the envy of society, since only graduates of the best universities could expect to qualify for civil service. Government workers were said to hold "an iron [or even gold] rice bowl"
A very high percentage of college graduates in the past chose to enter the government or educational sectors. But the situation in 1989 is considerably different. Four-fifths of the college graduates will turn to the private sector, as the sense of honor in being a public official pales against the drive for material gain. A recent survey substantiates this shift in job preference. Last May, Management Magazine reported the startling results of a survey commissioned by the Council of Labor Affairs, which revealed that no more than 8 percent of the polled college graduates planned to take the civil service exams. Even the 1988 exam for diplomats, once highly prized, attracted no more than 200 candidates—the lowest number in a decade. As a result, businesses that sprang up to serve people attempting to enter the civil service have slowed considerably, causing publishers like Wu-nan and schools like Be A Champion to shift their focus to other fields.
The "iron rice bowl" no longer seems to be big enough, or honorable enough, to attract young people into the government fold. Clearly, if the government hopes to obtain more qualified officials, it will have to upgrade the image, salaries, and opportunities for promotion in the civil service.