[twelvechairs]

For all of its many other issues, one thing clear is that Singapore is one of the few countries where being a public servant is a reputable and highly regarded career. It was described to me that Singapore inherited both from both the British public service and the imperial Chinese civil service systems - which have diminished or fallen apart in both of those countries and others which inherited them.

[ValentineC]

> For all of its many other issues, one thing clear is that Singapore is one of the few countries where being a public servant is a reputable and highly regarded career.

Singaporean here. It's mostly "reputable and highly regarded" if one gets a top-tier government scholarship [1], since that leads to civil service postings with more exposure and chances to take credit.

Everyone else is just a "farmer" [2][3]. :)

[1] https://www.quora.com/Are-scholarship-holders-more-likely-to...

[2] https://www.mycarforum.com/forums/topic/2675951-lousy-schola...

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/7p5unh/degree_ho...

[throwaway2037]

What other countries inherited the Chinese civil service system?

Does Taiwan count? I would hardly say it has diminished or fallen apart. Of course, that is only my humble opinion.

[samatman]

Taiwan is an interesting case!

It's known that the ruling power in Taiwan is descended from the Nationalist government, it's perhaps less well-known that Sun Yat-Sen was a serious political thinker who designed that government, effectively singlehandedly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Principles_of_the_People

There's a visible mix of Western (by way of America and Britain) and Chinese thought in how the Yuans are structured.

Taiwan also inherited a large and functional civil service from the Japanese occupation, this is less immediately obvious in the structure of Taiwanese government, but you can find small traces everywhere if you know what to look for.

[baybal2]

UK civil service was actually modelled after Chinese one after missionaries brought news of how powerful, and well oiled Chinese bureaucratic machine was in comparison to contemporary British one.