The martial art examination system originated in the second year of the Ch’ang-an (everlasting peace) reign of the Empress Wu Tzer-tien of the Tang period (A.D. 702). It owed its genesis to four causes: 1. The Empress Wu Tzer-tien used it to build up her own Power base in order to attack the Kuang-Luong (Han0Ku Pass and Kansu Province) clique. 2. The relations between the House o Tang and Tuhfan (ancient place in Tibet), the Turks, and Kitan were strained. 3. it was intended to teach people how to practice martial arts for fear that they might forget the peril of war. 4. The methods accumulated through successive dynastic periods for selecting martial art talent were sufficient for establishment of the martial art examination system, which was composed mainly of the selecting of talent in such respects as target archery, horseback arrow-shooting, mobile arrow-shooting, static arrow-shooting, up-the-sleeve arrow-shooting, jousting, weight-lifting, burden-bearing (carrying rice on the shoulder), and physique. All of the nine test items were related with physical education. During the middle and latter periods of Chinese feudal society, as scholar-officials, or mandarins, were selected on the strength of their martial skills, the martial art examination system promoted the development of militarism, and the substance of the examination pushed the development of physical education, thus achieving a positive effect. However, its purpose is not only to advocate militarism and cultivate military talent, but also to provide the political means to ensnare talent. Therefore, sports in running, Jumping, and throwing did not undergo favorable development, which represented the negative aspect of the examination system. To sum up, for the development of physical education, the martial art examination established by the Empress Wu Tzer-t’ien had its positive but, inevitably, also negative effects.