Huang Chao’s Exam-Fueled Rebellion

A failed student destroyed the most powerful empire on earth just because he flunked his exams.

Meet Huang Chao. He lived during China's Tang Dynasty and desperately wanted to be a government

official. But the system was rigged, and he failed the civil service tests

repeatedly. Instead of retaking them, he snapped. He became an illegal

salt smuggler, got rich, and rallied an army of 150,000 starving peasants who hated

the corrupt emperor. On December 22, 880, they stormed the massive walls of

the eastern capital, Luoyang. The city fell, and the glorious Tang Dynasty began

to crumble. Huang Chao went from a rejected job applicant to a self-proclaimed