Stamp of Approval

Needs All Under Heaven. Build a fresh character who has never sat an exam - the wiki's pick is a custom 16-year-old landless character with Erudite Oracle and high Learning (landless starts want Roads to Power; a landed character in or near China works too). Enter a Chinese examination and pass it - with maxed Learning and that trait, the entry-level exam is a formality. This is deliberately the first rung of the ladder: Flying Colors, Upper-upper and Grand Governor all continue from here.