The first exam was held in 1995, and since then more and more people have signed up for it, with applications reaching a peak over the last two years.

The latest online survey, carried out by China Youth Daily and www.qq.com, found that more than 73 per cent of young people want to work as civil servants.

Of the 17,330 respondents, about 83 per cent said they were attracted by the job's stability, guaranteed health care and pension.

Meanwhile, 55 per cent said it could bring "practical profits."

Nearly 1 million people applied to take the exam last year, yet only just over 10,000 were finally employed.

This year the stiff competition continued. The exact number of applicants is not known, with the final day for applications today.

But the influx of applicants has already broken the exam's website once.

China Youth Daily reported that the site was forced to close for maintenance due to unusually high traffic on the night of October 16.

In a typical year several hundred applicants will apply for many of the jobs listed. For example, the five job vacancies provided by the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party have this year attracted more than 3,880 applicants.

In general, the exam means 50 people competing for one post, the report said.

Positions as civil servants are attractive, not only because of the stable income and good health care, but also because of the low risks compared with the power and resources the positions enjoy.

Among the total 6 million public servants, around 20,000 were sacked between 1996 and 2003.