About one million students participated in China's national civil service exam on Sunday, at more than 900 sites in 47 cities throughout the whole country.

According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, about 984,000 finally sat the exam this year although about 1.48 million people who registered and qualified for it.

Since there are only 27,061 job vacancies were available, only 1 out of every 36 candidates stands to get a job.

The exam has been held annually since 1994, to select employees for the central government and its affiliated institutions.

The central department in charge of public servant examinations and recruitment said it had coordinated with the public security and radio management departments to fight against cheating and ensure a favorable test environment.

Wang Pengyuan contributed to this story.