It was a imperial examination in Song Dynasty (later on), but in Han Confucianism was hella on, so u need dat knowledge to be in gov. A lot of goverment after Qin Dynasty (previous dynasty) was adopted. So the Emperor had all the power, and all the "jobs" cam down on familly line. So pretty much be wealthy, know confucianism, and have a father who was in the gov, or if the emporer chose u, and u must have a d!(k. Okey, just googled in wiki to be sure and it's says "the states made by the emperor were assigned to official dedication..." So I guess emperor chose the gov, but all of them had to be educated. Sooo if that helps, hard question though.
I don't understand your question. What role did they play in what exactly? I could be able to help you if I knew what you were referring to.
Answer: The answer is C. California, you can also search the part of your question where is says "which state had the most immigrants in 1996?" the answer is online as well.