EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
A New History for a New China, 1700-2000
James Z. Lee, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Social Mobility and the Examination System in Late Imperial China Notes taken on July 24, 2013 by Edward Tanguay |
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Max Weber (1864-1920)
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German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist whose ideas influenced social theory, social research, and the entire discipline of sociology
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studied the religions of China with regard to the apparent non-development of capitalism in the corresponding societies, as well as to their differing forms of social stratification
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Imperial China
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major dynasties
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Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC)
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Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD)
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...
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Tang Dynasty (618-907)
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...
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Song dynasty (960-1279)
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Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
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Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
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Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
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social service examinations
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one of the many gifts of Imperial Chinese civilization to world civilization besides paper, gun powder, and Chinese cuisine, was a system of objective social service testing, which in the Chinese imperial system provided approximately half of the government positions: about half of the positions were given to people based on heredity and wealth, and half were given to people based on examination success.
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three-step ladder of success
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500,000 shengyuan
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16,000 juren / 35,000 gongsheng
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4,000 jinshi
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all 51,624 have their name on display in the Beijing Confucian Temple
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elite social mobility
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shengyuan
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1% per of adult males
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10% of examination-level educated adult males
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juren/gongsheng
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0.1% of adult males
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1% per of adult males
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jinshi
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0.01% of adult males
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0.1% per of adult males
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data collection
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done mainly by Ping-ti Ho in the 1960s
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go information on social background of the people who passed these exams
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category A: no degree holder in the last three generations (90%)
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category B: one or more shengyuan in last three generations (9%)
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category C: one or more high degree than shengyuan in last three generations (1%)
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his findings shows that for the first 500 years, most Jinshi had no family background of ancestors having been Jinshi
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China in the 14th century was far more mobile than other countries from then up into the 20th century
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Jiang Qin (2012) results showed also that it was ability more than wealth of family which generally led to success