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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 |
German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist whose ideas influenced social theory, social research, and the entire discipline of sociology
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
Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC)
Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD)
Song dynasty (960-1279)
Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
social service examinations
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.
three-step ladder of success
16,000 juren / 35,000 gongsheng
all 51,624 have their name on display in the Beijing Confucian Temple
10% of examination-level educated adult males
0.1% per of adult males
done mainly by Ping-ti Ho in the 1960s
go information on social background of the people who passed these exams
category A: no degree holder in the last three generations (90%)
category B: one or more shengyuan in last three generations (9%)
category C: one or more high degree than shengyuan in last three generations (1%)
his findings shows that for the first 500 years, most Jinshi had no family background of ancestors having been Jinshi
China in the 14th century was far more mobile than other countries from then up into the 20th century
Jiang Qin (2012) results showed also that it was ability more than wealth of family which generally led to success