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A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China
In this multidimensional analysis, Benjamin A. Elman uses over a thousand newly available examination records from the Yuan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, 1315-1904, to explore the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the civil examination system, one of the most important institutions in Chinese history. For over five hundred years, the most important positions within the dynastic government were usually filled through these difficult examinations, and every other year some one to two million people from all levels of society attempted them.
Covering the late imperial system from its inception to its demise, Elman revises our previous understanding of how the system actually worked, including its political and cultural machinery, the unforeseen consequences when it was unceremoniously scrapped by modernist reformers, and its long-term historical legacy. He argues that the Ming-Ch'ing civil examinations from 1370 to 1904 represented a substantial break with T'ang-Sung dynasty literary examinations from 650 to 1250. Late imperial examinations also made "Tao Learning," Neo-Confucian learning, the dynastic orthodoxy in official life and in literati culture. The intersections between elite social life, popular culture, and religion that are also considered reveal the full scope of the examination process throughout the late empire.
Covering the late imperial system from its inception to its demise, Elman revises our previous understanding of how the system actually worked, including its political and cultural machinery, the unforeseen consequences when it was unceremoniously scrapped by modernist reformers, and its long-term historical legacy. He argues that the Ming-Ch'ing civil examinations from 1370 to 1904 represented a substantial break with T'ang-Sung dynasty literary examinations from 650 to 1250. Late imperial examinations also made "Tao Learning," Neo-Confucian learning, the dynastic orthodoxy in official life and in literati culture. The intersections between elite social life, popular culture, and religion that are also considered reveal the full scope of the examination process throughout the late empire.
847 pages, Hardcover
First published February 21, 2000
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About the author
Benjamin A. Elman
25 books11 followersBenjamin A. Elman is Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University. His teaching and research fields include Chinese intellectual and cultural history, history of science and history of education in late imperial China.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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May 14, 2023stole thisfrom my colleges library because it really is that good
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April 29, 2021What a tome. The book centers on the major cultural institution, civil exams, and their cultural role in establishing socio-political order in Imperial China. It's a challenging read, personally, I thought Elman's other book Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Imperial China is a better book to start out with if one is curious about the subject.
The first chapter is the most important, as it provides a detailed overview of civil exams throughout the history of China. Some of the middle chapters were difficult to follow for me. I certainly am not among the small percentage being awarded a chin-shih or chu-jen degree for reading it. I Did learn some things. The book provides a detailed description of the secured compound where the exam was conducted. It also details how to write an eight legged essay. Another interesting section is about anxiety dreams from test takers. It's an interesting subject that an individual today may experience as one person trying to live up to the benchmark of a massive institutional structure.
Perhaps the most important point is an attempt to understand education's role and how it contributes to bureaucracy and maintaining a social order. The civil exams went through some reforms, like in the late seventeenth century, then in the mid-eighteenth century and finally major shift to modern education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as imperial china was crumbling, from which Elman describes this last change due to global pressures in keeping pace with a more interconnected world. One question I have, is that when the demographic growth beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, reforms in the exam system just raised the bar rather than make more positions available, leaving more disenfranchised, why is that? There was probably a good reason for that but it wasn't clear to me.
Anyway, a challenging book and worth someone's patience if they want to better understand institutions and bureaucracy from a historical perspective.
The first chapter is the most important, as it provides a detailed overview of civil exams throughout the history of China. Some of the middle chapters were difficult to follow for me. I certainly am not among the small percentage being awarded a chin-shih or chu-jen degree for reading it. I Did learn some things. The book provides a detailed description of the secured compound where the exam was conducted. It also details how to write an eight legged essay. Another interesting section is about anxiety dreams from test takers. It's an interesting subject that an individual today may experience as one person trying to live up to the benchmark of a massive institutional structure.
Perhaps the most important point is an attempt to understand education's role and how it contributes to bureaucracy and maintaining a social order. The civil exams went through some reforms, like in the late seventeenth century, then in the mid-eighteenth century and finally major shift to modern education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as imperial china was crumbling, from which Elman describes this last change due to global pressures in keeping pace with a more interconnected world. One question I have, is that when the demographic growth beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, reforms in the exam system just raised the bar rather than make more positions available, leaving more disenfranchised, why is that? There was probably a good reason for that but it wasn't clear to me.
Anyway, a challenging book and worth someone's patience if they want to better understand institutions and bureaucracy from a historical perspective.
August 27, 2015
civil examination as a cultural institution (not about social mobility, but about social control), a symbolic order, a form of social engineering, and a way to select civil servants with unintended consequences (e.g. impact on popular culture, flourishing of failed examinees dabbling into medicine, publishing, un-official genre of writing etc) lasted from 1450-1911, adapted from earlier examination systems, with Ming-Qing distinctions and continuities.
a master piece, still inspiring after 15years. not sure if it's good for teaching undergrads, but surely some of the translated examination answers can be useful for teaching.
a master piece, still inspiring after 15years. not sure if it's good for teaching undergrads, but surely some of the translated examination answers can be useful for teaching.
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January 9, 2023索恩2023出了電子書
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews