Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching, Educational Theory, Testing & Measurement, History, Asian, China
Cover of the book Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China by Benjamin A. Elman, Harvard University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Benjamin A. Elman ISBN: 9780674726932
Publisher: Harvard University Press Publication: November 1, 2013
Imprint: Harvard University Press Language: English
Author: Benjamin A. Elman
ISBN: 9780674726932
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication: November 1, 2013
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Language: English

During China's late imperial period (roughly 1400-1900 CE), men gathered by the millions every two or three years outside official examination compounds sprinkled across China. Only one percent of candidates would complete the academic regimen that would earn them a post in the administrative bureaucracy. Civil Examinations assesses the role of education, examination, and China's civil service in fostering the world's first professional class based on demonstrated knowledge and skill. Civil examinations were instituted in China in the seventh century CE, but in the Ming and Qing eras they were at the center of a complex social web that held together the intellectual, political, and economic life of imperial China. Local elites and the court sought to influence how the government regulated the classical curriculum and selected civil officials. As a guarantor of educational merit, examinations tied the dynasty to the privileged gentry and literati classes--both ideologically and institutionally. China eliminated its classical examination system in 1905. But this carefully balanced, constantly contested piece of social engineering, worked out over centuries, was an early harbinger of the meritocratic regime of college boards and other entrance exams that undergirds higher education in much of the world today.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During China's late imperial period (roughly 1400-1900 CE), men gathered by the millions every two or three years outside official examination compounds sprinkled across China. Only one percent of candidates would complete the academic regimen that would earn them a post in the administrative bureaucracy. Civil Examinations assesses the role of education, examination, and China's civil service in fostering the world's first professional class based on demonstrated knowledge and skill. Civil examinations were instituted in China in the seventh century CE, but in the Ming and Qing eras they were at the center of a complex social web that held together the intellectual, political, and economic life of imperial China. Local elites and the court sought to influence how the government regulated the classical curriculum and selected civil officials. As a guarantor of educational merit, examinations tied the dynasty to the privileged gentry and literati classes--both ideologically and institutionally. China eliminated its classical examination system in 1905. But this carefully balanced, constantly contested piece of social engineering, worked out over centuries, was an early harbinger of the meritocratic regime of college boards and other entrance exams that undergirds higher education in much of the world today.

More books from Harvard University Press

Cover of the book Chimpanzees and Human Evolution by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book First in Fly by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book The Triumph of the Snake Goddess by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Eugene Braunwald and the Rise of Modern Medicine by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book A Million and One Gods by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Sincerity and Authenticity by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book The Siege of Strasbourg by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book The Malmedy Massacre by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Black Jews in Africa and the Americas by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Blacks In and Out of the Left by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Essential Demographic Methods by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Laws of Creation by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book We the People, Volume 2 by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Chinese Calligraphy by Benjamin A. Elman
Cover of the book Mind, Modernity, Madness by Benjamin A. Elman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy