Since the abolishment of the imperial examination system(the IES)in 1905,the system has been the target of severe criticism by most Chinese people.This paper is intended to clear up the misunderstanding of the IES in ...Since the abolishment of the imperial examination system(the IES)in 1905,the system has been the target of severe criticism by most Chinese people.This paper is intended to clear up the misunderstanding of the IES in seven respects based on some ideas of rehabilitation of the IES over the past 100 years.In the author's opinion,the IES is actually not so contemptible as most people think,at least it is not a bad system.The examination system was an attempt to recruit men on the basis of merit rather than because of social position or political connections,which is a great invention of China.Although it was abolished,the method to select talents by means of examination has not yet been and cannot be exterminated,and it is still proper to be used in the present society.The IES with a 1,300-year history has rich experiences and valuable lessons,which have implications to various examination reforms.展开更多
Scholars often contend that civil examinations were what made imperial China a political meritocracy. They point to the examination system to show that the selection process served more as a common training program fo...Scholars often contend that civil examinations were what made imperial China a political meritocracy. They point to the examination system to show that the selection process served more as a common training program for literati than as a gate-keeper to keep non-elites out. Despite the symbiotic relations between the court and its literati, the emperor played the final card in the selection process. The asymmetrical relations between the throne and its elites nevertheless empowered elites to seek upward mobility as scholar-officials through the system. But true social mobility, peasants becoming officials, was never the goal of state policy in late imperial China; a modest level of social circulation was an unexpected consequence of the meritocratic civil service. Moreover, the meri^t-based bureaucracy never broke free of its dependence on an authoritarian imperial system. A modem political system might be more compatible with meritocracy, however. One of the unintended consequences of the civil examinations was creation of classically literate men （and women）, who used their linguistic talents for a variety of non-official purposes, from literati physicians to local pettifoggers, from fiction-writers to examination essay teachers, from Buddhist and Daoist monks to mothers and daughters. If there was much social mobility, i.e., the opportunity for members of the lower classes to rise in the social hierarchy, it was likely here. Rather than ＂social mobility,＂ this phenomenon might be better described as a healthy ＂circulation＂ of lower and upper elites when compared to aristocratic Europe and Japan.展开更多
文摘Since the abolishment of the imperial examination system(the IES)in 1905,the system has been the target of severe criticism by most Chinese people.This paper is intended to clear up the misunderstanding of the IES in seven respects based on some ideas of rehabilitation of the IES over the past 100 years.In the author's opinion,the IES is actually not so contemptible as most people think,at least it is not a bad system.The examination system was an attempt to recruit men on the basis of merit rather than because of social position or political connections,which is a great invention of China.Although it was abolished,the method to select talents by means of examination has not yet been and cannot be exterminated,and it is still proper to be used in the present society.The IES with a 1,300-year history has rich experiences and valuable lessons,which have implications to various examination reforms.
文摘Scholars often contend that civil examinations were what made imperial China a political meritocracy. They point to the examination system to show that the selection process served more as a common training program for literati than as a gate-keeper to keep non-elites out. Despite the symbiotic relations between the court and its literati, the emperor played the final card in the selection process. The asymmetrical relations between the throne and its elites nevertheless empowered elites to seek upward mobility as scholar-officials through the system. But true social mobility, peasants becoming officials, was never the goal of state policy in late imperial China; a modest level of social circulation was an unexpected consequence of the meritocratic civil service. Moreover, the meri^t-based bureaucracy never broke free of its dependence on an authoritarian imperial system. A modem political system might be more compatible with meritocracy, however. One of the unintended consequences of the civil examinations was creation of classically literate men （and women）, who used their linguistic talents for a variety of non-official purposes, from literati physicians to local pettifoggers, from fiction-writers to examination essay teachers, from Buddhist and Daoist monks to mothers and daughters. If there was much social mobility, i.e., the opportunity for members of the lower classes to rise in the social hierarchy, it was likely here. Rather than ＂social mobility,＂ this phenomenon might be better described as a healthy ＂circulation＂ of lower and upper elites when compared to aristocratic Europe and Japan.
