Academic Review

 

Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2017

 

 “Leaving the Imperial Examinations Behind”: Rethinking the Study of China’s Social Mobility from the 7th to the Early 20th Century

(Abstract)

 

Zhang Tianhong

 

The circulation and mobility of elites with political power is the most noteworthy feature in the study of China’s social mobility from the 7th to the early 20th century. Chinese and foreign scholars have focused first and foremost on elite circulation and mobility through the imperial examination system. Academic assessments of family influence on social mobility vary due to differences in unit selection, but the maintenance of a family’s social status was ultimately determined by family members’ examination results and their positions in the bureaucracy. The relationship between the imperial examination and social mobility in different periods involves wider political, economic and social issues such as the distribution of educational resources and the quota system of enrollment and examination in the corresponding historical periods. The Liao, Jin and Yuan maintained the privileges of upper class members of their own ethnic group, thereby affecting the original mechanism of social mobility to different degrees and even consolidating social stratification. These dynasties’ impact on early Ming social mobility should therefore be evaluated over the longue durée. Our understanding of Chinese society from the 7th to the early 20th century will be deepened if our research can exploit historical materials in depth, establish databases, use scientific methods and means, expand our horizons beyond the imperial examinations and comprehensively evaluate the positive achievements and negative impacts of social mobility.