Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2018, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 106-125.

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Civil and Military Examination Participation of the Que Lineage in Shicang Village in Qing Dynasty

JIANG Qin   

  1. Department of History, School of Humanities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • Online:2018-09-20 Published:2018-09-20
  • Supported by:

    This study is supported by "the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities" in Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Interdisciplinary Research Fund 16JXYB02).

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Abstract:

The literature on social stratification and mobility reveals that tracking is an important source of educational inequality. The imperial examination system in Ming and Qing China was structured with two tracks of civil (wen) and military (wu) exams. Most of the existing studies focused on the provincial and metropolitan levels of the system and little attention is paid to the lowest county level of shengyuan exam,-the starting point of the wen and wu tracking. This study looks into the accounts of the imperial participation in Shicang village in Songyang county, Zhejiang during Qing, specifically the examination records of the Que lineage. With a fortune made from iron business, the Ques purchased a studentship in imperial academy (jiansheng), and later married into local gentry families and began to participate in imperial exams. The Taiping rebellion brought high mortality to the region and thus increased the chance of success in the imperial wu tracking military exam. The Ques made the use of the opportunity and participated in both civil and military exams. This paper compares the two common motivations of examination takers:either for protecting family wealth and status or for pursuing the highest degree. It is shown that the two motivations resulted in quite different outcomes. Those who only interested in safeguarding and enhancing family wealth were able to keep a balance between degree pursue and family business, while those who aiming at the highest degree often fell into a trap of repeated attempts and an eventual bankruptcy. The dominance of the first motivation among ordinary Chinese demonstrates the self-adjustment of local society to the imperial examination tracking system.

Key words: Shicang village, participation in imperial examination, military examination