The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China: A Social History of Examinations (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions) - Hardcover

Chaffee, John W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521302072 ISBN 13: 9780521302074

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1985

Synopsis

Professor Chaffee offers a stimulating investigation into the social impact of examinations on the Sung. Analysis of the development of the examination system and of the associated government schools reveals attempts by the early emperors to develop meritocratic recruitment, the growth of unprecedented examination competition as the elite increasingly turned to learning, and the appearance of special examinations for the privileged that subverted the system's fairness. Study of the geographical patterns of success points not only to the remarkable dominance of south-eastern China but also to the relationship between the socio-economic development of regions and their success in the examinations. Finally, the profound cultural impact of these examinations on the upper class is explored through examination rituals and the depictions of gods, ghosts and wandering literati in Sung vernacular literature.

About this title

Book Description

Professor Chaffee offers a stimulating investigation into the social impact of the examinations system on the Sung Dynasty. This study analyses how government schools attempted to develop meritocratic recruitment and the consequences that impacted this system both on the elite as well as the upper class.

About the Author

John W. Chaffee is Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Department of History at State University of New York, Binghamton. He is coeditor of NeoConfucian Education: The Formative Stage, and former editor of the Bulletin of Sung Yuan Studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0521302072
• ISBN 13: 9780521302074
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 289