Details

Subject(s)

• Civil service—China—Examinations—History [Browse]
• China—Politics and government—History [Browse]

Author

Yang, Clair [Browse]

Series

• Cambridge elements. Elements in political economy [More in this series]
• Cambridge elements. Elements in political economy, 2398-4031 [More in this series]

Restrictions note

Open Access.

Summary note

Just as councils and assemblies were central to European polities for centuries, the Imperial Examination System (Keju) constituted the cornerstone of state institutions in China. This Element argues that Keju contributed to political stability, and its emergence was a process, not a shock, with consequences initially unanticipated by its contemporaries. The Element documents the emergence of Keju using evidence from early Chinese empires to the end of the Tang Dynasty in the 10th century, including epitaphs and government documents. It then traces the selection criteria of Keju and trends in social mobility over the second millennium, leveraging biographical information from over 70,000 examinees and 1,500 ministers and their descendants. The Element uses a panel of 112 historical polities to quantify Keju's association with country-level political indicators against the backdrop of global convergence in political stability and divergence in institutions. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Notes

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 May 2025).

ISBN

9781009347600 (ebook)

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