The Ladder of Success in Imperial China

Abstract

phasizes those antecedents to personality development which rest in the psychological atmosphere created within the family, and in various cultural factors. All the factors that influence personality development are treated, such as heredity, maturation, learning, and the roles played by the peer group, the school, and other community agents. CHILD PSYCHOLOGY is founded upon current research and discoveries in the field.Moreover ... it is multidisciplinary, drawing upon data gathered from such diverse fields as sociology, anthropology, behavioral genetics, pediatrics, and some areas of home economics. The authors have sought to elucidate the interaction between two forces: the biological and the cultural, and to disclose the differences in capabilities and behavior among human beings that result from this interaction. has explained his world and has achieved control over the circumstances of his existence-these are the concerns of this book.

Elite Recruitment and Political Stability: The Impact of the Abolition of China's Civil Service Exam

“…34 Kracke (1947) used the candidate lists from the Song dynasty to show that approximately 60 percent of all successful candidates came from non-official backgrounds, while Chang (1955) indicated that at least 35 percent of the gentry class in the 19th century were "newcomers" (neither their fathers nor their grandfathers had held gentry status). Likewise, Ho (1962), in a study of candidate biographies in the Ming and Qing dynasties, found that over 40 percent of those succeeding at the highest level (i.e., presented scholars) also came from non-official backgrounds. Although Hsu (1949) used a different method to examine the background of prominent individuals mentioned in the gazetteers of four widely separated regions in China, he also found that roughly 50 percent of the local prominent individuals came from unknown origins and that roughly 80 percent of their descendants beyond the grandson generation became unknown.…”

From Traditional to Transnational: The Chung Family History as a Case Example

“…23 Commercial activities were common among rural populations in the Chung family area. According to William Skinner, the market towns were so important that they shaped the local social structure 19 (Ho 1962). 20 The above information is from recollections of several old friends contained in Special Booklet.…”

Bending and Fitting: Disciplinarized Institutionalization of Modern Science in China during the ‘Treaty Century’

“…The civil exam testing knowledge of Confucian classics finally became the only entrance requirement for intellectuals seeking power (Kim 2000). The social openness of the civil exam system had effectively guaranteed social mobility till late imperial China, according to (Ho[1967(Ho[ ] 1980, given an overwhelming proportion (50% in the Ming and 37% in the Qing dynasties, respectively) of jinshi (进士, the highest degree in civil exams) and many (45% in the late Qing period) juren (举人, the second highest degree) came from "commoner" families. This imperial-Confucian mode of knowledge speaking to power has been deeply rooted in 2 Further evidence of this trend can be found in Yu (1999), Du and Sun (2006), Zhong and Yang (2007), to name just a few.…”