The class of 1761 : examinations, state and elites in eighteenth-century China / Iona D. Man Cheong.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Man Cheong, Iona D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Men--Education--China--History--18th century.

Men.

Civil service--China--Examinations--History--18th century.

Civil service.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 298 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press ; London : Eurospan, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Class of 1761 reveals the workings of China's imperial examination system from the unique perspective of a single graduating class. The author follows the students' struggles in negotiating the examination system along with bureaucratic intrigue and intellectual conflict, as well as their careers across the Empire—to the battlefields of imperial expansion in Annam and Tibet, the archives where the glories of the empire were compiled, and back to the chambers where they in turn became examiners for the next generation of aspirants. The book explores the rigors and flexibilities of the examination system as it disciplined men for political life and shows how the system legitimated both the Manchu throne and the majority non-Manchu elite. In the system's intricately articulated networks, we discern the stability of the Qing empire and the fault lines that would grow to destabilize it.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Tables and Figures

Acknowledgments

1 The Meanings of Examination

2 Regulating Aspirations

3 Rites of Spring

4 Fair Fraud and Fraudulent Fairness

5 Paths to Glory

Coda DEFINITIONS OF FAILURE

APPENDIX 1 Grades for the Annual Examination

APPENDIX 2 Provincial Examination Quotas

APPENDIX 3 Number of Attempts for the Metropolitan Degree

APPENDIX 4 Price of Imperial College Studentships

APPENDIX 5 1761 Class List Organized by Class Number

Character List

REFERENCE MATTER

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Formerly CIP.

ISBN:

9780804767132

0804767130

9781417580477

141758047X

OCLC:

70745721