Meritocracy and the Networks It Forged: China’s Imperial Examination / Ying Bai, Ruixue Jia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bai, Ying.

Contributor:

Jia, Ruixue.

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w35556.

NBER working paper series no. w35556

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2026.

Summary:

Institutions that claim to reward merit often also serve as engines that drive the formation of important social networks. We examine this dual role in China's Imperial Examination, one of history's longest-lived meritocratic systems. We draw on exam performance data for 24,269 individuals across 112 national examinations in the Qing dynasty (1644-1905) and trace who among them rose to become top officials. Strong exam performance increased the likelihood of attaining high office, but advancement also depended on individuals' ties to powerful examiners. Because performance and ties to powerful examiners were strongly complementary, individuals' success appeared to rest on merit even as social networks played a role. Following the major political transformations of the 1840s, the importance of examiner ties persisted, although the influential examiners themselves changed. These findings help explain why such systems retain legitimacy even when networks matter greatly.

Notes:

July 2026.

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