A Cultural History of Civil Ex

In this multidimensional analysis, Benjamin A. Elman uses over a thousand newly available examination records from the Yuan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, 1315-1904, to explore the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the civil examination system, one of the most important institutions in Chinese history. For over five hundred years, the most important positions within t...

In this multidimensional analysis, Benjamin A. Elman uses over a thousand newly available examination records from the Yuan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, 1315-1904, to explore the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the civil examination system, one of the most important institutions in Chinese history. For over five hundred years, the most important positions within the dynastic government were usually filled through these difficult examinations, and every other year some one to two million people from all levels of society attempted them.

Covering the late imperial system from its inception to its demise, Elman revises our previous understanding of how the system actually worked, including its political and cultural machinery, the unforeseen consequences when it was unceremoniously scrapped by modernist reformers, and its long-term historical legacy. He argues that the Ming-Ch'ing civil examinations from 1370 to 1904 represented a substantial break with T'ang-Sung dynasty literary examinations from 650 to 1250. Late imperial examinations also made "Tao Learning," Neo-Confucian learning, the dynastic orthodoxy in official life and in literati culture. The intersections between elite social life, popular culture, and religion that are also considered reveal the full scope of the examination process throughout the late empire.

作者简介：

本杰明·艾尔曼（BenjaminA. Elman），1980年获美国宾夕法尼亚大学东方学博士学位；先后担任加州大学洛杉矶分校副教授、教授（1986—2001），1999-2001年任普林斯顿高等研究院访问教授，2002年后任普林斯顿大学东亚系、历史系双聘教授（2002-2017，其中在东亚系为1958届胡应湘讲席教授），于2017年荣休。代表作有《经学、政治和宗族：中华帝国晚期常州今文学派研究》（Classicism, Politics, and Kinship: The Ch'ang-chou School of New Text Confucianism in Late Imperial China）、《从理学到朴学：中华帝国晚期思想与社会变迁》（From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual a...

作者简介：

本杰明·艾尔曼（BenjaminA. Elman），1980年获美国宾夕法尼亚大学东方学博士学位；先后担任加州大学洛杉矶分校副教授、教授（1986—2001），1999-2001年任普林斯顿高等研究院访问教授，2002年后任普林斯顿大学东亚系、历史系双聘教授（2002-2017，其中在东亚系为1958届胡应湘讲席教授），于2017年荣休。代表作有《经学、政治和宗族：中华帝国晚期常州今文学派研究》（Classicism, Politics, and Kinship: The Ch'ang-chou School of New Text Confucianism in Late Imperial China）、《从理学到朴学：中华帝国晚期思想与社会变迁》（From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual and Social Aspects of Change in Late Imperial China）、《科学在中国（1550-1900）》（On Their Own Terms: Science in China 1550-1900）以及本书，此外还与亚历山大•伍德赛德（Alexander Woodside）合编了《晚期帝制中国的教育与社会，1600-1900》（Education and Society in Late Imperial China, 1600-1900）。

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译者简介：

高远致，公司职员；译有《<教父>电影全剧本》《音乐的阐释》。

夏丽丽，普林斯顿大学博士候选人；主攻宋、金时期文学，此外其研究方向还兼及东亚艺术史、书籍史；译有《才女之累：李清照及其接受史》（合译）。