This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.

Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage (Studies on China) (Volume 9)

Religion & Spirituality

de Bary, Wm. Theodore

Chaffee, John W.

Religious Studies

University of California Press

Professor Chaffee offers a stimulating investigation into the social impact of examinations on the Sung. Analysis of the development of the examination system and of the associated government schools reveals attempts by the early emperors to develop meritocratic recruitment, the growth of unprecedented examination competition as the elite increasingly turned to learning, and the appearance of special examinations for the privileged that subverted the system's fairness. Study of the geographical patterns of success points not only to the remarkable dominance of south-eastern China but also to the relationship between the socio-economic development of regions and their success in the examinations. Finally, the profound cultural impact of these examinations on the upper class is explored through examination rituals and the depictions of gods, ghosts and wandering literati in Sung vernacular literature.

The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China: A Social History of Examinations (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions)

Arts & Photography

Cambridge University Press

By the end of the Sung dynasty (960-1279), known descendants of the three Chao brothers who had founded the dynasty numbered over 20,000. Unlike the rulers of many other Chinese dynasties, however, the Sung emperors were not plagued by challenges to their rule from their relatives. So successful was Sung policy on the imperial clan that it would serve as a model for the subsequent Ming and Ch'ing dynasties. How the Sung created a social and political asset in the imperial clan while neutralizing it as a potential threat is the story of this book. This study of the imperial clan as an institution analyzes the history, its political tile and the lifestyle of its members, focusing on their residence patterns, marriages and occupations.

Branches of Heaven: A History of the Imperial Clan of Sung China (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

History

Asia

Harvard University Asia Center

This book explores the profound cultural impact of the civil service examinations during the period when they first became the primary means of government recruitment.

The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China: A Social History of Examinations

State Univ of New York Pr

This book explores the profound cultural impact of the civil service examinations during the period when they first became the primary means of government recruitment.

The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China

State University of New York Press

In this major new history of Muslim merchants and their trade links with China, John W. Chaffee uncovers 700 years of history, from the eighth century, when Muslim communities first established themselves in southeastern China, through the fourteenth century, when trade all but ceased. These were extraordinary and tumultuous times. Under the Song and the Mongols, the Muslim diaspora in China flourished as legal and economic ties were formalized. At other times the Muslim community suffered hostility and persecution. Chaffee shows how the policies of successive dynastic regimes in China combined with geopolitical developments across maritime Asia to affect the fortunes of Muslim communities. He explores social and cultural exchanges, and how connections were maintained through faith and a common acceptance of Muslim law. This ground breaking contribution to the history of Asia, the early Islamic world, and to maritime history explores the networks that helped to shape the pre-modern world.

The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400 (New Approaches to Asian History)

Business & Money

Economics

The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750-1400 (New Approaches to Asian History)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chaffee, John W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Chaffee, John W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chaffee, John W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage (Studies on China) (Volume 9)

The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China: A Social History of Examinations (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions)

Branches of Heaven: A History of the Imperial Clan of Sung China (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China: A Social History of Examinations

The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China

The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400 (New Approaches to Asian History)

The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400 (New Approaches to Asian History)

The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750-1400 (New Approaches to Asian History)