| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000)
Fiscal Year 2009: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2008: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The sale of government posts has existed in many places and many times in world history. In early modern China the practise was called "offering a donation" (juan na). My research explores the origins, development, and social impact of this system. Through analysis of the various political, economic, and social factors that grew out of the donation system, I demonstrate that the institution's most salient feature during the early modern period in China was the sale of the qualification to serve in government and to study in a state academy rather than the purchase of an actual position in the government or academy as has been argued in the past. The donation system, with its broadly popular character, was critical to the maintenance of the civil service examination system, a system which to this point has been considered the defining feature of Chinese society during the Ming and Qing periods. I also show for the first time that even more than the civil service examinations, the donation system facilitated social mobility.
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