Starting around the Song, emperors solve the elite-threat problem by localizing elites and using divide-and-conquer against them.
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Elite Localization
Starting around the Song, emperors solve the elite-threat problem by localizing elites and using divide-and-conquer against them.
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Key Notes
The Keju is the main mechanism that let emperors transform a national aristocracy into localized elites.
The Keju was never designed to choose the best and brightest; it was designed to localize and divide elites through a quota system.
Timestamped Evidence
"The up is when a new dynasty starts. And so at this time, the new dynasty is run by a very strong leader, like,..."
"But the centralized elite can always threaten the emperor, who is dependent on the elite for their support in the military and in government,..."
"All right. And what Professor Wang Yuhua says is the main mechanism that the emperor used in order to achieve this radical cultural shift..."
"But it is not a meritocracy. It was never designed to be a meritocracy. I know that in school you are taught that they..."
"Right? Beijing and Shanghai. Right? But that's not how the system works. There is a quota system in place. There's geographic distribution. Only certain..."
"Does that make sense? If you don't do it this way, if it's just the best and brightest, then what will happen is, like,..."
Relevant Lectures And Readings
China had the technologies that made modernity possible, then built a political culture that made those technologies inert.
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