Glossary
The Chinese civil examination system, used here as an example of a mobility channel that can be captured and corrupted.
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Topic brief
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keju
The Chinese civil examination system, used here as an example of a mobility channel that can be captured and corrupted.
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Key Notes
Glossary
China's civil service examination, presented as the bureaucratic mechanism that stabilizes society and survives as gaokao.
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Glossary
The civil service examination Jiang treats as the mechanism for channeling and localizing elite ambition.
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evidence
Jiang says Chinese civil examination mobility decayed as successful families trained children for the exam, then corrupted it, then bought access until top positions were closed.
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model
The Keju is the main mechanism that let emperors transform a national aristocracy into localized elites.
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diagnosis
The Keju was never designed to choose the best and brightest; it was designed to localize and divide elites through a quota system.
diagnosis
The Keju is restricted to elite families because mastery of literary Chinese requires money, tutoring, leisure, and decades of preparation.
model
The political function of the Keju is to concentrate elite ambition away from rebellion, invention, and independent literature.
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definition
Exam success is not the same as political success because the emperor retains discretionary authority over appointment and promotion.
evidence
The Zhu Yuanzhang Keju story shows that the emperor did not want fairness; he wanted a system preventing localities from rebelling against the center.
diagnosis
The Keju's real purpose is not fairness or transparency but preventing localities from rebelling against the center.
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Timestamped Evidence
Transcript
"And there's also a waiting list, so too bad. Okay? And this is, and again, you just look at Chinese history, right? Look at..."
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"...And what underpinned the bureaucracy? The first is something called the keju, which is the civil service examination. So everyone's attention, everyone's energies was..."
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"All right. And what Professor Wang Yuhua says is the main mechanism that the emperor used in order to achieve this radical cultural shift..."
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"...know that in school you are taught that they have the Keju in order for the emperor to select the best and brightest in..."
Transcript
"...and Tsinghua. The rest come from the provinces. Okay? And the Keju is the same system. So let's look at it very quickly. You're..."
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"...children to always finish first or place the top in the Keju. Okay? Does that make sense, guys? All right? So it's not meritocracy...."
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"...concentrate the ambition and energy of the elite families into the Keju. Otherwise, they might come up with ideas like rebellion. Okay? They also..."
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"It is discretionary. Meaning the emperor. The emperor gets to decide who becomes an official and who gets promoted. Only the emperor. All right?..."
Transcript
"and everyone's excited okay so everyone comes and takes the examination when the results come out what happens is that the the test takers..."
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"his report he presents to the emperor okay and he says to the emperor your majesty I personally have done this investigation and and..."
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"who got the very best scores on the Kezhu okay the reason why is the emperor does not want a fair open and transparent..."
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"If everyone has the power, no one has any power. Okay? So, what happens over time is that all these people who believe they..."
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Relevant Lectures And Readings
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