Milestones on the Road to Maturity : Growing up with the Civil Service Examinations
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
The development from infant to adult, as described in traditional Chinese sources, is generally perceived to be a clearly defined process whether couched in philosophical, pedagogical or medical terminology. In this article I argue that, in the Ming/Qing period, the setting of such normative standards for progress and the contextualisation of these within an age-related discourse, continued throughout adulthood — notably, for the scholarly male elite, within the structure of the examination system. Those persistent examination failures, stranded within this system, perpetually prevented from taking an official post and achieving their ambitions, were perceived in one sense, to be standing as if at the threshold of the full respectability of ‘adulthood’. In the second half of this article, I expand on this metaphor, focussing on the writings of the ill-fated exam candidate Pu Songling (1640-1715) as a psychological case study for the disenfranchisement and social alienation often suffered by those unable to succeed in climbing the official career ladder.
Abstract
The development from infant to adult, as described in traditional Chinese sources, is generally perceived to be a clearly defined process whether couched in philosophical, pedagogical or medical terminology. In this article I argue that, in the Ming/Qing period, the setting of such normative standards for progress and the contextualisation of these within an age-related discourse, continued throughout adulthood — notably, for the scholarly male elite, within the structure of the examination system. Those persistent examination failures, stranded within this system, perpetually prevented from taking an official post and achieving their ambitions, were perceived in one sense, to be standing as if at the threshold of the full respectability of ‘adulthood’. In the second half of this article, I expand on this metaphor, focussing on the writings of the ill-fated exam candidate Pu Songling (1640-1715) as a psychological case study for the disenfranchisement and social alienation often suffered by those unable to succeed in climbing the official career ladder.