John W. Chaffee

This is a detailed study of the entrance examinations to the governing bureaucracy in Sung China. The author states that this is the period when the examinations assumed the shape they were to have throughout the rest of the imperial period. I found the general theme interesting but this book seems to have been intended mostly for scholars. It's difficult for a layman to keep track of all the various details and translitterated Chinese expressions. The author discusses exam reforms in various time periods and geographical locations, complemented with extensive statistics. What he doesn't discuss is how the examinations shaped Chinese government. Successful candidates joined the governing elite, but this book is silent on how this partly meritocratic system functioned when it distributed and exercised power. Of course the author had to delimit his study sensibly, but in this case the delimitation also limits its value for general readers interested in Chinese government.… (mehr)