Women and language in imperial China

China has an ancient and impressive tradition of philological studies, most notably in the fields connected with the needs of the imperial examination system. The authors as well as the intended readers of this outstanding production of linguistic works were essentially men. Women did not participate to the imperial examinations and were almost completely absent from the landscape of Chinese philology. Nevertheless, Chinese history shows examples of erudite women and their linguistic education should be taken into account. Several textbooks were explicitly conceived for women’s education, and were often written by women. Moreover, women played an important role in the transmission of literacy in the familial context. This chapter investigates the reasons for the almost complete absence of women in Chinese philology, and describes the main examples of women’s contribution to the history of Chinese linguistic studies.

Zhu Xi

This volume contains nine chapters of translation focusing on the philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), one of the most influential Chinese thinkers of the later Confucian tradition. Zhu Xi’s philosophy offers the most systematic and comprehensive expression of the Confucian tradition; he sought to demonstrate the connections between the classics, relate them to a range of contemporary philosophical issues, and defend Confucianism against competing traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. He elevated the Four Books—i.e., the Analects, Mengzi, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean—to a new and preeminent position within the Confucian canon, and his edition and interpretation was adopted as the basis for the Imperial Examination System, the pathway to officialdom in traditional Chinese society. Zhu Xi’s interpretation remained the orthodox tradition until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and exerted a profound and enduring influence on how Confucianism was understood in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Research on the Similarities between the Plot of Ji Chun Tai and Content of Sichuan Opera

Ji Chun Tai is the masterpiece of Sichuan dialect on late Qing Dynasty, composed of 40 vernacular short stories. It is divided into four parts, namely, Yuan Ji, Heng Ji, Li Ji, and Zhen Ji. Each part contains ten short stories. The author of Ji Chun Tai is a literator from Zhong Jiang who failed in imperial examination System in late Qing Dynasty. There are a large number of Sichuan Opera elements in those forty vernacular short stories. Generally speaking, the plot of Ji Chun Tai is full of ups and downs, together with relatively concentrated conflicts, which reflects the characteristics of Sichuan opera. Besides, the thought of persuasion and punishment, strong superstitious color, and detective story in Ji Chui Tai are combined together to reflect the characteristics of Sichuan Opera.

On the Trace of Scatter Matrix Difference: A Convex Approximate Discriminant Analysis Formulation and Its Mechanism Research in Imperial Examination System

In this paper, we present a convex discriminant analysis formulation, which is extended to solve multi-label classification problems. The original Linear Discriminant Analysis energy optimization function is turned into another form as a convex formulation (namely, convex Approximate LDA, denoted as “convexALDA” for short) using the generalized eigen-decomposition. We give applications by incorporating convexALDA as a regularizer into discriminant regression analysis. Extensive experimental results on multi-label classification tasks and an extensive application scenario on communication characteristics of imperial examination system are provided. In this way we have a brand-new comprehension for it, and a new idea and method was also put forward for studying the system.

Failure Stories: Interpretations of Rejected Papers in the Late Imperial Civil Service Examinations

This article investigates the practice of returning marked papers to rejected candidates in late imperial Chinese examinations. The practice—common from the sixteenth century to the abolition of imperial examinations in 1905—established a sense of personal communication between examiners and examinees and was an opportunity for rejected candidates to benefit from the examination system. The failed papers returned to their authors enabled them to make sense of their performance by interpreting, when not misconstruing, examiners’ comments. The examiners sometimes praised the papers and blamed the decision to fail on other examiners. As a result, most rejected candidates tended not to challenge the examiners through official channels or take collective action against the examination system. Thus, in the late imperial examination system, the ways in which rejecting decisions could be negotiated and construed were no less important than the awarding of degrees to an extremely small proportion of participants. Cet article s’intéresse à la pratique, particulière à la période impériale tardive, consistant à rendre leurs copies aux candidats ayant échoué aux examens. Courante depuis le xvie siècle et jusqu’à l’abolition des examens mandarinaux en 1905, cette pratique créait l’impression d’une relation personnelle entre les examinateurs et les candidats et était un moyen pour ceux qui avaient échoué de tirer profit du système. Les copies rejetées retournées à leurs auteurs permettaient à ces derniers de donner un sens à leur performance en interprétant, voire en dévoyant, les commentaires des examinateurs. Il arrivait que les examinateurs fassent l’éloge des copies et attribuent à autrui la décision de les rejeter. De ce fait, la plupart des candidats malheureux évitaient de contester les examinateurs par la voie réglementaire ou de manifester collectivement contre le système. Ainsi, dans le système des examens à la fin de la période impériale, la manière dont les décisions négatives pouvaient être négociées ou interprétées n’était pas moins importante que l’attribution de rangs académiques à une toute petite proportion de ceux qui concouraient.

Path Dependence and the Authoritarian Regime in Traditional Chinese Culture: a Historical Institutionalism Framework of Analysis

The democratic situation in China is deeply influenced by the traditional culture. This article attempt to answer the question why there is no democracy in Chinese traditional culture from historical institutionalism perspective. Path dependence plays the vital role in this process. The starting point is set in Qin Dynasty. After that, the authoritarian regime has been strengthened from four aspects: the bureaucratic system, the Confucian theory, the imperial examination system, and rewards and punishing measures. These measures work from the institutions to people’s inner world. The authoritarian culture became the orthodox value in Chinese traditional culture. The authoritarian regime and traditional culture have been intertwined and strengthened each other. That is a process of path dependence from historical institutionalism perspective. This article shows us a framework of how to observe this process.