The Making of Bad Gentry

The Abolition of Keju, Local Governance, and Anti-Elite Protests, 1902-1911

Bibliographic Data

ID5753385
AuthorsYu Hao (0000-0001-8394-4215, Peking University, corresponding author), Kevin Zhengcheng Liu (0000-0002-1424-4845, University of Hong Kong), Zhengcheng Liu (0000-0002-4472-4807), Xi Weng (0000-0001-8383-0461, Peking University), Li-An Zhou, Li‐an Zhou (0000-0002-8306-9075, Peking University)
Year2022
Volume82
Issue3
Pages625-661
Publication date2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022050722000225
OpenAlexW4281680151
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited44

This paper investigates the impact of the abolition of the civil service exam on local governance in early twentieth-century China. Before the abolition, local elites collected surtaxes that financed local public goods, but they were supervised by the state and could lose candidacy for higher status if they engaged in corrupt behavior. This prospect of upward mobility (POUM) gave them incentives to behave well, which the abolition of the exam removed. Using anti-elite protests as a proxy for the deterioration of local governance, we find that prefectures with a higher POUM experienced more incidents of anti-elite protests after the abolition

Business · Candidacy · China · Civil service · Corporate governance · Economics · Elite · Gentry · Incentive · Local governance · Local government · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Proxy (statistics) · Public service · State (computer science) · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Finance · Law · Public Administration

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