A Study On The Geographical Distribution Of The Imperial Examinations In Fujian Province During Ming Dynasty

In the Ming dynasty,fujian region performed very well in the imperial examinations.As a compilation of records of the provincial examinations in fujian province during the Ming and qing dynasties,Minshengxianshu(《闽省贤书》)completely preserves all kinds of information about Ju-ren in fujian province during the Ming dynasty,which makes it possible to study the geographical distribution of Ju-ren in fujian province.This paper presents a clear dynamic evolution process of the regional pattern of the imperial examination from two dimensions of time and space,analyzes the interaction between different regions of the imperial examination from the perspective of the classics in exams,and briefly describes the relationship between the development of the imperial examination and the classics in exams based on the historical facts of the local imperial examination.This paper is mainly divided into the following parts:The first part,this paper explains the problems of the admission list for the provincial examination and the information about Ju-ren in the book,based on Minshengxianshu(《闽省贤书》)in the kangxi period of the qing dynasty,and revises the admission list and the Ju-ren’s personal information by referring to the existing literature such as the imperial examination records of the Ming dynasty and the local Chronicles of fujian,so as to obtain the accurate admission information of 90 provincial information of fujian in the Ming dynasty.The second part,according to the implementation of the quota system,this paper divides into three periods to specifically analyze the performance,change trend and the relationship between the growth and decline of each administrative districts in fujian,from which the emergence,evolution and characteristics of the regional competition in the imperial examination are clarified.The study found that the inter-governmental competition in the imperial examination gradually emerged with the implementation of the quota system.As the regions with strong strength occupied most of the seats in the competition,the space for the development of the imperial examination in the weaker regions was severely squeezed,so the competitive relationship between the regions with strong strength and their tendency towards certain classics were more prominent.The thirdly part,the author explores the change of geographical distribution in time and space of fujian imperial examination from the perspective of the classics in examsspecial economic study.Firstly,through the distribution and changes of the classics selected by Ju-ren in each region to observe theselection trend and its evolution process,it is found that the number of the classics with the characteristics of tendency in the region and the overall number of Ju-ren in the region have a close change trend.At the same time,we can observe the change of the tendency of choosing the classics and academic atmosphere in the region from the changing trend of the proportion of the classics in exams.Secondly,by observing the changing trend and the relationship between the number of Ju-ren in different prefectural areas,it is found that the dependence of a certain region on a certain Confucian classics will directly affect the competitive relationship among different prefectural areas.When the number of Ju-ren of a certain type of classics is concentrated in a certain area,showing the characteristics of high dependence,the gap between different regions was too large and there was no obvious competitive relationship.However,when the gap is small,the competitive relationship is particularly fierce.Finally,the paper further analyzes the performance and characteristics of the dependence on a certain classics in each region within the prefecture,and explores the relationship between the characteristics formed by each prefecture and the performance of the imperial examination in the inner region.It is found that the characteristics of the region are the result of the action of all the regions in the region.However,within the regions with strong strength in the imperial examination,the formation time,development degree and selection tendency of each county are different.The fourth part,we will look down to the county level,sorting out the more prominent counties in fujian.Taking <the book of rites> in Min county as an example,this paper combines the data with the local historical facts of the imperial examination.From the process of the characteristics gradually formed during the Chenghua to Zhengde years to the gradual decline after the middle Jiajing period,we can see the inevitable trend of the development of local imperial civil examination system under the influence of national system and regional social environment.It also noted the fluctuations caused by many factors such as academic tradition,imperial examination family,educational mobility and cultural communication.