Research On The Imperial Examination Clans Of Fujian In The Ming Dynasty

Imperial Examination Clans refer to the families had at least one Jinshi and one Juren,or three Juren of immediate relatives within five generations and between the brothers.There were 679 Imperial Examination Clans in Fujian in the Ming Dynasty which were derived from 98 surnames,but only Chen,Lin,Huang,Zheng,Li,Zhang,Wang and Wu had included 54.2% of all the Imperial Examination Clans,and this was mainly due to their resepective population.These Imperial Examination Clans were widely distributed in 8 Prefectures and 1 State of Fujian,cluding 41 Counties and 6 Garrisons.They were also highly concentrated in the coastal areas and the counties where the prefectures were located or in the comparatively large counties and this was mainly affected by the regional strength of the imperial examinations.Thanks to the profound cultural accumulation of the imperial examination in the Song Dynasty,the Imperial Examination Clans appeared very early in Fujian in the Ming Dynasty.However,due to the numbers of Jinshi and Juren,and the development of the families' culture in different stage,there were few imperial-examination families in the early Ming,and they grew significantly in the mid-Ming,then the rate slow down in the later Ming thought there were the most imperial-examination families.Meanwhile,the different development histories of 8 Prefectures and 1 State led to their different features in the early Ming,mid-Ming and the later Ming.The development level of Fujian Imperial Examination Clans in the Ming Dynasty was in the front rank in China.There were 2128 Jinshi and Juren who belonged to the Imperial Examination Clans,which only took 25.9% of the total number of Fujian's Jinshi and Juren in the Ming Dynasty.And only 1434 Jinshi and Juren who were from Imperial Examination Clans.This reflected that Fujian in Ming Dynasty maintained a high social mobility rate on the whole under the Imperial Examination System.The longest Fujian Imperial Examination Clans last for 9 generations,and 1/10 Imperial Examination Clans last for 3 generations,but 55.08% of Fujian Imperial Examination Clans only last for 2 generations.The Fujian Imperial Examination Clans in the Ming Dynasty mainly came from two kinds of household registration: the civilian and the army,while a few came from the other four kinds: the craftsman,the official,the salt worker and the Confucian scholar.Influenced by the different proportion of the population of each household and the various corvee they undertook,the possibility that each household type cultivated an imperial-examination family went from high to low,in order was: the civilian,the craftsman,the official,the Confucian scholar,the salt worker and the army.But in Zhangzhou and Xinghua prefectures,the military Imperial Examination Clans accounted for a high proportion.In the Ming Dynasty of Fujian,most families could only maintain their success in the Imperial Examination for 2 generations,more than one tenth last for 3 generations,and the longest lasting for 9 generations.This was closely related to the unprecedented competition of the imperial examination,the areal strength of imperial examination and the families' own competitiveness.In the Ming Dynasty,the officials who belonged to Fujian's Imperial Examination Clans either assisted the emperor in making decisions and dealt with the central government affairs,or promoted what is beneficial and abolished what is harmful,or put down riot and made peace with the people.Most of them dared to speak out about the current political practices and made rectifications,which had a positive and important influence on the politics of the Ming Dynasty.As role models for the local families,they also played a significant role in promoting the local culture and education,the local public affairs and the formation of favorable moral atmosphere in Fujian.The formation of these imperial-examination families was inseparable from the necessary economic support,the good family tradition,the accumulation of family learning,and relatively high level of local education,among which the good family tradition was the most critical factor.