Changes in the Social Origins of
China’s Educated Elite, 1865-2014
James Z. Lee, Chen Liang, Hongbo Wang,
Matthew Noellert, Limin Liu, Cameron
Campbell
Who are the Chinese Educated Elite
• In China, they are students selected through objective exams
• In Late Imperial China (1368-1905): Civil Service Degree Holders
• Republican China (1911-1949): All University Graduates
• PRC China (1952-): Ministry of Education Elite (211) University Graduates
• We are in the process of building an individual-level data set that includes
all imperial upper degree holders (juren and above), half of all Republican
university graduates, all the undergraduate students from a number of
PRC elite universities 1952-2000, and all 2007-2008 Independent
Freshman Admission Applicants to PKU. This talk summarizes some of our
2
initial findings from this preliminary ‘big’ data.
Republican University Student Records
• 184,000 surviving student records from 50 universities
• Of these 108,000 from 25 universities are accessible
• We have already entered 69,000 student records, including 13
universities in their entirety.
Most of these universities are in Beijing, Changsha, Fuzhou,
Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai, including: Chaoyang
University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Medical University; National
Hunan University, Hsiang-Ya Medical College; Fukien Christian
University; National Sun Yat-sen University; National Chekiang
University, Hangchow Christian College; Ginling College, Chiang-su
College of Education, Soochow University; Utopia University, Shanghai
University, Saint John‘s University, Aurora University, Chi Nan
University, Soochow University Law School , Shanghai Law School,
National Shanghai Institute of Business.
3
PRC University Student Records
Entered:
• Peking University 1952-55, 1972-87, 1989-99: 64,500
Undergraduates
• Suzhou University 1933-2003: 86,393 Undergraduates
In Progress:
• Central China Normal University 1949-2010
• Shanghai Jiaotong University
• Shanxi University 1949-2010
4
Four Periods and Four Different Elites
• Preliminary results already allow us to identify
four distinct periods during the last 150 years of
Chinese history, each with its own dominant
social group in terms of family background
• 1865-1905：Public Official Families
• 1906-1952：Business Families
• 1953-1993：Farm and Factory Worker Families
• 1994-2014：Middle Class Families
5
1865-1905: Children of Public Officials
官员子弟
• Ping-ti Ho. 1962. The Ladder of Success in Imperial China: Aspects
of Social Mobility, 1368-1911. New York: Basic Books, 107-108; 112113
• From 1371 to 1904, 31 percent of degree holders came from
families which for three preceding generations had failed to
produce a single holder of even an elementary degree let alone any
office or official title.
• 11.7 percent came from families that had produced one or more
entry (shengyuan) degree but no holder of a higher degree or
office.
•
57.3 percent came from families that during the three preceding
generations had produced one or more holders of higher degrees (>
shengyuan) or offices. More importantly for the purposes of this
narrative, by the late nineteenth century these proportions of
children of officials had increased to almost 70 percent.
6
Jinshi Social Origins in Late Imperial China
Juren and Gongsheng Social Origins in the
Late Qing Period
Source: Ho, Ping-ti, 1962/1967, 116.
1906-1952： Children of Businessmen
商人子弟
University type
Public
Parental Occupation
No.
Private
%
No.
Missionary
%
No.
Total
%
No.
%
Army
754
3.0
61
1.0
57
0.8
872
2.3
Civil Servant
2,956
11.7
930
14.9
440
6.3
4,326
11.3
Farmer
5,074
20.1
402
6.4
165
2.4
5,641
14.7
Merchant
9,516
37.7
3,380
54.2
4,720
68.1
17,616
45.9
Office
21
0.1
93
1.5
25
0.4
139
0.4
Professional
6,201
24.6
1,292
20.7
1,463
21.1
8,956
23.3
Manual Worker
731
2.9
78
1.3
61
0.9
870
2.3
Total
25,253
100
6,236
100
6,931
100
38,420
100
Note: Included are Utopia University (大同大学), Shanghai University (沪江大学), Saint John‘s University (圣约翰大学), Chi Nan University (暨南大学), Law School of
Soochow University (东吴大学法学院), Municipal Shanghai Institute of Industry (市立上海工业专科学校), National Sun Yat-sen University (国立中山大学), National
Chekiang University (国立浙江大学), Hangchow Christian College (之江大学), Private Chaoyang University (私立朝阳大学), National Tsinghua University (国立清华大学),
Fukien Christian University (协和学院), National Hunan University(国立湖南大学) and Shanghai Institute of Business (上海商学院). We excluded 27252 individuals who
are missing parental occupation.
9
暨南大学
Source of National University Students:
19.7%
0.1%
0.3%
0.3%
0.5%
0.6%
2.0%
3.3%
3.3%
5.3%
5.6%
6.6%
19.3%
6.8%
8.3%
18.2%
北平
南京
港澳
广东
河北
江西
四川
福建
广西
湖南
其它] 江苏
[
安徽
浙江
南洋
上海
10
中山大学
Source of National University Students:
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.5%
0.6%
0.9%
1.0%
1.6%
1.7%
2.7%
2.8%
3.4%
6.5%
7.6%
59.5%
10.5%
北平
江苏
河北
江西
南京
南洋
安徽
四川
其它] 湖南
[
上海
港澳
浙江
广西
福建
广东
11
清华大学
Source of National University Students:
29.1%
0.6%
0.8%
0.8%
1.1%
2.0%
2.2%
3.6%
3.6%
4.8%
4.8%
5.0%
5.6%
6.7%
19.3%
9.8%
港澳
江苏
南洋
河北
福建
四川
广西
湖南
广东
浙江
江西
北平
安徽
上海
南京
其
[
12
清华大学
Source of National University Students:
29.1%
0.6%
0.8%
0.8%
1.1%
2.0%
2.2%
3.6%
3.6%
4.8%
4.8%
5.0%
5.6%
6.7%
19.3%
9.8%
港澳
江苏
南洋
河北
福建
四川
广西
湖南
广东
浙江
江西
北平
安徽
上海
南京
其
[
13
Source of National University Students:
22.8%
浙江大学
0.2%
0.5%
0.7%
0.8%
1.1%
1.4%
2.6%
3.2%
3.4%
6.3%
6.4%
7.6%
20.8%
10.7%
11.4%
港澳
南京
南洋
安徽
河北
四川
北平
上海
福建
湖南
广西
江苏
江西
广东
其它] 浙江
[
14
湖南大学
Source of National University Students:
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.4%
0.4%
0.5%
0.9%
1.3%
1.3%
1.9%
3.2%
3.3%
86.3%
南洋
广西
福建
上海
四川
安徽
北平
江西
广东
浙江
其它] 湖南
[
江苏
南京
15
Source of University Students in Shanghai: Missionary
0.2%
0.3%
0.4%
0.5%
0.6%
0.6%
0.7%
1.2%
1.3%
1.9%
2.2%
3.8%
5.7%
6.4%
61.9%
河北
安徽
广西
广东
南洋
南京
12.2%
湖南
福建
北平
浙江
四川
江西
其它] 江苏
[
港澳
上海
16
Source of University Students in Shanghai: Private
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.2%
0.2%
0.3%
0.3%
0.7%
0.7%
1.7%
2.0%
6.4%
87.1%
河北
江西
广东
安徽
四川
港澳
广西
南京
南洋
浙江
湖南
北平
其它] 江苏
[
福建
上海
17
1953-1993：Proletariat Children
无产子弟
• Liang Chen, Zhang Hao, Li Lan, Ruan Danqing,
Cameron Campbell, Lee, James. 2013. Silent
revolution: the social origins of Peking University
and Soochow University undergraduates, 1949-2002
(无声的革命: 北京大学、苏州大学的学生社会来
源 1949-2002 ). Beijing Joint Publishing.
18
At PKU 35 to 70 percent of all students
came from Farm and Factory families
19
At SZU 50 to 70 percent of all students
came from Farm and Factory families
20
1994-2014：Middle Class Children
有产子弟
• Limin Liu, Bettina Sonnenberg, Xiwei Wu,
Wolfgang Wagner, Ulrich Trautwein. 2012.
“The Impact of Independent Freshman
Admission on Educational Inequality in
Chinese Elite Higher Education” Manuscript.
21
Family Background of non-Gaokao
Exam (IFAS) Students at PKU
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
students from non-ifaschools
students from ifaschools
40%
30%
20%
10%
Administrator Professional
Staff
Public service
Farmer
Worker
Military
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
ALL
2008
2007
0%
Uncategorized
22
SZU Cadre Families
23
Educational Inequality in
the Twenty-first Century
• At PKU and SZU, the proportion and number of
students from business families, the ‘entrepreneurial
cadre’ parents in slide 18, have increased significantly
• The proportion and number of students from farm
families at PKU and SZU have declined,
• This decline, however, reflects the overall decline of
farmers in China as a proportion of the occupational
population as a whole, especially in such previously
farm family heavy provinces as Jiangsu, Shandong, and
Zhejiang
• Meanwhile, the proportion and number of PKU and
SZU students from factory families have increased
24
Educational Expansion and
Educational Inequality in China
• The changing social background of elite Chinese
students also reflects the changing definition of
‘knowledge’ by the State from Confucian Education
to Western Liberal Professional Education to
Science/Engineering Education to current Global
Education
• These different definitions of knowledge and access
to such knowledge by the State tilt the playing field
towards different groups of students
• At the same time, because of the objective and
theoretically ‘open’ nature of the Chinese
examination/admission system, a Silent Revolution in
China’s elite composition continues to today
25
From Homogeneity to Heterogeneity
• China’s educated elite has evolved from a relatively
thin homogeneous veneer of national elite ‘gentry’ to
a heterogeneous group of merchants and
professionals, proletariats, and urban ‘middle class.’
• 1865-1905：60-70 percent are children of officials
• 1906-1952：60-90 percent are children of
businessmen
• 1953-1993：50-70 percent are proletariat children
• 1994-2014：50-75 percent are from middle class
families
26
Four Social Revolutions ?
• The extent to which each new social elite group
implies a social revolution depends on the extent
to which each group is distinct from its
predecessor.
• Preliminary analysis suggests that while there
inevitably was some overlap there were and are
also many ‘new’ families due at least partially to
changes in the examination criteria, in access to
education, and in the selectivity of the admission
process.
27
New 20th and 21st Century Chinese Elites
• The merchant families who emerged in
Republican China were largely from east China,
and distinct from the National Civil Service
Families elsewhere.
• Almost none of the proletariat families to emerge
in PRC China were connected to the Republican
Merchant families
• Moreover, while some of the new Chinese Middle
Class evolved out of the educated PRC proletariat
elite, many are not.
28
Similarity in Difference
• According to Piketty 2013/2014, inequality is a distinctive
and increasingly salient feature of the Capitalist World
• However, while rising wealth and income inequality are
also distinctive features of Chinese society today, the
expansion of economic opportunity in China combined
with relatively open access to elite education creates
opportunities for non-elites to achieve elite careers
domestically and increasingly globally, creating in turn a
larger and more diverse group of elites than elsewhere
• In that sense, Chinese society differs not just from period
to period over the last 150 years, but from much of
global society, as exemplified by the USA, today
29
In the USA Students from the Top Five Percent of the Income
Distribution Comprise 50 Percent of the Elite University
Student Population
Source: Pryor, Hurtado, DeAngelo, et al., 2009 with minor changes.
30
In Hong Kong, Half of All University Students Come
From the Bottom Half of the Income Distribution
Percent
Hong Kong Undergraduates by Household Income, 2008-2009
Hong Kong General
Population
HKBU
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
HKU
CUHK
HKUST
PolyU
Below 10
thousand
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
above 50
LU
HKIEd
Monthly Household Income in Hong Kong $ (USD$2250)
Median: HK$17500
CityU
31
Difference in Similarity
• In most countries, elite society especially politically
active elites are generally stable, homogeneous, and
from a small population.
• In China, because of the historical process we have just
reviewed elite society is comparatively heterogeneous,
changing, and from a comparatively larger population.
• In different periods during the last 150 years, the
educated elites rotated between 士，农，工，and 商.
The result is an unusual combination of difference in
similarity.
32