Primary source-driven Research on the Social History of Institutions in Early Modern China

我的课题是考察官员的资历和家世，以厘清官员的运作和任免所处的社会环境，主要从一个以前未被发掘的历史资料--《通官录》中，该系统记录了在同一省或同一政府机构任职的官员的前任职位和家庭成员组成的信息。除了说明名册的编制过程外，该项目还展示了政府官员如何利用名册管理下属，而下属则利用名册加强彼此之间的联系。编制名册的目的是为了稳定政府部门内部的人事关系。该项目通过数字证据表明，晚清时期，用买学位的办法来提高自己的社会地位。

My project explores the qualifications of officials and their family backgrounds with an eye to clarifying the social environment in which officials operated and in which their appointments and promotions were made.It draws primarily from a previously untapped historical source, the Tongguanlu [Register of Officials], which records information on the previous posts and the composition of family members of officials serving in the same province or same governmental agency.In addition to shedding light on the how the Register was compiled, the project also shows how government superiors used the Register to manage their subordinates, while subordinates used it to heighten a sense of connection among themselves.The Register was compiled in the hope that it would stabilize personnel relations within particular government offices.The project demonstrates through numerical evidence that people during the late Qing period,used the system of purchased degrees to advance their social status.