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RU SCHOLARS, SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND BUREAUCRACY: DONGHAI 東海 MEN AND MODELS FOR SUCCESS IN WESTERN HAN CHINA (206 b.c.e.–9 c.e.)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2019
Abstract
In this study I take men from Donghai, a region of northeast China, as a case study for examining models of success in the Western Han (206 b.c.e.–9 c.e.). Employing digital tools to mine data from The Grand Scribe's Records (Shi ji) and The History of the Western Han (Han shu), I explore the social networks and career patterns of men from a region that enjoyed a reputation for producing a remarkable number of high officials and celebrated Ru. I focus on three questions. First, what was the social mechanism that enabled people to distinguish themselves at both the local and the imperial levels? Second, did these celebrated men from Donghai serve as bridges connecting the local to the capital, directing resources back to their hometown and helping their local fellows achieve success? Third, did their positions in the central government remove them from local society by transforming them into capital-dwelling elites primarily concerned about the success of their families in the central court? In addressing these questions, I probe the dynamics between bureaucratic hierarchy, social networks, and the flow of talent and resources. I investigate various understandings of prestige and the strategies for climbing the ladder of success. Furthermore, I ask which forms of social prestige—for example, academic reputation, wealth, social networks—could bypass the hierarchical system imposed by the imperial bureaucracy, providing direct access to lofty positions. Did the patterns of success seen in the Donghai group reflect a bias built into the sources, constitute a regional variation, or provide a universal model for success in early imperial China?
提要
西漢時期，數量可觀的高層官員和儒生來自東海郡。以他們為研究中心，本文旨在探討西漢儒生的成功模式（公元前 206 年—公元前 9 年）。 利用數字人文挖掘《史記》和《漢書》中人物傳記的數據，本文重現了來自東海地區官員和儒生的社交網絡和仕途模式。在本文中，我專注於三個問題。首先，什麼樣的社會機制能夠讓沒有顯赫家庭背景的人取得政治上的成功， 爬上權力的金字塔。 第二，這些來自東海的官員和儒生是否成爲連接當地與京城的橋樑，是否將資源引向家鄉，並幫助同籍貫的人取得成功？第三，東海官員在中央朝廷任職之後， 是否逐漸脫離了地方社會，而成爲以京城為中心的精英。通過回答這些問題，我探討了官僚等級制度，社交網絡，以及人才和資源流動之間的動態關係。本文研究了西漢時期各種對資源的理解以及攀登成功階梯的策略，探尋哪種形式的社會資源—學術聲譽，財富，社交網絡 –可以幫助西漢儒生跨越官僚等級制度，直接進入高層職位。最後本文討論了東海集團的成功模式是否僅僅反應了一個地區的特例，還是提供了早期帝國儒生成功的普遍模式？
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References
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18. Traditional reference tools help researchers to approach their sources as multidimensional narratives. Digital tools, including searchable texts, make possible broader, more efficient interrogations of documents. This article is based on a set of data from a group of men who lived in Donghai. The attributes of individual historical figures and a visualization of the relationships among them are essential to my conclusions.
19. Han shu 25.1253.
20. Han shu 88.3616–17.
21. Han shu 93.3729.
22. Han shu 73.3107.
23. Han shu 81.3332.
24. Social network analysis, a well-developed field, is informed by a range of complicated theories and employs a large number of technical terms, such as homophily (the extent to which actors share significant traits), multiplexity (the range of relationships connecting two people), and centrality (the importance and influence of a person within a network). When we deal with large amounts of information, such as when we quantify the social networks of the upper class of the Western Han, these technical terms serve as useful analytical tools. But if we are studying only the Donghai group, that jargon will not facilitate our analysis—I will not use it. When a great deal of data is compiled, text-mining software is sometimes deployed. Rather than do that, I have looked for evidence of social networks by performing regular searches of the digitized primary sources. Nonetheless, I did find that the relations among Donghai men evolved into complicated networks, visualizations of which have been created for me by the computer scientists Jun Tao and Jiang Meng (see Figures 1b and 3; more fully elaborated figures can be find at www.meng-jiang.com/demos/chnhistory).
25. Han shu 28.1588.
26. Most of the twenty-three men came from five counties: Lanling 蘭陵, Tan 郯, Xiapei 下邳, Cheng 承, and Qi 戚. Fu Zhongweng 澓中翁, a native Donghai man, was said to have served as a tutor to Emperor Xuan before he succeeded to the throne. Except for that information, we know little about him. See Han shu 8.237 and also Table 1.
27. With power second only to the emperor’s, the Three Dukes occupied the apex of the Han bureaucracy. The Nine Ministers constituted the second-highest stratum. The Three Dukes comprised a chancellor (chengxiang 丞相), a commander-in-chief (taiwei 太尉; later the title was changed to da sima 大司馬), and a grandee secretary (yushi dafu 御史大夫). The Nine Ministers were a grand master of ceremonies (taichang 太常), a superintendent of the imperial household (guanglu xun 光祿勳), a commandant of the guards (weiwei 衛尉), a grand coachman (taipu 太僕), a commandant of justice (tingwei 廷尉), a grand herald (dahonglu 大鴻臚), a director of the imperial clan (zongzheng 宗正), a grand minister of agriculture (dasinong 大司農), and a privy treasurer (shaofu 少府).
28. Jianxiong, Ge 葛劍雄, Xi Han renkou dili 西漢人口地理 (Beijing: Renmin, 1986), 12Google Scholar. The population of the Western Han is based on information drawn from Han shu 28a.1543–1608.
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37. On the Ru disciple communities and the high officials they produced, see Cai, Liang, “Excavating the Genealogy of Classical Studies in the Western Han Dynasty (206 b.c.e.–8 c.e.),” Journal of the American Oriental Society 131.3 (2011), 371–94Google Scholar.
38. No sources indicate how Hou Cang rose to power. But he was among the group of Ru who ascended to high positions after the five-year-long witchcraft scandal eliminated the most powerful official families and created a power vacuum at the court. For the rise of Ru officials in the Han dynasty, see Cai, Witchcraft, 113–53.
39. Han shu 10.1710 and 75.3167–78.
40. Han shu 71.3039.
41. This does not mean that all Ru belonged to a single interest group. There were cases of Ru belonging to opposing political cliques. See Cai, Liang, “The Hermeneutics of Omens: The Bankruptcy of Moral Cosmology in the Western Han China (206 b.c.e.–8 c.e.),” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 25.3 (2015), 439–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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43. Pierre Bourdieu defined social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition.” See Bourdieu, , “The Form of Capital,” in Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. Richardson, J. G. (New York: Greenwood, 1985)Google Scholar, 248.
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45. Han shu 81.4069
46. Han shu 81.3331–32.
47. Han shu 81.3332.
48. Shi ji 96.2688.
49. Erudites at the Imperial Academy had no administrative power; their rank within the bureaucratic hierarchy must be said to have been either low or middle. But they were close to the political center and had routine contact with the emperor. Some of them served as tutors to the crown prince, a position that assured them of glory after the prince succeeded to the throne.
50. The distinguished six were Hou Cang, Feng Yi, Dai Sheng, Bai Guang 白光, Zhai Mu 翟牧, and Kuang Heng. Hou and Kuang later rose to high posts. Han shu 88.3599.
51. Those networks grew up around teachers devoted to The Changes, The Documents, The Spring and Autumn Annals, The Songs, and The Rites Classic. See Cai, Witchcraft, 88, 92, 94, 98, 100.
52. Cai, “Excavating,” 372–75.
53. Han shu 88.3589–3620. I have also charted the disciple communities surrounding The Changes, The Documents, The Spring and Autumn Annals, The Songs, and The Rites Classic. See Cai, Witchcraft, 88, 92, 94, 98, 100.
54. Shi ji, 96.2689.
55. For the daily tasks a functionary in local government performed, see Barbieri-Low, Anthony J. and Yates, Robin D. S., Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China: A Study with Critical Edition and Translation of the Legal Texts from Zhangjiashan Tomb No. 247 (Leiden: Brill, 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the discussion of relative merit of Ru and technical bureaucrats, see Chong, Wang 王充, Lun heng jiao shi: fu Liu Pansui jijie 論衡校釋: 附劉盼遂集解, 4 vols. (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1990), vol. 2, 533–89Google Scholar. Chapters in question are: “Weighing Talent” (Cheng cai 程材), “Measuring Knowledge” (Liang zhi 量知), “Apologizing for Weakness” (Xie duan 謝短), and “Rendering Service” (Xiao li 效力).
56. Han shu 78.3274.
57. Han shu 78.3274.
58. Han shu 78.3997.
59. Han shu 76.3226.
60. On Ru’s political ambition, see Analects, 13.10; Mencius, 4.13; and “Efficacy of Ru” 儒效 in Xunzi. See CHANT, www.chant.org.
61. Han shu 60.3664.
62. Han shu 90.3664
63. Han shu 68.2931–32. Among the executed were Deng Tong 鄧通, Luan Da 欒大, and Dong Xian 董賢. See Han shu 93.3722–23 and 93.3733–39.
64. Shi ji 112.2949.
65. Han shu 65.2841.
66. Cai, Witchcraft, 32. Most of them were recommended to court as “able and virtuous” (xianlian g 賢良).
67. Among those who began by serving as tutors to the crown prince, then ascended to high positions, were Cai Yi 蔡義, Wei Xian, Kuang Heng, Liangqiu He, Zhou Kan, Ouyang Yu 歐陽餘, Kong Guang, Shi Dan 師丹, Ping Yan 平晏, Zhang Yu 張禹, Xu Shang許商, and Peng Xuan 彭宣.
68. Han shu 81.3492.
69. As mentioned in note 3, the imperial bureaucracy of the Western Han was a giant hierarchical organization, and the number of officials across the empire was said to exceed 120,000.
70. Han shu 81.3331. In our source, Kuang Heng was famous for his humble circumstances. Yet his family presumably could afford to send him to the capital, where he spent years at the Imperial Academy.
71. Han shu 78.3271.
72. Powerful families from throughout the empire were forced to move to the suburbs of Chang’an by the imperial court; one destination was Duling, site of the mausoleum of Emperor Xuan. Although this famous policy was meant to prevent powerful families in local areas from challenging imperial power, it seems to have transformed men from a variety of locations into capital elites. A better understanding of geographic mobility will help us understand how the Han dynasty was able to integrate different regions into a unified empire, and this topic calls for separate research.
73. Sui Meng served as prefect of insignias and credentials (fujie ling 符節令) in the central government. His teacher, Ying Gong 嬴公, was the advisory counselor (jian dafu 諫大夫) to Emperor Zhao. See Han shu 75.3153.
74. Han shu 88.3598.
75. Han shu 88.3600.
76. There is more indirect evidence to confirm that Meng Xi’s network focused on the capital area. Meng served consecutively as gentleman-attendant, captain in charge of the office of the Qutai Palace (Qutai shuzhang 曲臺署長), and assistant to the chancellor; all three offices were based in the capital. See Han shu 88.3599.
77. Han shu 72.3066.
78. Han shu 84.3411.
79. Han shu 81.3347.
80. David Elstein argues that one could shift one’s scholarly affiliation without shame. See his “Friend or Father? Competing Visions of Master-Student Relations in Early China,” PhD dissertation (University of Michigan, 2006), 183–86.
81. They are Xiao Wangzhi, Kuang Heng, Bai Guang, and Yi Feng.
82. Han shu 71.3045–46.
83. Han shu 78.3289–91.
84. Han shu 71.3040.
85. Han shu 90.3667.
86. Han shu 90.3671–72.
87. Han shu 76.3207.
88. Many bamboo-strip manuscripts found in the Donghai region have been dated to the Han dynasty. Those newly discovered texts are primarily concerned with the daily operation of local government; they include the names of local functionaries and officials. But we have not yet discovered any direct connections between them and the men active in the central court. See Mingzhao, Li [Chiu, Lai Ming] 黎明釗, “Handai Donghai jun de haozu daxing: yi ‘Donghai jun xia xia zhangli mingji’ ji ‘zengqian mingji’ wei zhongxin” 漢代東海郡的豪族大姓：以「東海郡下轄長吏名籍」及「贈錢名籍」為中心, Zhongguo wenhua yanjiusuo xuebao 中國文化研究所學報 9 (2000), 47–96Google Scholar.
89. Han shu 73.3107.