Social Hierarchy of Ming China

Descendants of the first Ming emperor were made princes and given military commands, usually nominal, annual stipends and large estates. Their title was “king” (wang), but unlike the princes of the Han and Jin dynasties they held no feudatories: they served no administrative function and took part in military affairs only under the first two emperors. The Yongle Emperor, himself once the Prince of Yan, disarmed his brothers and moved their fiefs away from the militarized northern border. The princes, the consorts of imperial princesses and ennobled relatives staffed the Imperial Clan Court, which kept the imperial genealogy. Some turned to learning: Zhu Zaiyu, a sixth-generation descendant of the Hongxi Emperor, discovered equal temperament in music.

Moving in or out. Princely rank came by descent from the founder, and the emperor could take a prince’s power away, as Yongle did his brothers’. Only near the end of the dynasty were some princes allowed to sit the examinations and serve as officials.

How many? Estimate: the descendants of the founder made princes, with the consorts of imperial princesses and the ennobled relatives; the articles give no count.

After 1384, when the founder stopped staffing his bureaus by recommendation only, the officials were recruited through the examinations. They were classed in nine grades, each of two degrees, with salaries nominally paid in piculs of rice. The Six Ministries, of Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice and Public Works, did the government’s work, and the Grand Secretaries, drawn from the Hanlin Academy, coordinated them. Every three years senior officials graded their juniors, who were promoted, kept or demoted; the longest tenure in one office was nine years, and censors could impeach an official at any time. A district magistrate could not serve in his home district.

Moving in or out. Office came through the examinations: provincial graduates began in low posts, while those who passed the palace examination became jinshi and were assured high positions. There were only two to four thousand jinshi at any time, “on the order of one out of 10,000 adult males”, in Ebrey’s words.

How many? Estimate: Charles Hucker counted perhaps 100,000 lesser functionaries, who outnumbered the officials four to one, so roughly 25,000 officials; with their families perhaps 0.05–0.1 per cent of 160–200 million.

Below the officials stood the gentry, landholding families whose men had earned examination degrees: by the 16th century some 100,000 shengyuan, “government students”, the lowest tier of graduates, with the provincial and metropolitan graduates above them. The examinations tested the Confucian classics, above all the Four Books outlined by Zhu Xi, and from 1487 the intricate “eight-legged essay”. Since only a select few could become officials, most of the gentry stayed at home as local leaders: they ran charities and private schools, helped settle minor disputes, supervised community projects, kept order, led Confucian ceremonies and helped collect taxes, and the magistrate depended on their advice. Some kept company with well-educated courtesans outside marriage.

Moving in or out. In theory anyone could sit the examinations, which were graded without regard to background, but the years of costly tutoring confined success to families of means: 90 per cent of the population was ineligible for lack of education, while the upper 10 per cent had equal chances. Provincial quotas curbed the hold of the landholding gentry of the most prosperous regions.

How many? Estimate: about 100,000 shengyuan, the lowest tier of graduates, by the 16th century, with the higher degree-holders and their families.