Meritocracy and Dynasticism in China
Ancient History
Medieval History
Final Report Abstract
The research project focused on two principal sources of power: merit and descent. It investigated the interplay and conflict between these two sources in pre-modern China and studied how they shaped the formation and development of governmental institutions. The primary object of investigation was the voluntary abdication of the throne in early medieval China (189-589 CE). Abdication allowed for conducting changes of dynasty in the form of complex state rituals, which reduced the use of violence. As opposed to regular, intra-familial succession, an emperor about to receive an abdication generally based his claim to power on his merit, not on his pedigree. Previous scholarship has largely dismissed the institution of abdication as a meaningless cover-up, i.e. as a repetitive facade of consensus that reveals little about the political culture of the period and the imperial system in particular. Accordingly, the extensive written sources on abdication have not yet been subjected to thorough analysis, especially with respect to the conflict between merit and pedigree. Conducting such an analysis and tracing the development of the institution was the primary aim of the project. As for methodology, the project has shown that the voluntary abdication of the throne can be described according to modern ritual theory. Abdications in early medieval China were not mere facades of consensus—as such they would not have fulfilled their function—but complex ritual events that committed their addressees to a social ideal. Second, this ideal can be described as interaction between equals free of domination and committed to talent and merit. In contrast, dynastic claims to power remained secondary and dependent on previous achievement. Hence, meritocracy and dynasticism did not form a contradiction. Rather, talent and merit were conceptually paramount. That hereditary elites nevertheless commanded of sufficient means to perpetuate their status led to a permanent social conflict that was ritually dealt with during abdications. Third, the project has shown that the institution of abdication in early medieval China underwent a general development: Its basic principle—talent and merit—increasingly contradicted the notion of a peaceful transfer of power. This was because military conflict offered an opportunity to earn merit. As a result, the institution gradually deviated from its classical precedents, lost persuasive force, and was eventually abandoned.
Publications
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Merit and Community: Aspects of Dynastic Change in Early Medieval China (Habilitationsschrift Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
FAHR, Paul
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„How to Attest One’s Life? On Autobiographical Writings by Rulers in Early Medieval China“ In: Matthias HAAKE und Andreas PEČAR (Hrsg.): Schreibende Monarchen in transepochaler und globaler Perspektive (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag)
FAHR, Paul
