The Strategy Testing and Examinee Backgrounds in Late Qing Examination Reforms

Abstract

The strategy testing encapsulates the political, economic, educational, and broader societal facets of an era, bridging the societal and the individual. Based on Collection of Vermilion Papers from the Qing Dynasty清代朱卷集成, this study analyzes the strategy testing texts and examinees from the post-1901 imperial examination reform period in the late Qing dynasty. Employing a combined methodology of textual analysis and statistical analysis, the research investigates continuity and change in the content focus of strategy testing resulting from the reform. This is examined temporally by comparing strategy testing before and after the reform, and spatially by assessing variations in reform implementation depth across regions. Examinees’ strategy essays were categorized and analyzed alongside their socio-educational backgrounds. Ultimately, an integrated theoretical and data analysis yields the conclusion that the characteristics of examinees’ strategy essays were jointly determined by regional proposition styles and examinee background factors.