Table of Content

01 October 2020, Volume 6 Issue 4

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An achievement test for Chinese preschool children: Validity and social correlates

Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, Xuejiao Chen, Xiao Pan Ding and Mike W.-L. Cheung

2020, 6(4):  497-520.  doi:10.1177/2057150X20950507

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Early childhood is a crucial period for human development that has long-term implications for one’s life trajectories. During the years before formal schooling, brain size and structures, as well as cognitive abilities, undergo rapid development. Children’s cognitive abilities develop by leaps and bounds and show great malleability. Cognitive development during early childhood exerts a long-lasting influence on children’s life chances in adulthood. In China, however, there is no established reliable early childhood achievement test that can be used in a study. This study validates an achievement test for Chinese preschoolers. We analyze data from a nationally representative sample of children aged three to six who participated in the Zhang-Yeung Test of Achievement for Chinese Children (ZY-TACC) in 2012. The instrument consists of a 28-item verbal test and a 24-item numeracy test. Our evaluations indicate a satisfactory level of difficulty, as well as high internal consistency and reliability. This instrument exhibits ample ability to distinguish among children of different ages and varying family backgrounds in ways consistent with previous literature. Children’s test scores are also found to correlate in the expected direction with their behavioral indicators. We demonstrate that the ZY-TACC is a psychometrically robust, culturally and contextually appropriate instrument for assessing Chinese preschool children’s achievement. The instrument can make a significant contribution to research on early childhood development in China.

Mate selection among online daters in Shanghai: Why does education matter?

Siqi Xiao, Yue Qian

2020, 6(4):  521-546.  doi:10.1177/2057150X20957422

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Prior studies of assortative mating have shown that people tend to marry someone of the same educational level, but why individuals value a mate’s education and the process of mate selection itself remain a black box in predominantly quantitative studies. With online dating’s growing popularity, research needs to examine how online daters navigate dating markets given educational preferences they hold and “freedom of choice” offered by technologies. This study aims to investigate individuals’ educational preferences and how educational preferences shape mate selection processes in online dating. In-depth interviews were conducted with 29 university-educated, heterosexual online daters (13 men, 16 women) in Shanghai. Data were analyzed through a combination of abductive and inductive coding strategies. Results showed that both educational levels and university prestige were primary mate selection criteria in online dating. Both genders considered educational sorting essential for achieving cultural matching, but only men emphasized the importance of spouse’s education for their future children’s education. Furthermore, guided by their educational preferences, online daters deliberately chose dating platforms and screened dating candidates. We argue that online daters’ emphasis on university prestige is rooted in China’s hierarchical higher education system, and gendered rationales for educational preferences stem from ingrained gender roles in Chinese families. Seemingly “personal” preferences are therefore shaped by cultural norms and institutional contexts. Moreover, results suggest that online dating may reinforce social closure among China’s educational elites.

Civil and Military Examination participation of the Que lineage in Shicang village in the Qing Dynasty

Qin Jiang

2020, 6(4):  547-570.  doi:10.1177/2057150X20957457

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The literature on social stratification and mobility in Imperial China reveals that the academic tracking system was one important source of educational inequality. The Imperial Examinations system in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty China was a dual-track structure formed of Civil (wen) and Military (wu) Examinations. Earlier scholars have focused on the provincial and national levels of the system, paying little attention to the lowest, county-levelshengyuan examination, the starting point of the wen and wu system. This study looks into the Account Books for Imperial Examination participation in Qing Dynasty Shicang, Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, focusing particularly on examination records of the Que lineage. After making a fortune in the iron-smelting business, the Ques first purchased an Imperial Academy studentship (jiansheng), then later married into local gentry families and began to participate in the Imperial Examinations. The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1865) brought a high mortality rate to the region, which increased the chances of success in the Imperial wu-track, the Military Examination. The Ques made use of this opportunity to participate in both the Civil and Military Examinations. This paper compares two common motivations for taking the examinations—protection of family wealth and status, and pursuit of the highest degree. This study shows that each motivation had a different outcome. Those only interested in safeguarding and enhancing family wealth were able to maintain a balance between pursuit of their degree and the family business, while those aiming at the highest degrees often fell into the trap of repeated attempts and eventual bankruptcy. The dominance of the first motivation among ordinary Chinese demonstrates the self-adjustment of local society to the Imperial Examination tracking system.

The formation of ‘gong-yi’ in modern China: A philological perspective

Huanyu Wu

2020, 6(4):  571-614.  doi:10.1177/2057150X20956835

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The Chinese term ‘gong-yi’ (公益), which is usually translated as ‘philanthropy’ or ‘public interest’ in English, has long been regarded as a new modern concept which originated from Japan in the early 20th century. This study, however, finds that it appeared in China no later than the middle of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, its usage had three major meanings: economic benefits; national interests; and local public affairs. The ‘national interest’ meaning of the term was most likely introduced into Japan and was brought back into China in the late 19th century along with the new thinking of the Meiji Restoration. ‘Gong-yi’, with its newly coined meaning, was used as an ideological term to express ideas about reformation in early 20th century China. It was in this capacity that the Chinese ‘gong-yi’ was swiftly popularized and often referred to the reformation as national interest. At the same time, the denotation of ‘gong-yi’ was sometimes ambiguous, wavering between ‘the nation’ and ‘the local’. It reflected the volatile conflict between the state and the local over legitimate control of ‘public’ resources in a transitional period. In my view, the question of to what extent this interlock between the emergence of modern ‘gong-yi’ and the nation’s modern transition might have shaped the historical formation of Chinese citizenship yields insights for the investigation of the nature of Chinese philanthropy and its essence in the public spirit.

Princess Wencheng in historical writing: The difficulty in narrating ethnic history in multi-ethnic China

Juan Wang, Damzhin Cedain

2020, 6(4):  615-645.  doi:10.1177/2057150X20963264

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For a multi-ethnic political entity, whether it is an empire or a nation-state, the key to survival is an inclusive order under which multiple ethnic groups with different heritages coexist peacefully. Historical writing on ethnic groups and interactions among them is an important part of this order. To demonstrate this point, this paper offers an examination of three different historical narratives of Princess Wencheng, the heroine of a “peace-making marriage” of the Tang Empire (AD 618–907), who married Songtsen Gampo, the king of Tubo (the ancient name of Tibet). In the first narrative, which is from Chinese classical literature, Princess Wencheng was treated as an insignificant figure and the text paid much more attention to the ceremony of the “peace-making marriage” than to the princess’s individual traits. In the second narrative, which is from Tibetan ancient literature, the princess was portrayed as the incarnation of “Green Tara”, a tantric deity in Tibetan Buddhism, and supposedly possessed goddess qualities and magical powers. This striking difference reflects the different views about the world and its ideal order of the two ancient civilizations. The third narrative, which was shaped by the nationalist discourse during the first part of the 20th century, depicted a new image of Princess Wencheng, gradually transforming her into a “transmitter of technology.” This paper offers a detailed analysis of this evolution and, furthermore, a critical comment on the historical writing done under the guidance of the so-called “progressive view of history”. Our conclusion provides a theoretical discussion of the structural dilemma for modern China as a multi-ethnic nation-state.