Prosopographical Survey of Lecturers at the Directorate School in Early Northern Song China (960-1050)

Abstract

This paper discusses how biographical data of the lecturers at the Directorate School in early Northern Song (960-1050) China are extracted, converted, verified, visualized and analyzed. Through this prosopographical survey of lecturers, I aim to address the following questions: to what extent did the scholarly background of lecturers shape students’ learning at the Directorate of Education? To what degree did the geographical background of a lecturer cast an impact on his intellectual inclination? What explains the changes of lecturers’ appointment, and how did such changes shed light on the relationship between government education and examination? Answers to the above questions may help us to rethink an important historical question in Chinese history: to what extent were reforms at the metropolitan educational institutions in the Qingli (1041-1048) era revolutionary?