Regeneration of the Social Dominance Relations and the Field of Post-Imperial Examination

This chapter explores the field of post-imperial examination and the regeneration of social dominance in Hunan from 1905 to 1913. Schools replaced the examination system but tied to global/Western powers via studying abroad. The central power weakened as local bureaucrats/gentry-controlled education with more private and public schools. New cultural capital (school experience) stayed with former elites; Family background, high tuition, and uneven school distribution (urban-centric, coastal-inland gaps) limited lower-class mobility. Meanwhile, the first-generation new-style students developed an “anti-institutional impulse” driven by loosened family bonds, homogeneous group dynamics, radical ideas from books/societies, and backlash against school oppression. This special, unstable, and delegitimate habitus led many to exit education for military and politics, shaping Hunan&s;s social landscape in the age of post-imperial examination.