The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China: A Social History of Examinations

This book explores the profound cultural impact of the civil service examinations during the period when they first became the primary means of government recruitment.

John W. Chaffee is Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Department of History at State University of New York, Binghamton. He is coeditor of NeoConfucian Education: The Formative Stage, and former editor of the Bulletin of Sung Yuan Studies.