Meritocracy has been the principle of social mobility in China
for thousands of years, and education has played a central role
in the realization of meritocratic principles. Education has
been the ladder for upward social mobility for all, and this
principle has been one of the enduring legacies of the Chinese
civilization.Our study
examines the role of meritocracy in access to elite education in
China since 1949 by examining trends and patterns in social
origins of the undergraduate students at one of the most
prestigious and selective universities in China: Peking
University. The original data consist of registration records
held at Peking University Archive Department for 64,500
undergraduate students who were admitted into Peking University
from 1949 to 1999. Our analysis makes use of tabulations
produced at the Archives Department. We examine changes over
time in students' parental occupation, geographic location, and
previous schooling by gender and academic discipline.
To our knowledge, this is the
first systematic study of trends and patterns in the social
origins of students at an elite university in China. Many if not
most elite universities in developed countries routinely
disseminate tabulations of the characteristics of incoming
freshmen. But, until recently, very few Chinese universities
have routinely compiled and disseminated descriptive statistics
about their incoming freshmen classes in the same way as
universities in developed countries. Our analysis of tabulations
of the characteristics of entering students at Peking University
will make an important contribution to the study of elite
education in China. |
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Preliminary analysis has produced
some expected and unexpected findings. First of all, while
students from non-working class families are over-represented in
the composition of the students admitted, we have found a
substantial proportion of students with a working class family
background. Furthermore, this pattern has been remarkably stable
over time, especially in light of the increasing economic
inequality in China over the past three decades. Secondly, we
have found a steady increase of female students at Peking
University, and this trend continued after the Economic Reforms
started in 1978. Third, our findings reveal a clear pattern of
unequal distribution of elite education among regions, which is
closely related to the regional differences in socio-economic
development. Forth, our findings show a clear pathway to a top
university in China: key-point high school. A disproportionate
number of Peking University undergraduate students come from a
limited number of high schools in China.
In our study, we also compare
results for Peking University data with parallel results for
Suzhou University, which is a provincial level university in
China. Such comparisons further shed light on the process of the
elite production in China. Our preliminary findings have shown
that the two universities differ significantly in the social
origins of their students. They also differ in other processes
such as the role of key-point of high schools in getting into a
national or provincial elite university in China.
Elite education is one of the
most important factors in elite production and reproduction in
any society. China provides an interesting case where a legacy
of meritocracy interacts with sometimes conflicting cultural,
social and economic forces. By analyzing trends and patterns in
the characteristics of incoming students at an elite
institution, we hope to contribute to the understanding of a
crucial aspect of social stratification in China. |
