Social-Network Analysis: A Relational Perspective

I adopt the perspective provided by social-network analysis theory to examine the career paths of officials whose hometowns were in Donghai.Footnote ¹³ As Karl Marx said, “Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.”Footnote ¹⁴ The intricate connections among historical figures, serving as a social structure, not only channeled the flow of information, resources, and political power, they played a crucial role in geographical and social mobility.

Sorting out the connections among historical players also helps to identify political cliques and social groups. Dividing historical actors into groups is not a new approach, and conventional wisdom generally classifies men into different groups according to their intellectual orientations and political agendas. For the period in question, the standard paradigm portrays the political realm of the early Han in terms of struggles between Ru and Huang-Lao adherents.Footnote ¹⁵ In line with this substantialist approach, Michael Loewe uses different criteria to divide Han officials into modernists and reformists.Footnote ¹⁶ While both of those approaches provide useful perspectives to understand early Chinese empires, social-network analysis offers a different way of identifying social groups, by teasing out connections such as teacher–disciple, superior–subordinate, patron–client, and kinship- or friendship-based ties. It helps us map the configurations of power and explain individuals’ behavior and political attitudes.Footnote ¹⁷

Historical research never ignores relationships, but the systematic excavation of the links among major historical figures has not yet been carried out for early Chinese dynasties. If we consider the ruling class of the Western Han, we soon see that hundreds of historical actors were connected through a great variety of ties. Evidence is scattered. To assemble all the relevant data and overcome the limits of our conventional reading habits and cognitive capacity, historians have turned to special tools. Traditional reference books, such as concordances and indexes, can be helpful. Thanks to the digitization of vast amounts of historical documentation and the creation of new text mining tools, we can now more efficiently reconstruct and visualize the complicated and multidimensional social networks in which historical figures were embedded.Footnote ¹⁸ Such reconstructions help us comprehend history in its richness, but they do much more, revolutionizing our reading habits, transforming our focus from the linear narrative of primary sources to the dynamic play between a range of related stories.

Let me dwell for a moment on a well-known statement regarding Emperor Yuan's promotion of Ru officials. Ban Gu wrote,

Although Yuan's fondness for Ru is presented as the main reason for the success of the three officials, and examination of their social networks reveals other crucial factors. Gong Yu was a classmate of Yan Pengzu 嚴彭祖, a high official,Footnote ²⁰ and his crucial career step was facilitated by Shi Xian 石顯, a powerful eunuch.Footnote ²¹ Wei Xuancheng's father, Wei Xian 韋賢 (fl. 67–70 b.c.e.), was a chancellor,Footnote ²² and Kuang Heng started his remarkable career journey after he became the confidant of Shi Gao 史高, a relative of Emperor Xuan.Footnote ²³ Without such connections, few managed to climb very high in the power pyramid. As important as social connections were to personal success, their significance was often concealed by the rich flow of narratives. Social-network analysis offers a new way to interpret our sources.

In the present study, I do not orient to quantitative analysis; instead I focus on a prominent case, scrutinizing primary sources in light of newly discovered social networks.Footnote ²⁴ I ask, first, what kinds of social factors—family wealth, educational credentials, bureaucratic rank, social networks, or something else—allowed people to distinguish themselves at both the local and the imperial level? I ask whether the officials with roots in Donghai served as bridges connecting the local area to the capital, directing resources back to their hometown and helping their local fellows achieve success. Finally, did assignments to the central government sever their ties to local society, transforming them into capital-dwelling elites who only cared about seeing their relatives take up posts alongside them? I believe that these questions will allow me to explore the relationship between bureaucratic hierarchy and the flow of talents and resources, and to discover which forms of social prestige—academic reputation, wealth, or social networks—could bypass the hierarchical system imposed by the imperial bureaucracy and provide direct access to high positions. I also assess whether the apparent patterns of success of men from Donghai arise only from a bias in the sources, constitute a regional aberration, or suggest a general pattern about success in early imperial China.

Social Networks of Donghai Men

The Donghai commandery consisted of thirty-eight counties inhabited by 358,414 households—around 1,559,257 people.Footnote ²⁵ During the 180 years of the Western Han, twenty-three men from this region achieved empire-wide fame and left their names in The Grand Scribe's Records and The History of the Western Han. Eleven of them came from Lanling 蘭陵 County, and twelve came to prominence simultaneously during the fifty-year span when Emperors Zhao, Xuan, and Yuan reigned (87–33 b.c.e.) (see Table 1).Footnote ²⁶ Among these twelve, two ascended to the top of the bureaucracy, becoming chancellors; three served among the Nine Ministers, officials who occupied the top of the power pyramid along with the Three Dukes; two were appointed as erudites at the Imperial Academy;Footnote ²⁷ and two served respectively as grand tutor and junior tutor to the crown prince. During the period in question, China had a total population of around 57,671,000 (another estimate is 59,594,974),Footnote ²⁸ produced twelve chancellors, and had seventy-four identifiable high officials (Three Dukes and Nine Ministers).Footnote ²⁹ The Donghai region accounted for 2.6 percent of the total population, produced 16 percent of the chancellors and 6.7 percent of the high officials. These dozen Donghai men offer us an excellent opportunity to study how people realized their political aspirations in the Western Han, and how talents and resources flowed between center and periphery.

Table 1. Men from Donghai in the Western Han Dynasty

* We can identify twenty-three men who came from Donghai commandery throughout Western Han times. Three men emerged under Emperor Wu's fifty-four-year rule, thirteen under Emperors Zhao, Xuan, and Yuan's fifty-four-year rule, and seven under Emperors Cheng, Ai and Ping's forty-two-year rule. Examining the geographical regions within Donghai, we find that eleven men came from Lanling county, three from Xiapei, two from Tan, one from Cheng and one from Qi. There were five Donghai men whose native county we cannot locate.

First and foremost, those twelve Donghai men were connected to each other. Nine were bound by teacher–disciple relationships. Meng Qing 孟卿, from Lanling, was deeply learned in the Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals, and among his students were Meng Xi 孟喜, Shu Guang 疏廣, and Hou Cang 后倉; the former was his son, while the latter two were from his hometown.Footnote ³⁰ Hou Cang taught the Book of Songs and the Rites to Xiao Wangzhi 蕭望之, Kuang Heng, and Yi Feng 翼奉. Hou and Xiao came from the same town, while the other two were from neighboring counties. Yan Pengzu received the teachings of the Spring and Autumn Annals from Sui Meng 眭孟, a master who was both the classmate and the disciple of Meng Qing (see Figure 1 and Table 3).Footnote ³¹

Figure 1. (a) Donghai Network Core Circle: Hierarchical Visualization and (b) Donghai Network Core Circle: Non-Hierarchical Visualisation.

In addition to the nine men connected via their schooling, three more natives of Donghai rose to official prominence at the same time—Yan Yannian 嚴延年, Shu Shou 疏受, and Yu Dingguo 于定國. Yan and Shu were linked to some of those mentioned above via family ties: the former was the brother of Yan Pengzu,Footnote ³² and the latter was the nephew of Shu Guang.Footnote ³³ Yan Yannian and Yu Dingguo were legal experts, and both were friendly with Zhang Chang 張敞, a colleague and a good friend of Xiao Wangzhi (see Figure 1).Footnote ³⁴ Judging by their shared hometown, educational backgrounds, and the ties connecting them, the twelve Donghai men composed a relatively coherent social group.

Donghai men established relations with other Ru communities of disciples by studying with different teachers. Meng Xi was sent by his father to study the Changes with Tian Wangsun 田王孫, a mentor to renowned Ru scholars who established three major interpretative schools of the Changes.Footnote ³⁵ Among those twenty disciples of Tian, one became chancellor and six achieved high positions in the latter half of the Western Han. Another Donghai man, Hou Cang, studied with Xiahou Shichang 夏侯始昌, and Hou's classmate Xiahou Sheng 夏侯勝 taught Hou's own disciple Xiao Wangzhi. Xiahou Sheng presided over a community of disciples devoted to the Documents which extended over three generations and comprised seventeen members.Footnote ³⁶ Among those, six labored at the center of imperial politics, becoming members of the Nine Ministers and confidants to emperors (see Figure 2).Footnote ³⁷

Figure 2. Donghai Networks: Main Connections.

To judge from the success of officials from Donghai, Hou Cang appears to have been a crucial figure in this scholarly community. He was the first among them to be named an erudite, and the first to rise to the top level of the power pyramid, appointed as privy treasurer (shaofu 少府)—one of the Nine Ministers—in 72 b.c.e..Footnote ³⁸ Thereafter, his disciples played important roles in both the political and intellectual worlds. Xiao Wangzhi served as one of the Nine Ministers for decades, and Kuang Heng became a chancellor. Three others among his disciples—Dai De 戴德, Dai Sheng 戴聖, Qing Pu 慶普—created their own interpretive schools on The Rites, and two of Hou's students, Yi Feng and Dai Sheng, were appointed erudites.Footnote ³⁹ Also, Hou Cang's classmate, Shu Guang, was appointed to serve as the crown prince's junior tutor seven years after Hou became one of the Nine Ministers.Footnote ⁴⁰

Once the Donghai Ru were in power, they endorsed each other and expanded their network by forming alliances with other Ru officials. They recommended each other, recruited disciples of their fellow classmates as their assistants, and supported each other's political proposals.Footnote ⁴¹ Xiao Wangzhi, for instance, recommended his classmate Kuang Heng to the emperor. Kuang recommended Kong Guang 孔光 as a man of sincere and upright virtue (fangzheng 方正). Kong Guang's father, Kong Ba 孔霸, was a classmate of Hou Cang, Kuang Heng's own teacher. Also, both Kong Ba and Xiao Wangzhi studied under Xiahou Sheng. When Kong Guang became grand secretary, he collaborated with Chancellor Zhai Fangjin 翟方進 to recruit Kuang Heng's disciple Shi Dan 師丹 to serve as a counselor of the palace (guanglu dafu 光祿大夫) and deputy to the chancellor (chengxiang sizhi 丞相司直). Xiao Wangzhi and Zhou Kan 周堪, both students of Xiahou Sheng, formed an alliance to resist the Shi Xian 石顯 eunuch group during Emperor Yuan's reign (see Figure 3).Footnote ⁴²

Figure 3. Networks of Recommendations.

The correlations between endorsements from Ru and their success in officialdom shows that the social network built by officials from Donghai greatly contributed to their bureaucratic rise. Their mutual recognition vividly publicized the power of their social circle. Both their Ru learning and their connections with high officials who shared their intellectual predilections became social capital, helping them win sponsorship outside the Ru community.Footnote ⁴³

Ru Networks as Social Capital

The core members of the Donghai group were Ru, defined by expertise in one of the Five Classics and membership in a teacher–disciple network. In our sources, their success, however, was measured by their official positions. The group's first victory occurred when Hou Cang was named to a high position. The prosperity of this group was revealed by the prominent official positions its members achieved, and the group's academic fame expanded as members won official posts as erudites at the Imperial Academy and as advisers to the emperor. Officialdom became the arena where their aspirations were realized.

While Donghai Ru benefited from mutual support, their entrenchment at the top of the bureaucracy also resulted from the sponsorship they won from powerful men. After graduating from the Imperial Academy, Xiao Wangzhi and Kuang Heng were given insignificant assignments—only with the endorsement of those close to the emperor and other high officials did they start their brilliant careers. As their intellectual community gained visibility, other officials wished to make alliances with them. After working for several years as the captain in command of the east gate to Small Park (xiaoyuan dongmen hou 小苑東門候) did Xiao get a boost from Bing Ji 丙吉, a confidant of Emperor Xuan. Recommended to the regent, Huo Guang 霍光, Xiao failed to make a good impression. Later, Xiao Wangzhi was demoted and served as a functionary in the local county (junli 郡吏). His distinguished career started with the support of Wei Xiang 魏相. The grand secretary recruited Xiao as his own assistant and subsequently recommended him for the post of aide for ceremonial in the Messengers’ Office (daxing zhili cheng 大行治禮丞), a position in the central court charged with managing communication with the kings, marquises, and leaders of other regimes. Thereafter Xiao came to the attention of Emperor Xuan and moved to the center of the political stage.Footnote ⁴⁴

The story of Kuang Heng resembles, in outline, that of Xiao Wangzhi. On graduation from the Imperial Academy, Kuang was appointed a literary functionary (wenxue 文學) in Pingyuan commandery, a low-ranking position in the local government. But the sources indicate that by that date Kuang was already regarded as a refined scholar—Ru scholars in the capital had noticed him. Ban Gu stated,

When probing beneath the surface of this anecdote, which adds to the luster of Kuang's reputation as a scholar, we should recall that Hou Cang, a prominent Ru official, was Kuang's teacher and that Xiao Wangzhi was his classmate. Both Xiao and Kuang studied with Hou for years. Kuang's reputation must have resulted from his teacher–disciple relationship with renowned Ru officials. His fame as a fine scholar in turn attracted the attention of other powerful men. Later, Shi Gao, a relative of the emperor, wished to be known as a patron of talented men, so he recruited Kuang as a functionary in the Consultation Bureau (yicao 議曹) and later recommended him to the emperor. From that launching pad, Kuang soared to his final post as chancellor.Footnote ⁴⁶

Just as economic capital generates more capital, valuable social networks attract outsiders, creating new social connections. Because Ru erudition required many years of study, teacher–disciple relations amounted to a stable form of social capital. When Shi promoted Kuang, he not only obtained a reputation for promoting a bright young man, he also tapped into Kuang's network. As Ban Gu mentioned, at that moment Shi served as commander-in-chief (da sima 大司馬); he felt overshadowed by Xiao Wangzhi, because the latter had once tutored Emperor Yuan. Yang Xing 楊興, the magistrate of Chang'an, persuaded Shi to recruit Kuang as his subordinate, saying,

Whereas Yang praised Kuang for his classical learning, The Grand Scribe's Records indicated that Kuang failed the graduation examination several times at the Imperial Academy.Footnote ⁴⁸ Our sources often conclude that Xiao and Kuang enjoyed great reputations and eventually achieved high positions because of their Ru learning. But when Wei Xian promoted Xiao, both of Xiao's teachers, Hou Cang and Xiahou Sheng, held important positions in the central court. When Kuang was recruited by Shi, his teacher Hou and his classmate Xiao had already ascended to the top level of the bureaucracy. In fact, in the latter half of the Western Han, we find that famous Ru scholars generally had teachers or classmates active in the central court. Xiao and Kuang's reputations resulted from years of study with renowned Ru officials, and their fame as fine scholars in turn expanded the social capital of their new patrons.

The success of the Donghai group, as our sources indicate, was measured by acquiring a high position in the central government. I would like to propose three different models for the dynamic relation between social networks based on Ru learning and the bureaucracy: controlling the positions of erudite and grand tutor; bypassing the low and middle levels of bureaucratic hierarchy; and facilitating regular promotion.

Social Networks and the Positions of Erudite and Grand Tutor

An education in the Ru classics was the sine qua non for being a fine scholar, but empire-wide acknowledgement of scholarly excellence depended on recognition from the emperor, or appointment as erudite at the Imperial Academy.Footnote ⁴⁹ In our sources, I cannot identify one renowned Ru scholar who had no connections with officialdom. Indeed, Ru scholars became renowned precisely because they occupied official positions or taught the crown prince or the emperor. Instead of achieving political power by virtue of fame in the intellectual realm, cases show that it was political power that endowed Ru with authority in the intellectual world. Teacher–disciple connections established through prolonged study with famous Ru officials helped six men from the Donghai circle rise to serve as erudite and two as tutors to the crown prince.Footnote ⁵⁰

In fact, in the latter half of the Western Han the positions of erudite and grand tutor were generally controlled by Ru teacher–disciple networks. Although Ru communities were of no importance in the first half of the dynasty, after the witchcraft scandal reshuffled the power of the upper ruling group, several intertwined Ru teacher–disciple networks, including Donghai's, emerged and thrived.Footnote ⁵¹ While the core members of the Donghai group all came from the same commandery, other groups might comprise men from a variety of regions. But the structure of every network was similar, and was mainly defined by teacher–disciple ties. Little is known about the teachers of the men who served as erudite at the Imperial Academy in the first half of the Western Han era: few names are known and other information is sparse.Footnote ⁵² By sharp contrast, we know that the majority of recorded erudites in the latter half of Western Han dynasty came from Ru circles; they had famous teachers and classmates active in the political realm.Footnote ⁵³

Much the same can be said about the grand tutors who educated crown princes. Before Emperor Zhao took the throne, only two out of eleven tutors were Ru; the rest came from various backgrounds, ranging from merchants to meritorious generals who had helped establish the dynasty. In sharp contrast, in the latter half of the Western Han, with only one exception the twelve grand tutors we know of were all Ru, and all were from flourishing teacher–disciple networks (see Table 2).

Table 2. Grand Tutors and Junior Tutors to Crown Princes in the First Half of the Western Han (206–87 b.c.e.)

There are only two possible explanations for this stunning dichotomy. First, the major Ru teacher–disciple networks formed a relatively closed circle and controlled the evaluation of fellow scholars. Only those in their circle could be elevated to the positions of erudite and grand tutor. Second, the bias of our historian, Ban Gu, may account for the dichotomy: he omitted the erudites and grand tutors who had no connection with major Ru teacher–disciple networks. But one might say that choosing to name certain people itself attests to the dominant role of prominent Ru circles at the Imperial Academy; any erudite or grand tutor who could not lay claim to membership in a major network was marginalized and neglected by his contemporaries.

Social Networks and Bypassing the Bureaucratic Hierarchy

The education provided at the Imperial Academy or from a renowned teacher did little for those who aspired to high office: it allowed them, perhaps, to serve as low-level functionaries. Their deep knowledge of the Ru classics could provide them with a competitive edge, pushing them ahead of other functionaries, but that was only true when this credential was recognized by powerful officials.

As I have mentioned, two of the seven Ru high officials who emerged from Donghai shared a similar career trajectory: Xiao Wangzhi and Kuang Heng graduated from the Imperial Academy, served as low-level functionaries in local government, were recruited as confidants by powerful officials, caught the eye of the emperor, and obtained direct appointments as high officials. Their contemporary Chu Shaosun 褚少孫 noted,

Note that they were not distinguished by administrative competence, and in fact they accumulated little experience as bureaucrats. Both Xiao and Kuang were stranded as low-level functionaries for years, unable to advance through administrative merit (gonglao 功勞). This squares with Wang Chong's observation on Ru. He said that when dealing with the trivial daily of the bureaucracy—investigating crimes, keeping records on households, or even checking for mouse holes at the state granaries, expertise in the Five Classics did not offer Ru much advantage at all.Footnote ⁵⁵ Instead of climbing the ladder of success step by step, Xiao and Kuang leapt directly from the low level of the bureaucracy to great heights. Their meteoric ascents depended on both their Ru expertise and the sponsorship of prominent officials.

Once Ru dwelt in Chang'an and had access to the center of politics, their learning—which was of little use in handling the nitty-gritty of local affairs—became a valuable asset. Both Xiao and Kuang expressed political opinions grounded in cosmological theory and carefully reasoned morality. Xiao impressed Emperor Xuan by analyzing omens that indicted the regent Huo Guang for overplaying his hand. Kuang secured a promotion by elaborating the political significance of an earthquake and a solar eclipse, and by advising the emperor both to live frugally and to promote rituals in order to transform the behavior of the people.

While he admired their learning in the Five Classics, the emperor had not overlooked their lack of practical experience in administration. He mentioned it. Instead of feeling shame, they lambasted the triviality of administrative work and stubbornly defended their backgrounds. Emperor Xuan once appointed Xiao as governor of Pingyuan in the hope that he might benefit from practical experience. But Xiao refused to accept this appointment, insisting in a memorial that running a commandery was of no importance:

Xiao might have been applying realistic calculations, as serving in a commandery far away from the capital meant being excluded from the political center of the capital. But he tried to persuade the emperor by distinguishing “remonstrating officials” (諫官) from “commandery bureaucrats” (郡吏), and by contrasting “formulating political principles” (政事) with “administration” (治). He aggressively claimed that the state relied on remonstrating officials’ critique of politics and the formulation of correct political principles, while administration of a local region was of no significance.

When the emperor read this bold exhortation, he summoned Xiao back to the court and promoted him to privy treasurer. Ban Gu said that while Xiao's talent was suitable for the position of chancellor, the emperor still wanted to test his administrative ability, which may be why he then demoted Xiao to eastern supporter of the capital, one of the three administrators of the metropolitan area. When Xiao concluded that the ruler was displeased, he used illness as an excuse to resign. This led the emperor to address the following message to his trying subject:

Whereas the emperor acknowledged Xiao's expertise in the Ru classics and was impressed by his eloquent discussion of policy issues, he was also concerned with Xiao's lack of administrative experience. Appointing Xiao governor of Pingyuan and later governor of the capital would enable him to observe how this promising official could implement his political ideas in daily administration (欲詳試其政事).Footnote ⁵⁸ Those arrangements were consistent with the emperor's standard for promotion—employing men who proved themselves as competent administrators (所用皆更治民以考功). However, Xiao took a strong stance, refusing to be evaluated by his administrative performance. According to Xiao, helping the emperor create proper policies for the empire far outweighed the administration of a single region.

Xiao not only disdained bureaucratic skills, he scoffed at those who advanced by accumulating administrative merit. Emperor Yuan once asked him whether an old friend of his, Zhang Chang, might be suitable to serve as the tutor of the crown prince. He replied that Zhang “is a capable bureaucrat, assuming responsibility for managing chaos and handling complicated administrative affairs.” But, he added, “his talent is superficial, and he is not suitable to serve as a mentor” (以為敞能吏，任治煩亂，材輕非師傅之器).Footnote ⁵⁹

Generally, expertise in the Five Classics helped little when it was time to control bandits, investigate crimes, collect taxes, or submit an annual report of expenses and revenue. Instead, classical learning, as embodied cultural capital, could realize its value when Ru contributed to realizing major political principles and designing general policies. Xiao Wangzhi's and Kuang Heng's stories represented gradually routinized career patterns of Ru success: by serving as the confidant or teacher of the emperor they secured high positions. Direct access to the throne or to those with power helped Ru bypass the bureaucratic hierarchy and realize their political dream—direct promotion to the center of the political world.Footnote ⁶⁰ But this model of success required a crucial factor: an existing social network comprising prominent Ru officials.

Throughout the two centuries of the Western Han, there were men who rose to power without a family history of official service, without much administrative skill or military accomplishments. However, those lucky men were a minority, accounting for less than ten percent of hundreds of recorded officials, and their careers typically followed one of three paths:

1. 1) Vaulting promotion during a political crisis. Half of the cases of direct appointment resulted from brilliant accomplishments during political crises or close connections to the emperor. For example, Wei Buhai 魏不害 (fl. 87 b.c.e.), working as a prison clerk, helped to capture the leader of a rebellion—he was made a marquis and later served as one of the Nine Ministers.Footnote ⁶¹ Huo Guang was the confidant of Emperor Wu; he was appointed regent to the crown prince when the aged emperor was approaching death.Footnote ⁶²

2. 2) Direct appointment due to special skills or beauty. Emperors seem to have been impressed by alchemists who claimed to be able to fashion gold and elixirs—and by men of great beauty. Often such men were regarded by contemporaries as crafty and fawning (jianning 奸佞), likely to corrupt the emperor. While they often received generous salaries and high-status posts, their political power was negligible. As soon as the emperor died, such men were deprived of their positions—some were even executed.Footnote ⁶³

3. 3) Direct appointment due to literary accomplishments. These were generally Ru who produced distinguished statements on policy issues. Without a powerful family to provide access to power and without administrative or military accomplishments to attest to their merits, candidates for office could rely on writings, particularly writings on political principles and major political issues, to prove their talent and intelligence. These Ru were widely acknowledged to be able; their memorials to the emperor were preserved, and their stories became models to be emulated.

The last group can be in turn divided into two. Ru obtaining vaulting promotions in the first half of the Western Han had generally been recommended to the emperor by officials employed by local counties—I could not identify one who had a significant social network in the capital. Relying on the emperor to secure an important position was not a safe career strategy. One famous example is the story of Gongsun Hong 公孫弘. The first time this Ru was recommended to the central court, he was quickly dismissed after being sent on a diplomatic mission to the Xiongnu 匈奴; his report left the emperor unsatisfied, and he concluded that Gongsun was incompetent. An unusually long-lived man, he was recommended once again in his seventies, and on that occasion Emperor Wu, previously unimpressed, appointed him to an important post.Footnote ⁶⁴ Dongfang Shuo 東方朔, celebrated for his prose, moaned with frustration when he failed to gain the recognition of the emperor. How could it be, he wondered, that he was never entrusted with any mission, never appointed to an administrative position, even though he, as a gentleman-assistant, had constant access to the throne?Footnote ⁶⁵ In the first half of the Western Han, a bit more than one hundred years, fewer than ten men recommended to the court by local counties became imperial confidants, and those who did seldom rose to top positions.Footnote ⁶⁶

Ru obtaining direct appointment to high positions in the latter half of the Western Han were a different story. First, they had already established networks in the capital, with teachers or classmates serving in prominent positions. Second, there were far more of them than there had been in the first half of the dynasty. As mentioned, Ru frequently endorsed or recommended men within their networks. It became common for promising men to begin their rise to prominence by securing posts as advisors to those with power or as tutors to the crown prince, using proximity to the throne to catapult to high positions. Social networks predictably channeled the flow of information and power.Footnote ⁶⁷

While the vaulting path from advisor or tutor occurred often enough to become a recognizable strategy, it was never exactly popular. Not only were advisory and tutoring positions limited in number, mastering the Ru classics was a serious challenge, requiring intellectual talent and more than ten years of commitment. The sons of Ru high officials seldom embraced the challenge. Among the forty-seven pairs of teacher–disciple relationships connected to Donghai, I have been able to identify only four father–son pairs. In some cases, the sons studied with their own fathers, but this was not always the case (see Table 3). Without prolonged training in the Ru classics, the majority of Ru officials’ sons simply sought modest bureaucratic offices, climbing the ladder of success from the county level via their networks as well as their administrative accomplishments.Footnote ⁶⁸ Xiao Wangzhi's sons are cases to in point. Although Xiao was a prominent Ru official, none of his three sons was interested in the classics. Instead, their career paths closely resembled those of descendants of non-Ru high officials. Serving as a gentleman-attendant at a young age, Xiao Yu 蕭育 rose to serve as vice commandant (fu xiaowei 副校尉), then magistrate, then governor of various regions; eventually he was promoted to high positions in the central court. Xiao Xian 蕭咸 and Xiao You 蕭由 also served in commandaries for years and enjoyed the reputation of being “capable bureaucrats” (nengli 能吏). While the network the Xiao brothers had enjoyed from a young age secured their ascendance in the bureaucratic hierarchy, they spent decades in different regions accumulating administrative experience before graduating to the center of politics and becoming high officials.

Table 3. Donghai Expanded Network: Disciples

Social Networks and Technical Bureaucrats

Three high officials from Donghai accumulated administrative experience in local areas before they secured their positions in the central court. Yan Pengzu was a Ru, whereas both Yan Yannian and Yu Dingguo studied law as young men. They all served in regional governments for decades; two of them started out as functionaries in commanderies. Two factors helped the three men distinguish themselves from thousands of contenders: their administrative accomplishments and their connections with officials in the central government.Footnote ⁶⁹ All exhibited talent in and considerable knowledge (caigao 材高) about legal affairs, and the evaluations of their administrative performance were often laudatory (gaodi 高第). Besides their membership in the Donghai circle, Yan Pengzu was a classmate of Gong Yu, who once served as chancellor; Yu Dingguo and Yan Pengzu were good friends of Zhang Chang, who served as governor of the capital for nine years.

The sources show that no one from Donghai achieved fame or social prestige independent of officialdom. Whether a devotee of the Ru classics or a legal expert, all relied on a position in the bureaucracy to define their success. Interestingly, the sources on Donghai seldom mention family wealth. We do know that Kuang Heng came from a poor family: he labored with his hands to support himself when pursuing studies at the Imperial Academy.Footnote ⁷⁰ Xiao Wangzhi must have come from a rather wealthy family. The Han court forced the powerful and rich local families to relocate to the suburbs of the capital—site of the mausoleums of the deceased emperors—and Xiao's family was among them.Footnote ⁷¹

Networks and Regional Identities

The Donghai group was defined by geographical origin, but winning distinction depended on transcending both regional boundaries and regional identity. The first step was to leave one's hometown and take up residence at the capital, where the most important networks were generally established.

Born in Donghai, Xiao Wangzhi moved with his family to Duling 杜陵, a suburb of the capital.Footnote ⁷² That permitted him to study with Hou Cang, his fellow townsman, and Xiahou Sheng, a native of the Lu region. When the father of Yan Pengzu and Yan Yannian was named assistant to the chancellor (chengxiang yuan 丞相掾), the family moved to Chang'an. Yan Yannian is said to have studied law in the office of the chancellor (chengxiang fu 丞相府), and Yan Pengzu, as previously mentioned, studied the classics with Sui Meng.Footnote ⁷³ Kuang Heng's family resided in Donghai, but the promising young scholar followed Hou Cang to Chang'an after the latter was appointed an erudite.

Meng Xi's training with Tian Wangsun reinforced the links between the Donghai group and those who studied The Changes. Two pieces of evidence pinpoint the site where this crucial teacher–disciple relationship was formed:

Shi Chou went to the capital to resume his studies with Tian; Liangqiu He 梁丘賀 served in the palace while studying with Tian; Meng Xi was their classmate. Therefore, we can assert that Meng must have been in the capital when he studied with Tian.Footnote ⁷⁶

By now it should be apparent that traveling to Chang'an to pursue Ru studies was not uncommon. Wang Ji 王吉, a native of Langya 瑯琊, started his career in local government, but as a young man he studied in the capital. He, in turn, ordered his son Wang Jun 王駿 to study with Liangqiu He, a powerful Ru official in the central government.Footnote ⁷⁷ Zhai Fangjin was a low-ranking functionary in the office of a governor (taishou fu 太守府) when his ambition drove him to resign so that he might relocate to Chang'an in order to study with an erudite.Footnote ⁷⁸ Zhang Yu 張禹 was a native of Zhi 軹 County in Henei 河內 commandery; he too made his way to Chang'an, where he studied with several erudites.Footnote ⁷⁹ Wang Jun became one of the Nine Ministers, and both Zhai Fangjin and Zhang Yu rose to become chancellors. The famed Ru scholars who converged upon the Imperial Academy and took posts in the central government attracted brilliant young students to the capital from all over the empire. This appears to be confirmed by the fact that teacher–disciple relationships usually crossed regional boundaries, and by the habit of prominent Ru of studying with different masters.Footnote ⁸⁰

Once the Donghai group appeared in the capital, it exerted itself to absorb members from other regions. Whereas Meng Qing—the Donghai pioneer—and his students came from a single county, the next generation recruited students regardless of their geographical origins. Among Hou Cang's seven students, three were from Donghai; the other four came from Pei 沛 and Liang 梁. Meng Xi taught three disciples, only one of whom was said to be a native of Donghai. Within two generations regional identity had ceased to matter in the network.

Center and Periphery: Becoming Capital Elites

Of the various Ru groups active in Chang'an during the Western Han, the Donghai circle was probably the most prominent in terms of its regional identity. Did these Ru officials direct resources back to their native region, helping their fellows achieve success? Or did their positions in the central government alienate them from local society so that they focused almost exclusively on giving their descendants opportunities in the imperial bureaucracy?

Available sources lead to one conclusion: after leaving their hometown for the capital, those Donghai men drew others from the same region into their social networks, helping them achieve success. But their focus was on the capital. Four of the ten disciples of Meng Xi and Hou Cang came from Donghai, but even they first encountered their masters in the imperial capital, and they themselves soon became members of the capital elite, spending little time in their hometown.Footnote ⁸¹

The families of three Donghai natives—Xiao Wangzhi, Kuang Heng, and Yu Dingguo—evolved into powerful capital elites. Yu and Kuang served as chancellors and were enffeoffed, their lands drawing them far from their home counties. Their sons inherited the rank of marquis, making them candidates for high officialdom in the central court.Footnote ⁸² Xiao's three sons all chose to become bureaucrats at a young age, serving as magistrates or governors in the different provinces for decades before they became prominent officials in the central court. None of them were said to have expertise in the Ru classics. In fact, the true focus of the network built by the children of men from Donghai was primarily concentrated on men in the capital from other powerful families. Few Ru were mentioned as their cronies, not even the disciples of their Ru fathers.Footnote ⁸³

Of the Donghai dozen, we know of one, Shu Guang, who quite exceptionally retained a close tie to his native place. After serving as grand tutor to the crown prince for five years (his nephew became a junior tutor), he returned to Donghai, where as a teacher he attracted students from near and far. We know little of the life he led there, except that every day he invited relatives and old friends to a banquet where they feasted and entertained one another.Footnote ⁸⁴

A few others preserved connections with their hometown. After acquiring legal expertise at the office of the chancellor, Yan Yannian returned to Donghai to start his career as a functionary.Footnote ⁸⁵ While both Yan Yannian and his brother Yan Pengzu assumed various positions throughout the empire, their mother seems to have lived in Donghai.Footnote ⁸⁶ Yu Dingguo once expressed a desire to recommend those from his native county to the governor of Donghai but failed.Footnote ⁸⁷

When one reflects that the study of The Ritual during the latter half of the Western Han was entirely based on the teachings of one resident of Donghai—Meng Qing—it seems reasonable to imagine that an active intellectual community flourished there, with links to many powerful local families. But we will never know whether this was the case, as the authors of all extant documents cared little about any place but the imperial capital. Those who never won glory in the imperial capital remain shadowy figures.Footnote ⁸⁸ This observation can be further confirmed by another example. Wei Xian was a renowned Ru scholar from the Lu region who specialized in The Songs. It is said that because Wei became renowned as a great master, he was summoned to Chang'an to serve as an erudite and eventually ascended to the post of chancellor. His son Wei Xuancheng followed him to that post. This inspired the people of the Zou-Lu 鄒魯 region to frame the adage “Better to leave your children a single classic than a basket full of gold” (遺子黃金滿籯，不如一經). But we know nothing about the Ru community of Zou-Lu, nor has the name of a single one of Wei Xian's hometown disciples survived.Footnote ⁸⁹