Journal paper

Issue No.	No. 68
Title	The Development of Biographies in Local Gazetteers during the Song Dynasty and the Literati Families
Author	Lee, Tsong-han
Page	105-158
Abstract	This paper describes the changes that gazetteers underwent during the course of the Song dynasty. At the start of the dynasty, gazetteers conformed to the style of the gazetteers of previous Sui and Tang dynasties; their subject matter was primarily geographical information, with no attention devoted to the writing of individual biographies. Things began to change after the reign of Song Taizong. He increased the number of jinshi that were allowed, and within two or three generations many communities saw the emergence of a literati class. Gazetteers, in turn, began to chronicle the lives of the literati. After 1190, various clans became especially successful in passing the civil service exam, with as many as 40% of all jinshi received going to just a few prominent families. Chronicles of these families began to appear in gazetteers; some of them even had a new category designed specifically to highlight the achievements of various families in passing the civil service exam and in obtaining official posts. From these considerations, it emerges that during the Song dynasty, prominent families became a force that had to be reckoned with both in local politics and in the imperial service exams.
Keyword	local gazetteers, biographies, literati families, civil service examinations
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