Chinese Reforms and The Adapting Life of Gentry

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the time, such as Lin Dapeng, can be studied to better understand the struggles they faced and how they adapted to the changing world of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Lin Dapeng was a member of the Chinese gentry, who like many other educated political exam degree holders, sought to further their position within Chinese society through the imperial civil service exams. For years Lin and others studied the classical texts of Confucious and Mencious, hoping to become part of the elite few that managed to advance into the upper levels of Chinese society. However, their dreams came to an end with the government’s reforms to the political exams. They now tested candidates on modern Western ideas, rather than the classical texts Lin and others had labored over for years. Having already dedicated decades of their lives to the study of classics, many saw no hope for them within the new exam system. No longer having a purpose in big cities, many gentry returned to ...

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shape in China. These new positions provided the former gentry with a sense of purpose during this period of uncertainty.
At home, Lin worked on the farm where he was able to live a simple life as the hermit gentleman he had dreamed about. Lin enjoyed farming as according to him it was, “the ultimate example of diligence, determination, and personal responsibility…” (Harrison 143). Farming, for Lin, was a retreat to a comfortable space where he was able to live the simplistic life he had learned about in his studies. In fact, Lin lived his life very closely adhering to the conservative Chinese ways, waking early to meditate, practicing calligraphy in the traditional script, ...

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