Қытай империясындағы журен дәрежесі

Former rank in Imperial China

Juren (; 'recommended man') was a rank achieved by people who passed the xiangshi exam in the imperial examination system of imperial China. It was a rank higher than the shengyuan rank, but lower than the jinshi rank, which was the highest degree. A second, less widespread pathway to gaining the juren rank was through office purchase. Those with the juren rank gained gentry status and experienced social, political and economic privileges accordingly. The juren title was also awarded in the military examination system in imperial China. Those who were recommended for civil service were required to pass a central government examination before they were awarded an official title. The civil service examination system was first officially established in the Sui dynasty.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were two pathways to gaining the juren rank: one, through the civil examination system; the other, through office purchase. This process was called the zhengtu , or the regular path. Candidates were required to participate in all three stages of the examination. A quota system at the provincial level controlled the number of juren titles awarded. Obtaining the juren degree through the civil examination pathway was a difficult process, with competition notably increasing during the Ming dynasty. By 1630, there were approximately 49200 candidates from across China competing for 1279 juren degrees, with only 2.6% of candidates successfully obtaining the degree. It was only during the Ming dynasty when sons of merchants were first legally allowed to take any civil examination. Examiners would be removed from office if it was found that they had favoured a particular candidate during the grading of the exams. Candidates were rejected for writing in any structure which diverged from this standardised form. However, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, passing the provincial examination and obtaining the juren degree entitled the degree holder to obtain a lower level government official role. In the late Ming dynasty, juren were placed in posts of county magistrates, as well as directors and subdirectors of schools. However, by the end of the Ming dynasty and into the Qing dynasty, jinshi degree holders had begun to displace juren degree holders in high level official positions. An additional benefit of the juren degree was that the title was awarded for life, unlike the lower prefectural shengyuan degree. The legal privileges experienced by juren include exemption from labour services required of all commoners except civil examination degree holders.