Three Zhuangyuan in One Home
'Three Zhuangyuan in One Home'
Yangjiabu, Shandong
52 x 30 cm
While figure 1 suggests that happiness might be achieved through quick profits, the most honourable source of prosperity was to win an official title and civil service posting. The lowest titles could be purchased, but ideally they were earned through the competitive examination system that tested aspiring bureaucrats on the Confucian classics. This picture represents an especially studious home with many students absorbing their texts. At the front gate the flagpoles indicate that this family has already had at least one member attain the highest level of the examinations, and the arriving messenger brings news that this honour has been repeated. This family appears to understand the means by which they might retain elite status - that is by using the financial security brought by examination success in one generation to produce subsequent generations of successful scholars.
