Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers,
Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics

No 14-2025: Minority Bureaucrats’ Networks and Career Progression: Evidence from the Chinese Maritime Customs Service

Yan Hu () and Stephan Maurer ()
Additional contact information
Yan Hu: Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School, Postal: Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics, Porcelaenshaven 16 A. 1. floor, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Stephan Maurer: University of Edinburgh,

Abstract: Do minorities benefit from social networks? In this paper, we study this ques-tion using the historical example of China’s first modern bureaucratic organization, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. Drawing on newly digitized personnel records from 1876-1911, we first show that the Chinese clerks employed by the service were predomi-nantly Cantonese. Using the plausibly exogenous transfers of clerks across stations, we then estimate that a non-Cantonese (minority) clerk benefited significantly from meeting at least one colleague from his same province and dialect. Such connections led to faster promotion and a 5.6% salary increase, with even stronger effects when meeting a clerk who was either senior or of high quality.

Keywords: Chinese Maritime Customs Service; Social connections; Wages; Promotion; Minorities

JEL-codes: J15; J31; J45; N35; N75

Language: English

41 pages, December 2025

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