The longstanding debate on the relationship between the civil service examination system in imperial China and social mobility is still an important issue of both historical and contemporary interest. This talk considers the debate from a new angle by examining the role of another institution in the promotion and maintenance of official status during late imperial China, namely the system of office purchase (juanna 捐納) which allowed men to buy substantive appointments directly from the imperial government without ever needing to participate in the civil service examination system. By looking at office purchase from the perspectives of both the seller, in this case the state, and the buyers, which included men from elite families as well as more humble background, this presentation argues that office purchase opened new pathways to political and social advancement that rested on the possession of material wealth. The ladder of success that seemed so narrow and treacherous in the historian’s imagination turned out to be only one among multiples available to ambitious young men of the late imperial period.