View source for Four occupations

{{Short description|Ancient classification of people}}
[[File:T'ang Yin 002.jpg|thumb|upright|A painting of a [[Gentry (China)|gentry scholar]] with two courtesans, by [[Tang Yin]], c. 1500]]
The '''four occupations''' ({{zh |t = 士農工商
|s = 士农工商|p=Shì nóng gōng shāng}}), or "'''four categories of the people'''" ({{zh|c=四民|p=sì mín|links=no}}),<ref name="Outcast">Hansson, pp. 20-21</ref><ref name="brook 72">Brook, 72.</ref> was an [[job|occupation]] [[International Standard Classification of Occupations|classification]] used in [[History of China|ancient China]] by either [[Confucianism|Confucian]] or [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalist]] scholars as far back as the late [[Zhou dynasty]] and is considered a central part of the [[fengjian]] [[Social structure of China|social structure]] (c. 1046–256 BC).<ref name="fairbank 108">Fairbank, 108.</ref> These were the ''[[wiktionary:士|shi]]'' (warrior nobles, and later on [[Gentry (China)|gentry]] scholars), the ''[[wiktionary:农|nong]]'' (peasant farmers),  the ''[[wiktionary:工|gong]]'' (artisans and craftsmen), and the ''[[wiktionary:商|shang]]'' (merchants and traders).<ref name="fairbank 108"/>
The four occupations were not always arranged in this order.<ref name =guliang>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=zh |title=Guliang Zhuan |wslink=春秋穀梁傳/成公 |quote=古者有四民：有士民，有商民、有農民、有工民。夫甲，非人人之所能為也。丘作甲，非正也。}}</ref><ref name=xunzi>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=zh |title=Xunzi |wslink=荀子/王制篇 |quote=農農、士士、工工、商商}}</ref> The four categories were not socioeconomic classes; wealth and standing did not correspond to these categories, nor were they hereditary.<ref name="Outcast" /><ref name="Feudalism and Non European Societies" />

The system did not factor in all social groups present in premodern Chinese society, and its broad categories were more an idealization than a practical reality. The [[commercialism|commercialization]] of Chinese society in the [[Song dynasty|Song]] and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] periods further blurred the lines between these four occupations. The definition of the identity of the ''shi'' class changed over time—from warriors to aristocratic scholars, and finally to scholar-bureaucrats. There was also a gradual fusion of the wealthy merchant and landholding gentry classes, culminating in the late Ming dynasty.

In some manner, this system of social order was adopted throughout the [[Chinese cultural sphere]]. In Japanese it is called {{nihongo|"Shi, nō, kō, shō"|士農工商|shinōkōshō}}, and the three under the [[samurai]] class were equal social and occupational classifications,<ref name="tokyoshoseki"/><ref name="uki300823"/><ref name="shimonoseki"/> while the ''shi'' was modified into a hereditary class, the samurai.<ref name=gdvhw>{{cite book|title=Japan's invisible race: caste in culture and personality|url=https://archive.org/details/japansinvisibler00devorich|url-access=registration|author=George De Vos and Hiroshi Wagatsuma|publisher=University of California Press|year=1966|isbn=978-0-520-00306-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Japanese Fashion: A Cultural History|author=Toby Slade|publisher=Berg|isbn=978-1-84788-252-3|year=2009}}</ref> In Korean it is called "Sa, nong, gong, sang" ({{korean|hangul=사농공상|hanja=士農工商|labels=no}}), and in Vietnamese is called "Sĩ, nông, công, thương" (士農工商). The main difference in adaptation was the definition of the ''shi'' (士).

== Background ==
[[File:Along the River During the Qingming Festival (detail of original).jpg|thumb|left|Street scene in Bianjing (modern [[Kaifeng]])]]
From existing literary evidence, commoner categories in China were employed for the first time during the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC).<ref name="barbieri low 2007 37">Barbieri-Low (2007), 37.</ref> Despite this, [[Han dynasty|Eastern-Han]] (AD 25–220) historian [[Ban Gu]] (AD 32–92) asserted in his ''[[Book of Han]]'' that the four occupations for commoners had existed in the [[Zhou dynasty|Western Zhou]] (c. 1050–771 BC) era, which he considered a [[golden age]].<ref name="barbieri low 2007 37"/> However, it is now known that the classification of four occupations as Ban Gu understood it did not exist until the 2nd century BC.<ref name="barbieri low 2007 37"/> Ban explained the social hierarchy of each group in descending order:

<blockquote>Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants; each of the four peoples had their respective profession. Those who studied in order to occupy positions of rank were called the ''shi'' (scholars). Those who cultivated the soil and propagated grains were called ''nong'' (farmers). Those who manifested skill (''qiao'') and made utensils were called ''gong'' (artisans). Those who transported valuable articles and sold commodities were called ''shang'' (merchants).<ref>Barbieri-Low (2007), 36–37.</ref></blockquote>

The [[Rites of Zhou]] described the four groups in a different order, with merchants before farmers.<ref name="Routledge">{{cite book |last1=Tang |first1=Lixing |title=Merchants and Society in Modern China: Rise of Merchant Groups China Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1351612999 |chapter=1}}</ref> The Han-era text ''[[Guliang Zhuan]]'' placed merchants second after scholars,<ref name=guliang /> and the Warring States-era ''[[Xunzi (book)|Xunzi]]'' placed farmers before scholars.<ref name=xunzi /> The ''[[Shuo Yuan]]'' mentioned a quotation which stressed the ideal of equality between the four occupations.<ref>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=zh |title=Shuo Yuan |wslink=說苑/卷07 |quote=春秋曰：四民均則王道興而百姓寧；所謂四民者，士、農、工、商也。}}</ref>

Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, Professor of Early Chinese History at the [[University of California, Santa Barbara]], writes that the classification of "four occupations" can be viewed as a mere rhetorical device that had no effect on government policy.<ref name="barbieri low 2007 37"/> However, he notes that although no statute in the Qin or Han law codes specifically mentions the four occupations, some laws did treat these broadly classified social groups as separate units with different levels of legal privilege.<ref name="barbieri low 2007 37"/>

The categorisation was sorted according to the principle of economic usefulness to state and society, that those who used mind rather than muscle (scholars) were placed first, with farmers, seen as the primary creators of wealth, placed next, followed by artisans, and finally merchants who were seen as a social disturbance for excessive accumulation of wealth or erratic fluctuation of prices.<ref name="Kuhn">{{cite book |last1=Kuhn |first1=Philip A. |title=Chinese views of social classification, in James L. Watson, Class and Social stratification in post-Revolution China |date=1984 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521143845 |pages=20–21}}</ref> Beneath the four occupations were the "mean people" ({{zh |賤民}} ''jiànmín''), outcasts from "humiliating" occupations such as entertainers and prostitutes.<ref name="Outcast1">Hansson, 28-30</ref>

The four occupations were not a hereditary system.<ref name="Outcast" /><ref name="Feudalism and Non European Societies">{{cite book|last1=Byres|first1=Terence|last2= Mukhia|first2=Harbans|title=Feudalism and Non European Societies|year=1985|publisher=[[Frank Cass and Co.]] |location=London|isbn=0-7146-3245-7|pages=213, 214}}</ref> The four occupations system differed from those of European feudalism in that people were not born into the specific classes, such that, for example, a son born to a gong craftsman was able to become a part of the shang merchant class, and so on. Theoretically, any man could become an official through the Imperial examinations.<ref name="Outcast1"/>

From the fourth century BC, the ''shi'' and some wealthy merchants wore [[Shenyi|long flowing silken robes]], while the working class wore trousers.<ref name="gernet 129 130">Gernet, 129–130.</ref>

{{anchor|shi|scholar|gentry|yeoman}}

== Shī (士) ==
=== Ancient Warrior class ===
{{See also|Six Arts}}
[[File:Periodo degli stati combattenti o dinastia han occidentale, conchiglie doipinte con scene di caccia e di uccisione, 300-100 ac ca. 02.jpg|thumb|left|Chariot archer, c. 300 BC]]
During the ancient [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] (1600–1046 BC), [[Western Zhou]] (1046–771 BC), [[Spring and Autumn period|Spring and Autumn]] (770-481 BC), and early [[Warring States period|Warring States]] (475-221 BC) periods, the ''shi'' were a knightly social order of low-level aristocratic lineage compared to [[Chinese nobility|dukes and marquises]].<ref name="ebrey 22">Ebrey (2006), 22.</ref> The ''shi'' were distinguished by their right to ride and command battles from chariots, while they also served civil functions.<ref name="ebrey 22"/> Initially rising to power through controlling the new technology of [[History of metallurgy in China|bronzeworking]], from 1300 BC, the ''shi'' transitioned from foot knights to being primarily chariot [[Chinese archery|archers]], fighting with [[composite bow|composite]] [[recurve bow|recurved]] bow, a double-edged sword known as the ''[[jian]]'', and armour.<ref name=peers>Peers, pp. 17, 20, 24, 31</ref>

The ''shi'' had a strict code of [[chivalry]]. In the battle of Zheqiu, 420 BC, the ''shi'' Hua Bao shot at and missed another ''shi'' Gongzi Cheng, and just as he was about to shoot again, Gongzi Cheng said that it was unchivalrous to shoot twice without allowing him to return a shot. Hua Bao lowered his bow and was subsequently shot dead.<ref name=peers/><ref>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=zh |title=Zuo Zhuan |wslink=春秋左氏傳/昭公#昭公二十一年 |chapter=昭公二十一年 |quote=將注豹．則關矣．曰．平公之靈．尚輔相余．豹射出其間．將注．則又關矣．曰．不狎鄙．抽矢．城射之．殪．張匄抽殳而下．射之．折股．扶伏而擊之．折軫．又射之．死．}}</ref> In 624 BC a disgraced ''shi'' from the [[Jin (Chinese state)|State of Jin]] led a suicidal charge of chariots to redeem his reputation, turning the tide of the battle.<ref name=peers/> In the [[Battle of Bi]], 597 BC, the routing chariot forces of Jin were bogged down in mud, but pursuing enemy troops stopped to help them get dislodged and allowed them to escape.<ref>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=zh |title=Zuo Zhuan |wslink=春秋左氏傳/宣公#宣公十二年 |quote=晉人或以廣隊．不能進．楚人惎之脫扃．少進．馬還．又惎之拔旆投衡．乃出}}</ref>

As chariot warfare became eclipsed by mounted cavalry and infantry units with effective crossbowmen in the [[Warring States period]], the participation of the ''shi'' in battle dwindled as rulers sought men with actual military training, not just aristocratic background.<ref name="ebrey 29 30">Ebrey (2006), 29–30.</ref> This was also a period where [[Hundred Schools of Thought|philosophical schools flourished in China]], while intellectual pursuits became highly valued amongst statesmen.<ref name="ebrey 32">Ebrey (2006), 32.</ref> Thus, the ''shi'' eventually became renowned not for their warrior's skills, but for their scholarship, abilities in administration, and sound ethics and morality supported by competing philosophical schools.<ref>Ebrey (2006), 32–39.</ref>

=== Scholar-Officials ===
{{See also|Scholar-official|Mandarin (bureaucrat)|Imperial Examinations}}
[[File:Zhou Wenju's A Literary Garden.jpg|alt=Four men dressed in robes and black square cut hats gather around a tree talking to one another. Three are sitting on rocks while the fourth is leaning over a horizontally bent branch of the tree.|thumb|right|''A Literary Garden'', by Zhou Wenju, 10th century]]
Under [[Duke Xiao of Qin]] and the chief minister and reformer [[Shang Yang]] (d. 338 BC), the ancient [[State of Qin]] was transformed by a new [[meritocracy|meritocratic]] yet harsh philosophy of Legalism. This philosophy stressed stern punishments for those who disobeyed the publicly known laws while rewarding those who labored for the state and strove diligently to obey the laws. It was a means to diminish the power of the nobility, and was another force behind the transformation of the ''shi'' class from warrior-aristocrats into merit-driven officials. When the [[Qin dynasty]] (221–206 BC) unified China under the Legalist system, the emperor assigned administration to dedicated officials rather than nobility, ending feudalism in China, replacing it with a centralized, bureaucratic government. The form of government created by the first emperor and his advisors was used by later dynasties to structure their own government.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.historytoday.com/michael-loewe/china%E2%80%99s-first-empire|title=China's First Empire {{!}} History Today|website=www.historytoday.com|access-date=2017-04-17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417235658/http://www.historytoday.com/michael-loewe/china%E2%80%99s-first-empire|archive-date=17 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=WIP:ESA36>World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia, p. 36</ref><ref>Borthwick 2006, pp. 9–10</ref> Under this system, the government thrived, as talented individuals could be more easily identified in the transformed society. However, the Qin became infamous for its oppressive measures, and so [[Chu-Han contention|collapsed into a state of civil war]] after the death of the Emperor.

[[File:Civilserviceexam1.jpg|thumb|Candidates gathering around the wall where the results are posted. This announcement was known as "releasing the roll" (放榜). (c. 1540, by [[Qiu Ying]])]]

The victor of this war was [[Liu Bang]], who initiated four centuries of unification of [[China proper]] under the [[Han dynasty]] (202 BC–AD 220). In 165 BC, [[Emperor Wen of Han|Emperor Wen]] introduced the first method of recruitment to civil service through examinations, while [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]] (r. 141–87 BC), cemented the ideology of [[Confucius]] into mainstream governance installed a system of recommendation and nomination in government service known as ''[[xiaolian]]'', and a national academy<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loewe |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2tmgvB8zisC |title=Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China |date=1994-09-15 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-45466-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Creel, H.G. (1949). Confucius: The Man and the Myth. New York: John Day Company. pp. 239–241
* Creel, H.G. 1960. pp. 239–241. Confucius and the Chinese Way
* Creel, H.G. 1970, What Is Taoism?, 86–87
* Xinzhong Yao 2003. p. 231. The Encyclopedia of Confucianism: 2-volume Set. https://books.google.com/books?id=P-c4CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA231
* Griet Vankeerberghen 2001 pp. 20, 173. The Huainanzi and Liu An's Claim to Moral Authority. https://books.google.com/books?id=zt-vBqHQzpQC&pg=PA20</ref><ref>Michael Loewe pp. 145, 148. 2011. Dong Zhongshu, a ‘Confucian’ Heritage and the Chunqiu Fanlu. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQjJxvkY-34C&pg=PA145</ref> whereby officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the [[Confucian classics]], from which Emperor Wu would select officials.<ref>Edward A Kracke Jr, Civil Service in Early Sung China, 960-1067, p 253</ref>

In the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618) and the subsequent [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907) the ''shi'' class would begin to present itself by means of the fully standardized [[Imperial examinations|civil service examination system]], of partial recruitment of those who passed [[Standardized test|standard exams]] and earned an official degree. Yet recruitment by recommendations to office was still prominent in both dynasties. It was not until the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279) that the recruitment of those who passed the exams and earned degrees was given greater emphasis and significantly expanded.<ref name="ebrey 1999 145 146">Ebrey (1999), 145–146.</ref> The ''shi'' class also became less aristocratic and more bureaucratic due to the highly competitive nature of the exams during the Song period.<ref name="ebrey 159"/>

Beyond serving in the administration and the judiciary, scholar-officials also provided government-funded social services, such as prefectural or county schools, free-of-charge public hospitals, retirement homes and paupers' graveyards.<ref name="gernet 172">Gernet, 172.</ref><ref name="ebrey 167">Ebrey et al., ''East Asia'', 167.</ref><ref>Yuan, 193–199.</ref> Scholars such as [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) and [[Su Song]] (1020–1101) dabbled in every known field of science, mathematics, music and statecraft,<ref name="ebrey 162 163">Ebrey et al., ''East Asia'', 162–163.</ref> while others like [[Ouyang Xiu]] (1007–1072) or [[Zeng Gong]] (1019–1083)  pioneered ideas in early [[epigraphy]], [[archeology]] and [[philology]].<ref name="ebrey cambridge 148">Ebrey, ''Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', 148.</ref><ref>Fraser & Haber, 227.</ref>

[[File:A Chinese School (IV, October 1847, p.108) - Copy.jpg|thumb|A Chinese School (1847)<ref name=Offering1847>{{cite journal|title=A Chinese School|journal=Wesleyan Juvenile Offering|date=October 1847|volume=IV|page=108|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1wEAAAAQAAJ|access-date=17 November 2015}}</ref>]]

From the 11th to 13th century, the number of exam candidates participating in taking the exams increased dramatically from merely 30,000 to 400,000 by the dynasty's end.<ref name="ebrey 160">Ebrey (2006), 160.</ref> [[History of typography in East Asia|Widespread printing]] through [[woodblock printing|woodblock]] and [[movable type]] enhanced the spread of knowledge amongst the literate in society, enabling more people to become candidates and competitors vying for a prestigious degree.<ref name="ebrey 159">Ebrey (2006), 159.</ref><ref name="fairbank 94">Fairbank, 94.</ref> With a dramatically expanding population matching a growing amount of gentry, while the number of official posts remained constant, the graduates who were not appointed to government would provide critical services in local communities, such as funding public works, running private schools, aiding in tax collection, maintaining order, or writing local [[gazetteer]]s.<ref name="fairbank 104">Fairbank, 104.</ref><ref>Fairbank, 101–106.</ref><ref>Michael, 420–421.</ref><ref name="hymes 132 133">Hymes, 132–133.</ref>

== Nóng (农/農) ==
{{See also|Well-field system|Equal-field system}}
[[File:Tiangong Kaiwu Pulley Wheel.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A farmer (nong) operating a [[pulley]] wheel to lift a bucket, from the ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' encyclopedia by [[Song Yingxing]] (1587–1666)]]
Since [[List of Neolithic cultures of China|Neolithic times in China]], agriculture was a key element to the rise of China's civilization and every other civilization. The food that farmers produced sustained the whole of society, while the [[land tax]] exacted on farmers' lots and landholders' property produced much of the state revenue for China's pre-modern ruling dynasties. Therefore, the farmer was a valuable member of society, and even though he was not considered one with the ''shi'' class, the families of the ''shi'' were usually landholders that often produced crops and foodstuffs.<ref name="Gernet, 102–103">Gernet, 102–103.</ref>

From the ninth century BC (late Western [[Zhou dynasty]]) to around the end of the [[Warring States period]], agricultural land was distributed according to the [[well-field system]] (井田), whereby a square area of land was divided into nine identically-sized sections; the eight outer sections (私田; ''sītián'') were privately cultivated by farmers and the center section (公田; gōngtián) was communally cultivated on behalf of the landowning aristocrat. When the system became economically untenable in the [[Warring States period]], it was replaced by a system of private land ownership. It was first suspended in the state of [[Qin (state)|Qin]] by [[Shang Yang]] and other states soon followed suit.<ref>{{citation
|last=Zhufu
|first=Fu
|year=1981
|title=The economic history of China: Some special problems
|journal=Modern China
|volume=7
|issue=1
|page=7
|doi=10.1177/009770048100700101
|s2cid=220738994
}}</ref>

From AD 485–763, land was equally distributed to farmers under the [[equal-field system]] (均田).<ref name="Holcombe2001">{{cite book|author=Charles Holcombe|title=The Genesis of East Asia: 221 B.C. – A.D. 907|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XT5pvPZ4vroC&pg=PA136|date=2001|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2465-5|pages=136–}}</ref><ref name="Graff2003">{{cite book|author=David Graff|title=Medieval Chinese Warfare 300–900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpmBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA140|date= 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-55353-2|pages=140–}}</ref><ref name="Sahay2016">{{cite book|author=Dr R K Sahay|title=History of China's Military|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYkvDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT103|date=2016|publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd|isbn=978-93-86019-90-5|pages=103–}}</ref> Families were issued plots of land on the basis of how many able men, including slaves, they had; a woman would be entitled to a smaller plot. As government control weakened in the 8th century, land reverted into the hands of private owners.

[[Song dynasty]] (950–1279) rural farmers engaged in the small-scale production of wine, charcoal, paper, textiles, and other goods.<ref name="ebrey cambridge 141">Ebrey, ''Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', 141.</ref>

By the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), the socioeconomic class of farmers grew more and more indistinct from another social class in the four occupations: the artisan. Artisans began working on farms in peak periods and farmers often traveled into the city to find work during times of dearth.<ref name="spence 13"/> The distinction between what was town and country was blurred in Ming China, since suburban areas with farms were located just outside and in some cases within the walls of a city.<ref name="spence 13">Spence, 13.</ref>

== Gōng (工) ==
[[File:Pottery workshop - technology from the time of the Ming dynasty.jpg|thumb|upright|Ming era pottery workshop]]
[[Artisan]]s and craftsmen—their class identified with the [[Chinese characters|Chinese character]] meaning ''labour''—were much like farmers in the respect that they produced essential goods needed by themselves and the rest of society. Although they could not provide the state with much of its revenues since they often had no land of their own to be taxed, artisans and craftsmen were theoretically respected more than merchants. Since ancient times, the skilled work of artisans and craftsmen was handed down orally from father to son, although the work of architects and structural builders were sometimes codified, illustrated, and categorized in Chinese written works.<ref name="Gernet, 88–94">Gernet, 88–94</ref>

Artisans and craftsmen were either government-employed or worked privately. A successful and highly skilled artisan could often gain enough capital in order to hire others as apprentices or additional laborers that could be overseen by the chief artisan as a manager. Hence, artisans could create their own small enterprises in selling their work and that of others, and like the merchants, they formed their own [[guild]]s.<ref name="Gernet, 88–94">Gernet, 88–94</ref>

Researchers have pointed to the rise of [[wage labour]] in late Ming and early Qing workshops in textile, paper and other industries,<ref name=faure>{{citation
  | title = China and capitalism: a history of business enterprise in modern China
  | given = David | surname = Faure
  | series = Understanding China: New Viewpoints on History And Culture
  | publisher = Hong Kong University Press | year = 2006
  | isbn = 978-962-209-784-1
  | pages = 17–18
  }}</ref><ref>{{The Cambridge History of China | volume = 9
  | first = William T. | last = Rowe | authorlink = William T. Rowe
  | chapter = Social stability and social change | pages = 526
  }}</ref> achieving large-scale production by using many small workshops, each with a small team of workers under a master craftsman.<ref name=faure />

Although architects and builders were not as highly venerated as the scholar-officials, there were some architectural engineers who gained wide acclaim for their achievements. One example of this would be the ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]'' printed in 1103, an architectural building manual written by [[Architecture of the Song dynasty#Literature|Li Jie]] (1065–1110), sponsored by [[Emperor Huizong of Song|Emperor Huizong]] (r. 1100–1126) for these government agencies to employ and was widely printed for the benefit of literate craftsmen and artisans nationwide.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 84">Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 84.</ref><ref name="guo 4 6">Guo, 4–6.</ref>

[[File:Du Halde - Description de la Chine - Vol 2 feuille 272.jpg|thumb|right|Workers in the porcelain and silk industries (early 18th century)]]
In the late of [[Ming dynasty]] there were many porcelain kilns created that led the Ming dynasty to be economically well off.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last1=Medley|first1=Margaret|title=The Ming – Qing Transition in Chinese Porcelain|journal=Arts Asiatiques|date=1987|volume= 42|pages=65–76|jstor=43486524|doi=10.3406/arasi.1987.1217}}</ref> The Qing emperors like the [[Kangxi Emperor]] helped the growth of porcelain export and by allowing an organization of private maritime trade that assisted families who owned private kilns.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Qing Opening to the Ocean: Chinese Maritime Policies, 1684–1757|last=Zhao|first=Gang|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|year=2013|pages=116–136}}</ref> [[Chinese export porcelain]], designed purely for the European market and unpopular among locals as it lacked the symbolic significance of wares produced for the Chinese home market,<ref name=Beginners>{{cite book|last1=Newton|first1=Bettina|title=Beginner's Guide To Antique Collection|date=2014|publisher=Karan Kerry|chapter=14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGLKBAAAQBAJ&q=stilt+marks+ceramics+japanese|access-date=6 January 2015}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Burton|first1=William|title=Porcelain: its nature art and manufacture|chapter=The Letters of Père D'Entrecolles|date=1906|publisher=B. T. Batsford Ltd.|location=London|chapter-url=http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/entrecolles_part3.htm|access-date=5 January 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923201929/http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/entrecolles_part3.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> was a highly popular trade good.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Valenstein |first1=Susan G. |title=A handbook of Chinese ceramics |date=1989 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |location=New York |isbn=0-87099-514-6 |page=197}}</ref>

In China, silk-worm farming was originally restricted to women, and many women were employed in the silk-making industry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Federico |first1=Giovanni |title=An Economic History of the Silk Industry, 1830–1930 |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge university Press |isbn=0521581982 |pages=14, 20}}</ref> Even as knowledge of [[Sericulture|silk production]] spread to the rest of the world, Song dynasty China was able to maintain near-monopoly on manufacture by large scale industrialization, through the two-person draw loom, commercialized mulberry cultivation, and a factory production.<ref>[http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp194_justinian_silk.pdf Heleanor B. Feltham: ''Justinian and the International Silk Trade''], p. 34</ref> The organization of silk weaving in 18th-century Chinese cities was compared with the [[putting-out system]] used in European textile industries between the 13th and 18th centuries. As the interregional silk trade grew, merchant houses began to organize manufacture to guarantee their supplies, providing silk to households for weaving as [[piece work]].<ref>{{citation
  | title = China's silk trade: traditional industry in the modern world, 1842–1937
  | given = Lillian M. | surname = Li
  | series = Harvard East Asian monographs | volume = 97
  | publisher = Harvard Univ Asia Center | year = 1981
  | isbn = 978-0-674-11962-8
  | pages = 50–52
  }}</ref>

==Shāng (商)==
[[File:Brick relief depicting a market scene.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of a marketplace, Han dynasty]]
In Ancient pre-Imperial China, merchants were highly regarded as necessary for the circulation of essential goods. The legendary [[Emperor Shun]], prior to receiving the throne from his predecessor, was said to be a merchant. Archaeological artifacts and [[oracle bones]] suggest a high status was accorded to merchant activity. In the [[Spring and Autumn period]], Hegemon of China [[Duke Huan of Qi]] appointed [[Guan Zhong]], a merchant, as Prime Minister. He cut taxes for merchants, built rest stops for merchants, and encouraged other lords to lower tariffs.<ref name="Routledge"/>

In Imperial China, the merchants, traders, and peddlers of goods were viewed by the scholarly elite as essential members of society, yet were esteemed least of the four occupations in society, due to the view that they were a threat to social harmony from acquiring disproportionally large incomes,<ref name="Kuhn"/> [[market manipulation]] or exploiting farmers.<ref>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=zh |title=Han Feizi |wslink=韓非子/五蠹 |quote=其商工之民，修治苦窳之器，聚弗靡之財，蓄積待時，而侔農夫之利。}}</ref>

However, the merchant class of China throughout all of Chinese history were usually wealthy and held considerable influence above its supposed social standing.<ref name=Gernet /> The Confucian philosopher [[Xun Kuang|Xunzi]] encouraged economic cooperation and exchange. The distinction between gentry and merchants was not as clear or entrenched as in Japan and Europe, and merchants were even welcomed by gentry if they abided by Confucian moral duties. Merchants accepted and promoted Confucian society by funding education and charities, and advocating Confucian values of self-cultivation of integrity, frugality, and hard work. By the late imperial period, it was a trend in some regions for scholars to switch to careers as merchants. William Rowe's research of rural elites in late imperial Hanyang, Hubei shows that there was a very high level of overlap and mixing between the gentry and the merchants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guo Wu |title=Zheng Guanying: Merchant Reformer of Late Qing China and His Influence on Economics, Politics, and Society |date=2010 |publisher=Cambria Press |isbn=978-1604977059 |pages=14–16}}</ref>

Han dynasty writers mention merchants owning huge tracts of land.<ref>Ch'ü (1969), 113&ndash;114.</ref> A merchant who owned property worth a thousand [[catty|catties]] of gold—equivalent to ten million cash coins—was considered a great merchant.<ref name="ch'u 1972 114">Ch'ü (1972), 114.</ref> Such a fortune was one hundred times larger than the average income of a middle class landowner-cultivator and dwarfed the annual 200,000 cash-coin income of a marquess who collected taxes from a thousand households.<ref name="ch'u 1969 114 115">Ch'ü (1972), 114&ndash;115.</ref> Some merchant families made fortunes worth over a hundred million cash, which was equivalent to the wealth acquired by the highest officials in government.<ref name="ch'u 1972 115 117">Ch'u (1972), 115&ndash;117.</ref> Itinerant merchants who traded between a network of towns and cities were often rich as they had the ability to avoid registering as merchants (unlike the shopkeepers),<ref name="nishijima 1969 576">Nishijima (1986), 576.</ref> [[Chao Cuo]] (d. 154 BC) states that they wore fine silks, rode in carriages pulled by fat horses, and whose wealth allowed them to associate with government officials.<ref>Nishijima (1986), 576&ndash;577; Ch'ü (1972), 114; see also Hucker (1975), 187.</ref>

[[File:圖7-70 最早出現的紙幣──交子印樣.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The first banknotes originated in China as merchant [[receipt]]s in the 7th century, becoming government-issued currency by the 11th century.<ref name=autogenerated1>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 156.</ref><ref name="Bowman">Bowman (2000), 105.</ref><ref name="Bernholz">{{cite book|author=Peter Bernholz|title=Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic and Political Relationships|year=2003|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1-84376-155-6|page=53}}</ref><ref name="Headrick">{{cite book|author=Daniel R. Headrick|title=Technology: A World History|date=1 April 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988759-0|page=85}}</ref>]]
Historians like Yu Yingshi and Billy So have shown that as Chinese society became increasingly commercialized from the [[Song dynasty]] onward, Confucianism had gradually begun to accept and even support business and trade as legitimate and viable professions, as long as merchants stayed away from unethical actions. Merchants in the meantime had also benefited from and utilized Confucian ethics in their business practices. By the Song period, merchants often colluded with the scholarly elite; as early as 955, the [[Scholar-officials]] themselves were using intermediary agents to participate in trading.<ref name=Gernet>Gernet, Jacques (1962). ''Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276''. Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-0720-0}} pp. 68–69</ref> Since the Song government took over several key industries and imposed strict state monopolies, the government itself acted as a large commercial enterprise run by scholar-officials.<ref name="gernet 77">Gernet, 77.</ref> The state also had to contend with the merchant [[guild]]s; whenever the state requisitioned goods and assessed taxes it dealt with guild heads, who ensured fair prices and fair wages via official intermediaries.<ref name="gernet 88">Gernet, 88.</ref><ref name="ebrey 157">Ebrey et al., ''East Asia'', 157.</ref>

[[File:Li Sung 001.jpg|thumb|right|Painting of a woman and children surrounding a [[peddler]] of goods in the countryside, by Li Song (c. 1190–1225), dated 1210 AD]]
By the late Ming dynasty, the officials often needed to solicit funds from powerful merchants to build new roads, schools, bridges, pagodas, or engage in essential industries, such as book-making, which aided the gentry class in education for the imperial examinations.<ref>Brook, 90–93, 129–130, 151.</ref> Merchants began to imitate the highly cultivated nature and manners of scholar-officials in order to appear more cultured and gain higher prestige and acceptance by the scholarly elite.<ref>Brook, 128–129, 134–138.</ref> They even purchased printed books that served as guides to proper conduct and behavior and which promoted merchant morality and business ethics.<ref>Brook, 215–216.</ref> The social status of merchants rose to such significance<ref>Yu Yingshi 余英時, ''Zhongguo Jinshi Zongjiao Lunli yu Shangren Jingshen'' 中國近世宗教倫理與商人精神. (Taipei: Lianjing Chuban Shiye Gongsi, 1987).</ref><ref>Billy So, ''Prosperity, Region, and Institutions in Maritime China.'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 253–279.</ref><ref>Billy So, “Institutions in market economies of premodern maritime China.” In Billy So ed., ''The Economy of Lower Yangzi Delta in Late Imperial China.'' (New York: Routledge, 2013), 208–232.</ref> that by the late Ming period, many scholar-officials were unabashed to declare publicly in their official family histories that they had family members who were merchants.<ref>Brook, 161</ref> The scholar-officials' dependence upon merchants received semi-legal standing when scholar-official Qiu Jun (1420–1495), argued that the state should only mitigate market affairs during times of pending crisis and that merchants were the best gauge in determining the strength of a nation's riches in resources.<ref name="brook 102">Brook, 102.</ref> The Imperial court followed this guideline by granting merchants licenses to trade in salt in return for grain shipments to frontier garrisons in the north.<ref name="brook 108">Brook, 108.</ref> The state realized that merchants could buy salt licenses with silver and in turn boost state revenues to the point where buying grain was not an issue.<ref name="brook 108"/>

Merchants banded in organisations known as ''huiguan'' or ''gongsuo''; pooling capital was popular as it distributed risk and eased the barriers to market entry. They formed partnerships known as ''huoji zhi'' (silent investor and active partner), ''lianhao zhi'' (subsidiary companies), ''jingli fuzhe zhi'' (owner delegates control to a manager), ''xuetu zhi'' (apprenticeship), and ''hegu zhi'' (shareholding). Merchants had a tendency to invest their profits in vast swathes of land.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tang |first1=Lixing |title=Merchants and Society in Modern China: Rise of Merchant Groups China Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1351612999 |chapter=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fang Liufang |last2=Xia Yuantao |last3=Sang Binxue |last4=Danian Zhang |title=Chinese Partnership |journal=Law and Contemporary Problems: The Emerging Framework of Chinese Civil Law: [Part 2] |date=1989 |volume=52 |issue=3}}</ref>

== Outside China ==
Outside of China, the same values permeated and prevailed across other East Asian societies where China exerted considerable influence. Japan and Korea were so heavily influenced by Confucian thought that the four occupational social hierarchy in those societies were modeled from that of China's.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Ho|first1=Kwon Ping |last2= De Meyer|first2= Arnoud |title=The Art of Leadership: Perspectives from Distinguished Thought Leaders |date=2017 |publisher= World Scientific Publishing |isbn=978-9813233485}}</ref>

=== Ryukyu Kingdom ===
[[Image:琉球来聘使登営図05.jpg|thumb|Envoys of Ryukyu to Edo]]
A similar situation occurred in the [[Ryūkyū Kingdom]] with the scholarly class of [[yukatchu]], but yukatchu status was hereditary and could be bought from the government as the kingdom's finances were frequently deficient.<ref>Smits, 73.</ref>  Due to the growth of this class and the lack of government positions open for them, [[Sai On]] allowed yukatchu to become merchants and artisans while keeping their high status.<ref>Steben, 47.</ref> There were three classes of yukatchu, the ''pechin'', ''satonushi'' and ''chikudun'', and commoners may be admitted for meritorious service.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=George H. |title=Okinawan: The History of an Island People |date=2011 |publisher=Tuttle |isbn=978-1462901845}}</ref> The Ryukyu Kingdom's capital of Shuri also featured a university and school system, alongside a civil service examination system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smits |first1=Gregory |title=Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0824820371 |page=14}}</ref> The government was managed by the ''Seissei'', ''Sanshikan'' and the ''Bugyo'' (Prime Minister, Council of Ministers and Administrative Departments). Yukatchu who failed the examinations or were otherwise deemed unsuitable for office would be transferred to obscure posts and their descendants would fade into insignificance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=George H. |title=Ryukyu Kingdom and Province Before 1945 (Scientific investigations in the Ryukyu Islands) |date=1953 |publisher=National Academies}}</ref> Ryukyuan students were also enrolled into the National Academy ([[Guozijian]]) in China, at Chinese government expense, and others studied privately at schools in [[Fujian]] province such diverse skills as law, agriculture, calendrical calculation, medicine, astronomy, and metallurgy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smits |first1=Gregory |title=Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0824820371 |pages=38–39}}</ref>

=== Japan ===
{{Main|Japanese castes under the ritsuryō}}

In [[Japan]], the ''shi'' role, unlike the scholars in China, became a hereditary class known as the [[samurai]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Geographies of identity in nineteenth-century Japan|author=David L. Howell|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-24085-5|year=2005}}</ref> and marriage between people of unequal class was socially unacceptable.<ref name=gdvhw/>  Originally a martial class, the samurai became civil administrators to their ''[[daimyō]]s'' during the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. No exams were needed as the positions were inherited. They constituted about 5% of the population and were allowed to have a proper surname. Older scholars believed that there were {{nihongo3||士農工商|Shi-nō-kō-shō}} of "samurai, peasants (''hyakushō''), craftsmen, and merchants (''[[chōnin]]'')" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under the 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants.<ref>{{Harvnb|Beasley|1972|p=22}}</ref> However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai were equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification.<ref name="tokyoshoseki">{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130175341/https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html|script-title=ja:「士農工商」や「四民平等」の用語が使われていないことについて|language=ja|website=
[[Tokyo Shoseki]] |archive-date=30 November 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="uki300823">{{cite web|url=https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830135959/https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316|script-title=ja:第35回　教科書から『士農工商』が消えた ー後編ー　令和3年広報うき「ウキカラ」8月号|language=ja|website=[[Uki, Kumamoto]]|archive-date=30 August 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="shimonoseki">{{cite web|url=https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606001503/https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf|script-title=ja:人権意識のアップデート|language=ja|website=[[Shimonoseki]] |archive-date=6 June 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref>

In the sixteenth century, lords began to centralise administration by replacing [[enfeoffment]] with stipend grants, and placing pressure on vassals to relocate into castle towns, away from independent power bases. Military commanders became rotated to avert the formation of strong personal loyalties from the troops. Artisans and merchants were solicited by these lords and sometimes received official appointments. This century was a period of exceptional social mobility, with instances of merchants of samurai-descent or commoners becoming samurai. By the eighteenth century samurai and merchants had become interwoven intimately, despite general samurai hostility toward merchants who as their creditors were blamed for the financial difficulties of a debt-ridden samurai class.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Totman |first1=Conrad |title=Japan Before Perry: A Short History |date=1981 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0520041348 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/japanbeforeperry002074/page/139 139]–140, 161–163 |edition=illustrated |url=https://archive.org/details/japanbeforeperry002074|url-access=registration }}</ref>

=== Korea ===
{{Main|Society in the Joseon dynasty}}
[[File:Ambassador of Joseon to America.jpg|thumb|right|Korean envoys to the United States]]
In [[Silla]] [[Korea]], the scholar-officials, also known as head rank 6, 5, and 4 (두품), were strictly hereditary castes under the [[bone-rank system]] (골품제도), and their power was limited by the royal clan who monopolized the positions of importance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Ki-Baik |title=A New History of Korea |date=1984 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-61576-X |pages=50–51}}</ref>

From the late 8th century, succession wars in Silla, as well as frequent peasant uprisings, led to the dismantling of the bone-rank system. Head rank 6 leaders sojourned to China for study, while regional governance fell into the ''hojok'' or castle-lords commanding private armies detached from the central regime. These factions coalesced, introducing a new national ideology that was an amalgamation of [[Chan Buddhism]], Confucianism and [[Feng Shui]], laying the foundation for the formation of the new Goryeo Kingdom. [[King Gwangjong of Goryeo]]  introduced a civil service examination system in 958, and [[King Seongjong of Goryeo]] complemented it with the establishment of a Confucian-style educational facilities and administration structures, extending for the first time to local areas. However, only aristocrats were permitted to sit for these examinations, and the sons of officials of at least 5th rank were exempt completely.<ref>{{cite book |last1=신형식 |title=A Brief History of Korea, Volume 1 A Brief History of Korea Volume 1 of The spirit of Korean cultural roots Volume 1 of Uri munhwa ŭi ppuri rŭl chʻajasŏ |date=2005 |publisher=Ewha Womans University Press |isbn=8973006193 |edition=illustrated, reprint |chapter=1-2}}</ref>

In [[Joseon]] Korea, the Scholar occupation took the form of the noble [[yangban]] class, which prevented the lower classes from taking the advanced ''[[gwageo]]'' exams so they could dominate the bureaucracy.  Below the yangban were the [[chungin]], a class of privileged commoners who were petty bureaucrats, scribes, and specialists.  The chungin were actually the least populous class, even smaller than the yangban. The yangban constituted 10% of the population.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nahm |first=Andrew C|title=Korea: Tradition and Transformation &mdash; A History of the Korean People |publisher=Hollym International |year=1996|edition=second|location=Elizabeth, NJ |isbn=1-56591-070-2|pages=100–102}}</ref> From the mid-Joseon period, military officers and civil officials were separately derived from different clans.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJtMGXyGlUEC|first=Michael J.| last=Seth|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2010|isbn=9780742567177|pages=165–167}}</ref>

=== Vietnam ===
{{See also|Confucian court examination system in Vietnam}}
[[File:Duytan cabinet.jpg|thumb|Vietnamese mandarins in the cabinet of emperor [[Duy Tân]]]]
Vietnamese dynasties also adopted the examination degree system (khoa bảng 科榜) to recruit scholars for government service.<ref>John Kleinen Facing the Future, Reviving the Past: A Study of Social Change in ... – 1999 – Page 71</ref><ref>Truong Buu Lâm, New lamps for old: the transformation of the Vietnamese ... -Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – 1982 Page 11- "The provincial examinations consisted of three to four parts which tested the following areas: knowledge of the Confucian texts... The title of cu nhan or "person presented" (for office) was conferred on those who succeeded in all four tests."</ref><ref>D. W. Sloper, Thạc Cán Lê  Higher Education in Vietnam: Change and Response – 1995 Page 45 " For those successful in the court competitive examination four titles were awarded: trang nguyen, being the first- rank doctorate and first laureate, bang nhan, being a first-rank doctorate and second laureate; tham hoa, being a first-rank ..."</ref><ref>Nguyẽn Khá̆c Kham , Yunesuko Higashi  An introduction to Vietnamese culture  Ajia Bunka Kenkyū Sentā (Tokyo, Japan) 1967  – Page 20 "The classification became more elaborate in 1247 with the Tam-khoi which divided the first category into three separate classes: Trang-nguyen (first prize winner in the competitive examination at the king's court), Bang-nhan (second prize ..."</ref><ref>Walter H. Slote, George A. De Vos Confucianism & the Family 998 – Page 97  "1428–33) and his collaborators, especially Nguyen Trai (1380–1442) — who was himself a Confucianist — accepted ... of Trang Nguyen (Zhuang Yuan, or first laureate of the national examination with the highest recognition in every copy)."</ref> The bureaucrats were similarly divided into nine grades and six ministries, and examinations were held annually at provincial level, and triennially at regional and national levels.<ref>{{cite book |last1=SarDesai |first1=D R |title=Southeast Asia: Past and Present |date=2012 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=978-0813348384 |edition=7 reprint |chapter=2}}</ref> The Vietnamese political elite consisted of educated landholders whose interests often clashed with the central government. Although all land theoretically was the ruler's, and was supposed to be distributed equitably by the [[equal-field system]] (chế độ Quân điền) and non-transferable, the court bureaucracy increasingly appropriated land which they leased to tenant farmers and hired labourers to till.<ref>John Kleinen Facing the Future, Reviving the Past: A Study of Social Change in ... – 1999 – Page 5, 31-32</ref> It was unlikely for individuals of common background to become Mandarins, however, since they lacked access to classical education. Degree-holders were frequently clustered in certain clans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Woodside |first1=Alexander |last2=American Council of Learned Societies |title=Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century ACLS Humanities E-Book Volume 140 of East Asian Monograph Series Harvard East Asian monographs, ISSN 0073-0483 Volume 52 of Harvard East Asian series History e-book project |date=1988 |publisher=Harvard Univ Asia Center |isbn=067493721X |page=[https://archive.org/details/vietnamchinesem00wood/page/216 216] |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised |url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamchinesem00wood/page/216 }}</ref>

=== Maritime Southeast Asia ===
{{See also|Cabang Atas}}
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Studioportret van Tjong A Fie Majoor der Chinezen in Medan TMnr 10018656.jpg|thumb|Tjong Ah Fie, a Chinese officer in the Dutch East Indies]]
Chinese official positions, under various different native titles, go back to the courts of precolonial states of [[Southeast Asia]], such as the [[Sultanate of Malacca|Sultanates of Malacca]] and [[Sultanate of Banten|Banten]], and the [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Kingdom of Siam]]. With the consolidation of colonial rule, these became part of the civil bureaucracy in Portuguese, Dutch and British colonies, exercising both executive and judicial powers over local Chinese communities under the colonial authorities,<ref name=Ooi>Ooi, Keat Gin. ''Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&dq=Kapitan+China&pg=PA711 p. 711]</ref><ref>Hwang, In-Won. ''Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State Under Matahtir'', [https://archive.org/details/personalizedpoli00inwo/page/56 <!-- quote=Kapitan China. --> p. 56]</ref><ref name="Buxbaum (2013)">{{cite book|last1=Buxbaum|first1=David C.|last2=Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning|title=Family Law and Customary Law in Asia: A Contemporary Legal Perspective|date=2013|publisher=Springer|isbn=9789401762168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ouPuCAAAQBAJ&q=%22capitan+china%22&pg=PA151|access-date=30 March 2018|language=en}}</ref>  examples being the title of ''Chao Praya Chodeuk Rajasrethi'' in Thailand's [[Chakri dynasty]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Siamese Aristocracy|url=http://soravij.com/aristocracy/index.html|website=Soravij|access-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> and ''Sri Indra Perkasa Wijaya Bakti'', the Malay court position of [[Yap Ah Loy|Kapitan Cina Yap Ah Loy]], arguably the founder of modern [[Kuala Lumpur]].<ref name="The Star (2017)">{{cite news|last1=Malhi, PhD.|first1=Ranjit Singh|title=The history of Kuala Lumpur's founding is not as clear cut as some think|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/views/2017/05/05/setting-the-record-straight-the-history-of-kuala-lumpurs-founding-is-not-as-clear-cut-as-some-think/|access-date=23 May 2017|work=www.thestar.com.my|agency=The Star Online|publisher=The Star|date=May 5, 2017}}</ref>

Overseas Chinese merchant families in [[British Malaya]] and the [[Dutch Indies]] donated generously to the provision of defence and disaster relief programs in China in order to receive nominations to the Imperial Court for honorary official ranks. These ranged from ''chün-hsiu'', a candidate for the Imperial examinations, to ''chih-fu'' ({{zh|c={{linktext|知府}}|p=zhīfǔ}}) or ''tao-t'ai'' ({{zh|c={{linktext|道臺}}|p=dàotái|links=no}}), prefect and circuit intendant respectively. The bulk of these sinecure purchases were at the level of ''t'ungchih'' ({{zh|c={{linktext|同知}}|p=tóngzhī|links=no}}), or sub-prefect, and below. Garbing themselves in the official robes of their rank in most ceremonial functions, these wealthy dignitaries would adopt the conduct of scholar-officials. Chinese language newspapers would list them exclusively as such and precedence at social functions would be determined by title.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Godley |first1=Michael R. |title=The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang: Overseas Chinese Enterprise in the Modernisation of China 1893-1911 Cambridge Studies in Chinese H Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521526957 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mandarincapitali0000godl/page/41 41–43] |url=https://archive.org/details/mandarincapitali0000godl/page/41 }}</ref>

In [[Dutch East Indies|colonial Indonesia]], the Dutch government appointed [[Kapitan Cina|Chinese officers]], who held the ranks of ''Majoor'', ''Kapitein'' or ''Luitenant der Chinezen'' with legal and political jurisdiction over the colony's Chinese subjects.<ref name="Lohanda (1996)">{{cite book |last1=Lohanda |first1=Mona |title=The Kapitan Cina of Batavia, 1837-1942: A History of Chinese Establishment in Colonial Society |date=1996 |publisher=Djambatan |location=Jakarta |isbn=9789794282571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKlwAAAAMAAJ&q=kapitan+cina |access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The officers were overwhelmingly recruited from old families of the '[[Cabang Atas]]' or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia.<ref name="Haryono (2017)">{{cite book |last1=Haryono |first1=Steve |title=Perkawinan Strategis: Hubungan Keluarga Antara Opsir-opsir Tionghoa Dan 'Cabang Atas' Di Jawa Pada Abad Ke-19 Dan 20 |date=2017 |publisher=Steve Haryono |isbn=9789090302492 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IoDgswEACAAJ&q=haryono+cabang+atas |access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Although appointed without state examinations, the Chinese officers emulated the [[scholar-officials]] of Imperial China, and were traditionally seen locally as upholders of the Confucian social order and peaceful coexistence under the Dutch colonial authorities.<ref name="Lohanda (1996)" /> For much of its history, appointment to the Chinese officership was determined by family background, social standing and wealth, but in the twentieth century, attempts were made to elevate meritorious individuals to high rank in keeping with the colonial government's so-called [[Ethical Policy]].<ref name="Lohanda (1996)" />

The merchant and labour partnerships of China developed into the [[Kongsi]] Federations across Southeast Asia, which were associations of Chinese settlers governed through direct democracy.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Tai Peng|last1=Wang|title=The Word "Kongsi": A Note|journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|date=1979|volume=52|issue=235|pages=102–105|jstor=41492844}}</ref> On [[Kalimantan]] they established sovereign states, the [[Kongsi republic]]s such as the [[Lanfang Republic]], which bitterly resisted Dutch colonisation in the [[Kongsi Wars]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary Somers|last=Heidhues|title=Golddiggers, Farmers, and Traders in the "Chinese Districts" of West Kalimantan, Indonesia|year=2003|publisher=Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications|isbn=978-0-87727-733-0}}</ref>

== Unclassified occupations ==
[[Image:TangTaizong.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The renowned [[Emperor Taizong of Tang]] (r. 626–649); the [[Emperor of China|emperor]] represented the pinnacle of traditional Chinese society, and was above that of the scholar-official.]]
There were many social groups that were excluded from the four broad categories in the social hierarchy. These included soldiers and guards, religious clergy and diviners, eunuchs and concubines, entertainers and courtiers, domestic servants and slaves, prostitutes, and low class laborers other than farmers and artisans. People who performed such tasks that were considered either worthless or "filthy" were placed in the category of mean people (賤人), not being registered as commoners or having some legal disabilities.<ref name="Outcast" />

=== Imperial clan ===
[[Emperor of China|The emperor]]—embodying a [[Mandate of Heaven|heavenly mandate]] to judicial and executive authority—was on a social and legal tier above the [[Gentry (China)|gentry]] and the [[Imperial examinations|exam]]-drafted [[Scholar-bureaucrats|scholar-officials]]. Under the principle of the Mandate of Heaven, the right to rule was based on "virtue"; if a ruler was overthrown, this was interpreted as an indication that the ruler was unworthy, and had lost the mandate, and there would often be revolts following major disasters as citizens saw these as signs that the Mandate of Heaven had been withdrawn.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Szczepanski|first1=Kallie|title=What Is the Mandate of Heaven in China?|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-mandate-of-heaven-195113|website=About Education|access-date=April 4, 2024}}</ref>

The Mandate of Heaven does not require noble birth, depending instead on just and able performance. The [[Han dynasty|Han]] and [[Ming dynasty|Ming dynasties]] were founded by men of common origins.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaozu-emperor-of-Han-dynasty|title=Gaozu Emperor of Han Dynasty|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=21 March 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{The Cambridge History of China | volume = 7|page=11}}</ref>

Although his royal family and noble extended family were also highly respected, they did not command the same level of authority.

During the initial and end phases of the [[Han dynasty]], the [[Western Jin dynasty]], and the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]], the members of the Imperial clan were enfeoffed with vassal states, controlling military and political power: they often usurped the throne, intervened in Imperial succession, or fought civil wars.<ref>Wang, R.G., p. xx</ref> From the 8th century on, the [[Tang dynasty]] imperial clan was restricted to the capital and denied fiefdoms, and by the [[Song dynasty]] were also denied any political power. By the [[Southern Song dynasty]], imperial princes were assimilated into the scholars, and had to take the imperial examinations to serve in government, like commoners. The [[Yuan dynasty]] favoured the Mongol tradition of distributing Khanates, and under this influence, the [[Ming dynasty]] also revived the practice of granting titular "kingdoms" to Imperial clan members, although they were denied political control;<ref>Wang, R.G. p. xxi</ref> only near the end of the dynasty were some permitted to partake in the examinations to qualify for government service as common scholars.<ref>Wang, R.G. p. 10</ref>

=== Eunuchs ===
[[File:Xu Xianqing part12.jpg|thumb|right|Imperial court conference, Ming dynasty]]
The court [[eunuch (court official)|eunuchs]] who served the royals were also viewed with some suspicion by the scholar-officials, since there were several instances in Chinese history where influential eunuchs came to dominate the emperor, his imperial court, and the whole of the central government. In an extreme example, the eunuch [[Wei Zhongxian]] (1568–1627) had his critics from the orthodox Confucian '[[Donglin Academy|Donglin Society]]' tortured and killed while dominating the court of the [[Tianqi Emperor]]—Wei was dismissed by [[Chongzhen Emperor|the next ruler]] and committed suicide.<ref>Spence, 17–18.</ref> In popular culture texts such as Zhang Yingyu's ''[https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-book-of-swindles/9780231178631 The Book of Swindles]'' (c. 1617), eunuchs were often portrayed in starkly negative terms as enriching themselves through excessive taxation and indulging in cannibalism and debauched sexual practices.<ref>Zhang Yingyu, ''The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection'', translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017).</ref> The eunuchs at the Forbidden City during the later Qing period were infamous for their corruption, stealing as much as they could.<ref name="Behr, Edward page 73">Behr, Edward ''The Last Emperor'' London: Futura, 1987 page 73.</ref> The position of eunuch at the Forbidden City offered such opportunities for theft and corruption that countless men willingly become eunuchs in order to live a better life.<ref name="Behr, Edward page 73"/> [[Ray Huang]] argues that eunuchs represented the personal will of the Emperor, while the officials represented the alternate political will of the [[bureaucracy]]. The clash between them would thus have been a clash of ideologies or political agenda.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huang|first=Ray|title=1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline|url=https://archive.org/details/1587yearofnosign00huan|url-access=registration|year=1981|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=0-300-02518-1}}</ref>

=== Religious workers ===
{{Main|Wu (shaman)|Chinese Buddhism}}

[[File:Luohan Laundering, by Lin Tinggui, 1178 AD.jpg|alt=A portrait oriented painting depicting six figures, five elderly, balding men, and one younger attendant, washing clothing on the edge of a river. The background is painted in dark colors while the figures are painted in white and light colors.|thumb|right|upright|''Luohan Laundering'', Buddhist artwork of five ''[[Arhat (Buddhism)|luohan]]'' and one attendant, by [[Lin Tinggui]], 1178 AD]]
Although [[shaman]]s and diviners in [[Bronze Age]] China had some authority as religious leaders in society, as government officials during the early [[Zhou dynasty]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Von Falkenhausen |first1=Lothar |title=Reflections of the Political Role of Spirit Mediums in Early China: The Wu Officials in the Zhou Li, volume 20 |date=1995 |publisher=Society for the study of Early China |pages=282, 285}}</ref> with the [[Shang dynasty]] Kings sometimes described as shamans,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chang |first1=Kwang-Chih |title=Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China |date=1983 |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=45–47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chen |first1=Mengjia |title=商代的神話與巫術 [Myths and Magic of the Shang Dynasty] |date=1936 |publisher=Yanjing xuebao 燕京學報 |page=535|isbn=9787101112139}}</ref> and may have been the original physicians, providing elixirs to treat patients,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schiffeler|first1=John Wm.|title=The Origin of Chinese Folk Medicine |journal=Asian Folklore Studies|publisher=Asian Folklore Studies 35.1|page=27|date=1976|volume=35|issue=2|doi=10.2307/1177648|jstor=1177648|pmid=11614235}}</ref> ever since Emperor Wu of Han established Confucianism as the state religion, the ruling classes have shown increasing prejudice against shamanism,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Groot |first1=Jan Jakob Maria |title=The Religious System of China: Its Ancient Forms, Evolution, History and Present Aspect, Manners, Customs and Social Institutions Connected Therewith |date=1892–1910 |publisher=Brill Publishers |pages=1233–1242 |url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/groot_jjm_de/religious_system_of_china/religious_system.html}}</ref> preventing them from amassing too much power and influence like military strongmen (one example of this would be [[Zhang Jiao]], who led a [[Taoist]] sect into [[Yellow Turban Rebellion|open rebellion]] against the Han government's authority<ref>{{cite book|last=de Crespigny|first=Rafe|author-link=Rafe de Crespigny|title=A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220&nbsp;AD)|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|page=1058|year=2007|isbn=978-90-04-15605-0}}</ref>).

Fortune-tellers such as geomancers and astrologers were not highly regarded.<ref name=clan>{{cite book |last1=Hui chen |first1=Wang Liu |title=The Traditional Chinese Clan Rules |date=1959 |publisher=Association for Asian Studies |pages=160–163}}</ref>

[[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monkhood grew immensely popular from the fourth century, where the monastic life's exemption from tax proved alluring to poor farmers. 4,000 government-funded monasteries were established and maintained through the medieval period, eventually leading to [[Four Buddhist Persecutions in China|multiple persecutions of Buddhism in China]], a lot of the contention being over Buddhist monasteries' exemption from government taxation,<ref>Gernet, Jacques. Verellen, Franciscus. ''Buddhism in Chinese Society.'' 1998. pp. 14, 318-319</ref> but also because later [[Neo-Confucianism|Neo-Confucian]] scholars saw Buddhism as an alien ideology and threat to the moral order of society.<ref>Wright, 88–94.</ref>

However from the fourth to twentieth centuries, Buddhist monks were frequently sponsored by the elite of society, sometimes even by Confucian scholars, with monasteries described as "in size and magnificence no prince's house could match".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brook |first1=Timothy |title=Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China |date=1993 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0674697758|pages=2–3}}</ref> Despite the strong Buddhist sympathies of the  [[Sui dynasty]] and [[Tang dynasty]] rulers, the curriculum of the [[Imperial Examinations]] was still defined by Confucian canon as it alone covered political and legal policy necessary to government.<ref>Wright, 86</ref>

=== Military  ===
{{See also|Military history of China before 1912}}
[[File:Ming musketeers.jpg|thumb|Ming dynasty troops in formation]]
The social category of the soldier was left out of the social hierarchy due to the gentry scholars' [[Wen and wu|embrace of intellectual cultivation (文 wén) and disdain for violence (武 wǔ)]].<ref name="fairbank 109">Fairbank, 109.</ref> The scholars did not want to legitimize those whose professions centered chiefly around violence, so to leave them out of the social hierarchy altogether was a means to keep them in an unrecognized and undistinguished social tier.<ref name="fairbank 109"/>

Soldiers were not highly respected members of society,<ref name="Gernet, 102–103">Gernet, 102–103.</ref> specifically from the Song dynasty onward, due to the newly instituted policy of "Emphasizing the civil and downgrading the military" ({{zh|重文輕武}}).<ref>Peers, p. 128</ref> Soldiers traditionally came from farming families, while some were simply debtors who fled their land (whether owned or rented) to escape lawsuits by creditors or imprisonment for failing to pay taxes.<ref name="Gernet, 102–103">Gernet, 102–103.</ref> Peasants were encouraged to join militias such as the [[Baojia system|Baojia]] (保甲) or [[Tuanlian]] (團練),<ref>Peers, pp. 114, 130</ref> but full-time soldiers were usually hired from amnestied bandits or vagabonds, and peasant militia were generally regarded as the more reliable.<ref name="fairbank 109" /><ref>Peers, pp. 128-130,180,199</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Swope |first1=Kenneth M. |title=The Military Collapse of China's Ming dynasty |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |page=21}}</ref>

From the 2nd century BC onward, soldiers along China's frontiers were also encouraged by the state to settle down on their own farm lots in order for the food supply of the military to become self-sufficient, under the Tuntian system (屯田),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Theobald |first1=Ulrich |title=Tuntian |url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/tuntian.html |website=China knowledge}}</ref> the Weisuo system (衛所) and the [[Fubing system]] (府兵).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Liu|first1=Zhaoxiang|display-authors=etal|date=2000|title=History of Military Legal System|location=Beijing |publisher=Encyclopedia of China Publishing House |isbn=7-5000-6303-2}}</ref><ref>Peers, pp. 110-112</ref> Under these schemes, multiple dynasties attempted to create a hereditary military [[caste]] by exchanging border farmland or other privileges for service. However, in every instance, the policy would fail due to rampant desertion caused by the extremely low regard for violent occupations, and subsequently these armies had to be replaced with hired mercenaries or even peasant militia.<ref name="fairbank 109"/><ref>Peers, pp. 175-179</ref> 
[[File:Hán Xìn.jpg|thumb|upright|Han dynasty [[Han Xin]] rose from destitution to political power through military success.]]

However, for those without formal education, the quickest way to power and the upper echelons of society was to join the military.<ref name="lorge 43">Lorge, 43.</ref><ref name="ebrey 166">Ebrey et al., ''East Asia'', 166.</ref>  Although the soldier was looked upon with a bit of disdain by scholar-officials and cultured people, military officers with successful careers could gain a considerable amount of prestige.<ref name="graff 25 26">Graff, 25–26</ref> Despite the claim of moral high ground, scholar-officials often commanded troops and wielded military power.<ref name="fairbank 109"/>

=== Entertainers ===
{{See also|Music of China|History of Chinese dance}}
Entertaining was considered to be of little use to society and was usually performed by the [[underclass]] known as the "mean people" ({{zh |賤民}}).<ref name="Outcast1"/>

Entertainers and courtiers were often dependents upon the wealthy or were associated with the often-perceived immoral pleasure grounds of urban entertainment districts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Andrew F. |title=Yellow Music: Media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age |date=2001 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0822326949 |page=[https://archive.org/details/yellowmusicmedia0000jone/page/29 29] |url=https://archive.org/details/yellowmusicmedia0000jone|url-access=registration |quote=the social status of professional musicians china. }}</ref> Musicians who played music as full-time work were of low status.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nettl |first1=Bruno |last2=Rommen |first2=Timothy |title=Excursions in World Music |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1317213758 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjklDwAAQBAJ&q=the+social+status+of+professional+musicians+china&pg=PA131}}</ref> To give them official recognition would have given them more prestige.

"Proper" music was considered a fundamental aspect of nurturing of character and good government, but vernacular music, as defined as having "irregular movements" was criticised as corrupting for listeners. In spite of this, Chinese society idolized many musicians, even women musicians (who were seen as seductive) such as [[Cai Yan]] (c. 177) and [[Wang Zhaojun]] (40–30 BC).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ko |first1=Dorothy |last2=Kim |first2=JaHyun |last3=Pigott |first3=Joan R. |title=Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea, and Japan |date=2003 |publisher=University of california press |isbn=0520231384 |pages=112–114}}</ref> Musical abilities were a prime consideration in marriage desirability.<ref name=music /> During the Ming dynasty, female musicians were so common that they even played for imperial rituals.<ref name=music>{{cite book |last1=Ko |first1=Dorothy |last2=Kim |first2=JaHyun |last3=Pigott |first3=Joan R. |title=Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea, and Japan |date=2003 |publisher=University of california press |isbn=0520231384 |pages=97–99}}</ref>

Private theatre troupes in the homes of wealthy families were a common practice.<ref name=music />

[[File:Dahuting tomb mural detail of a dancer, Eastern Han Dynasty.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of a dancer from the [[Eastern Han dynasty]], [[Dahuting]] tomb mural]]
Professional dancers of the period were of low social status and many entered the profession through poverty, although some such as Zhao Feiyan achieved higher status by becoming concubines. Another dancer was Wang Wengxu ([[:zh:王翁須|王翁須]]) who was forced to become a domestic singer-dancer but who later bore the future [[Emperor Xuan of Han]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JWA2rkq2P9IC&pg=PT142 |title=And Man Created God: Kings, Cults and Conquests at the Time of Jesus |author= Selina O'Grady |page=142 |publisher=Atlantic Books |year= 2012 |isbn=978-1843546962 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=937219 |title= 《趙飛燕別傳》 |work=Chinese Text Project}} Original text: 趙後腰骨纖細，善踽步而行，若人手持花枝，顫顫然，他人莫可學也。</ref>

Institutions were set up to oversee the training and performances of music and dances in the imperial court, such as the Great Music Bureau (太樂署) and the Drums and Pipes Bureau (鼓吹署) responsible for ceremonial music.<ref name=sharron>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ChyVgZMAiUoC&pg=PA24 |title=A Cultural History of the Chinese Language|author= Sharron Gu |pages= 24–25 |publisher=McFarland |year= 2011 |isbn= 978-0786466498 }}</ref> [[Emperor Gaozu of Tang|Emperor Gaozu]] set up the [[Royal Academy (China)|Royal Academy]], while [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang|Emperor Xuanzong]] established the [[Pear Garden|Pear Garden Academy]] for the training of musicians, dancers and actors.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USOzayld_z8C&pg=PA223 |title=Historical Dictionary of Chinese Theater |author= Tan Ye  |page=223 |publisher= Scarecrow Press |date= 2008 |isbn=978-0810855144}}</ref> There were around 30,000 musicians and dancers at the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong,<ref name="dillon">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VA5tKw11K8YC&pg=PA225 |pages=224–225 |title=China: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary|first= Michael |last=Dillon|publisher=Routledge |date=24 February 1998|isbn= 978-0700704392  }}</ref> with most specialising in ''yanyue''. All were under the administration of the Drums and Pipes Bureau and an umbrella organization called the Taichang Temple (太常寺).<ref name="civilization">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-fAxn_9f8wC&pg=PA460 |title= China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization |pages=458–460 |publisher=City University of Hong Kong Press |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-9629371401 }}</ref>

Professional artists had similarly low status.<ref name=clan/>

=== Slaves ===
{{Main|Slavery in China}}
[[File:Chinese Slave trade.jpg|thumb|upright|Contract for the purchase of a slave, Tang dynasty Xinjiang]]
Slavery was comparatively uncommon in Chinese history but was still practiced, largely as a judicial punishment for crimes.<ref>{{cite book|url={{Google books |id=NKAxAQAAIAAJ |plainurl=yes }} |title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 27|author=Encyclopædia Britannica, inc|year=2003|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|isbn=0-85229-961-3|page=289|access-date=2011-01-11}}</ref><ref>The First Emperor of China by Li Yu-Ning(1975)</ref><ref name="EncAnt">Hallet, Nicole. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=_SeZrcBqt-YC&pg=PA156 China and Antislavery]". ''Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition'', Vol. 1, p. 154{{spaced ndash}}156. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. {{ISBN|0-313-33143-X}}.</ref> In the Han and Tang dynasties, it was illegal to trade in Chinese slaves (that were not criminals), but foreign slaves were acceptable.<ref name=outcast2 /><ref>{{citation|last=Schafer|first=Edward H.|year=1963|title=The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics|publisher=University of California Press|pages=44–45}}</ref> The [[Xin dynasty]] emperor [[Wang Mang]], the Ming dynasty [[Hongwu]] emperor, and Qing dynasty [[Yongzheng]] emperor attempted to ban slavery entirely but were not successful.<ref name="EncAnt" /><ref>
{{Cite book
| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group
| isbn = 978-0-313-33143-5
| title = Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition
| year = 2011
| page = 155
}}</ref><ref>{{Google books |id=g_kuS42BxIYC |page=420 |title=Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion }}</ref> Illegal enslavement of children frequently occurred under the guise of adoption from poor families.<ref name=outcast2>Hansson, p. 35</ref> It has been speculated by researchers such as Sue Gronewold that up to 80% of late Qing era prostitutes may have been slaves.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gronewold |first1=Sue |title=Beautiful merchandise: Prostitution in China, 1860-1936 |date=1982 |publisher=Women and History |pages=12–13, 32}}</ref>

[[Six dynasties]], Tang dynasty, and to a partial extent Song dynasty society also contained a complex system of servile groups included under "mean people" (賤人) that formed intermediate standings between the four occupations and outright slavery. These were, in descending order:<ref name="Outcast1"/>
* the musicians of the Imperial Sacrifices 太常音聲人
* general bondsmen 雑戶, including Imperial tomb guards
* musician households 樂戶
* official bondsmen 官戶
* government slaves 奴婢
And in private service,
* personal retainers 部曲
* female retainers 客女
* private slaves 家奴
These performed a wide assortment of jobs in households, in agriculture, delivering messages or as private guards.<ref name="Outcast1"/>

== See also ==
{{Portal|China}}
* [[Social structure of China]]
* [[Edo society]]
* [[Estates of the realm]]
* [[Society and culture of the Han dynasty]]
* [[Society of the Song dynasty]]
* [[Yangban]], [[Chungin]], [[Sangmin]] and [[Cheonmin]] in Korea
* [[Youxia]]
* [[Kheshig]]
* [[Samurai]]
* [[Hwarang]]
{{clear}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|3}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* Barbieri-Low, Anthony J. (2007). ''Artisans in Early Imperial China''. Seattle & London: University of Washington Press. {{ISBN|0-295-98713-8}}.
* {{Citation|last=Beasley|first=William G.|author-link=William G. Beasley|year=1972|title=The Meiji Restoration|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|location=Stanford, California|isbn=0-8047-0815-0}}
* [[Timothy Brook|Brook, Timothy]]. (1998). ''[[The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China]]''. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-22154-0}}
* [[Patricia Buckley Ebrey|Ebrey, Patricia Buckley]], Anne Walthall, [[James Palais]]. (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. {{ISBN|0-618-13384-4}}.
* __________. (1999). ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-66991-X}} (paperback).
* [[John King Fairbank|Fairbank, John King]] and Merle Goldman (1992). ''China: A New History; Second Enlarged Edition'' (2006). Cambridge: MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-01828-1}}
* Gernet, Jacques (1962). ''Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276''. Translated by H. M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-0720-0}}
* Michael, Franz. "State and Society in Nineteenth-Century China", ''World Politics: A Quarterly Journal of International Relations'' (Volume 3, Number 3, April 1955): 419–433.
* Smits, Gregory (1999). "Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics". Honolulu: [[University of Hawai'i Press]].
* [[Jonathan Spence|Spence, Jonathan D.]] (1999). ''[[The Search For Modern China]]; Second Edition''. New York: [[W. W. Norton & Company]]. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}} (Paperback).
* Steben, Barry D. "The Transmission of Neo-Confucianism to the Ryukyu (Liuqiu) Islands and its Historical Significance".
* [[Arthur F. Wright|Wright, Arthur F.]] (1959). ''Buddhism in Chinese History''. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
* Yuan, Zheng. "Local Government Schools in Sung China: A Reassessment", ''History of Education Quarterly'' (Volume 34, Number 2; Summer 1994): 193–213.
* Lorge, Peter (2005). War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900–1795: 1st Edition. New York: Routledge.
* Wang, Richard G. (2008), "The Ming Prince and Daoism: Institutional Patronage of an Elite" OUP USA, {{ISBN|0199767688}}
* Peers, C.J., Soldiers of the Dragon, Osprey, New York {{isbn|1-84603-098-6}}
* Hansson, Anders, Chinese Outcasts: Discrimination and Emancipation in Late Imperial China 1996, BRILL {{isbn|9004105964}}

{{refend}}

{{Social class}}
{{Social and political philosophy}}

[[Category:Society of China]]
[[Category:Employment classifications]]
[[Category:Occupations]]
[[Category:Social class in China]]
[[Category:Social history of China]]
[[Category:Ancient Chinese institutions]]