Transcript 7th - China

China
Andy Baek, Max Gross, Connor
Keuchel, Pooja Kotak, Eric Wang
Table of Contents
1.Society and the State of
China
2.An Elite of Officials
3.The Landlord Class
4.Peasants
5.Merchants
Society and the State in
China
● Chinese society was unique.
● This was very apparent in the political
power.
● All officials which were all male.
● Finds administrators that are loyal to the
state not families and regions, had a basis of
merit and personal morality.
● The Han Dynasty was established authority
in 200 B.C.E.
An Elite of Officials
● 124 B.C.E - Emperor Wu Di established
an imperial academy where officials were
taught as scholars. They enrolled in
30,000 officials.
● Favored wealthy families to provide years
of education to pass lower level exams.
● Those in bureaucracy entered a realm of
high privilege and great prestige.
Landlords
● Pop. growth, taxation, debt forces
peasants to sell land to landlords
● Landlords avoid taxes, can use
paramilitary forces
● Wang Ming 8-23 C.E. : nationalization
leads to assassination
Peasants
● Majority of the Ancient Chinese population
● Backbone of the country.
● Poor - there were lots of factors that could ruin a
peasants harvest.
● It was hard for peasants to pay taxes because they
made so little.
● Many peasants sold their land to landlords.
● Some peasants fled and joined nomadic tribes or
bandits.
● There were many peasant revolts - Yellow Turban
Rebellion.
● Honored in the ideology of the state.
Merchants
●
● Merchants were stereotyped as greedy,
luxury-loving, and materialistic due to
making profit off of selling the work of others.
● Authorities made an effort to keep
merchants under control. Despite the effort,
merchants continued to become wealthy
Prompt...
There were many similarities and
differences between the four classes of
Chinese society. List and explain two
differences between two classes of
China’s social structure.