Society During the Tang and Song Dynasties

Gentry
1. Wealthy, landowning class
2. Could afford to spend years studying Confucian classics in order to pass the civil service exam
3. When not in government service, often served in the provinces as allies of the emperor's officials
4. Valued learning more than physical labor
Women
1. held higher status during Tang and early Song dynasties
  1. called upon to run family affairs
  2. man's wife had great authority, managing servants and family services
2. when a woman married she became a part of her husband's family
  1. Could not keep dowry
  2. could never remarry
3. subordinate position reinforced during Song dynasty
  1. foot binding emerges
    1. probably began at imperial court and spread to lower classes
    2. tiny feet and a stilted walk became a symbol of nobility and beauty
    3. extremely painful but custom survived into 1900s
    4. subjugated women
4. a few women did not have their feet bound so that they could help work the land
5. most women could not be married without bound feet
6. Confucian tradition backed foot binding, saying that a woman's place was in the home
Peasants
1. most of Chinese populations
  1. lived in small, largely self-sufficient villages that managed their own affairs
2. to add to their income, some would produce handicrafts
  1. could have made baskets or embroidered items
  2. carried products to nearby markets or towns to sell or trade for salt, tea, or iron tools
3. could move up in society through education and government service
4. most worked the land and lived on what they produced
Merchants
1. some acquired wealth in towns and cities
2. had even lower social status than peasants
  1. based off of Confucianism
  2. riches came from the labor of others
3. some would buy land and educate one son to enter ranks of scholar-gentry
4. affected by the Confucian attitude towards them
  1. some rulers favored commerce but wanted to control it
  2. rulers often restricted where foreign merchants could live and even limited the activities of private traders

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Society During the Tang and Song Dynasties

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