3759744
Society During the Tang
and Song Dynasties
- Gentry
- Wealthy, landowning class
- Could afford to spend years studying Confucian classics in order to pass the civil service exam
- When not in government service, often served in the provinces as allies of the emperor's officials
- Valued learning more than physical labor
- Wealthy, landowning class
- Women
- held higher status during Tang and early Song dynasties
- called upon to run family affairs
- man's wife had great authority, managing servants and family services
- called upon to run family affairs
- when a woman married she became a part of her husband's family
- Could not keep dowry
- could never remarry
- Could not keep dowry
- subordinate position reinforced during Song dynasty
- foot binding emerges
- probably began at imperial court and spread to lower classes
- tiny feet and a stilted walk became a symbol of nobility and beauty
- extremely painful but custom survived into 1900s
- subjugated women
- probably began at imperial court and spread to lower classes
- foot binding emerges
- a few women did not have their feet bound so that they could help work the land
- most women could not be married without bound feet
- Confucian tradition backed foot binding, saying that a woman's place was in the home
- held higher status during Tang and early Song dynasties
- Peasants
- most of Chinese populations
- lived in small, largely self-sufficient villages that managed their own affairs
- lived in small, largely self-sufficient villages that managed their own affairs
- to add to their income, some would produce handicrafts
- could have made baskets or embroidered items
- carried products to nearby markets or towns to sell or trade for salt, tea, or iron tools
- could have made baskets or embroidered items
- could move up in society through education and government service
- most worked the land and lived on what they produced
- most of Chinese populations
- Merchants
- some acquired wealth in towns and cities
- had even lower social status than peasants
- based off of Confucianism
- riches came from the labor of others
- based off of Confucianism
- some would buy land and educate one son to enter ranks of scholar-gentry
- affected by the Confucian attitude towards them
- some rulers favored commerce but wanted to control it
- rulers often restricted where foreign merchants could live and even limited the activities of private traders
- some rulers favored commerce but wanted to control it
- some acquired wealth in towns and cities
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