Patterns of Life in Traditional Chinese society

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Patterns of Life in Traditional Chinese society
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(No Transcript)
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Social System

• Gentry
• Peasants
• Artisans and merchants
• Soldiers
• Could move up the social ladder
• Usually by getting an education
• Passing Confucian exams

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Gentry

• Wealthy landowners
• Educated in Confucian ideas
• Jobs scholars and government officials
• Supported the arts

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Peasants

• Majority
• Worked the land
• Owned and worked small plots of land
• Tenant farmers
• Landless laborers
• Lived in villages

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Families

• Stressed the importance of family
• Respect for elders, duty to
• Why?
• Farming communities
• Joint family ideal
• Filial piety
• Puts family/parents interest before yours
• Obedience and respect
• Folktales taught children filial peity

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Women

• Inferior to men
• Valued to work they did and children they were to
  bear
• When daughter was born small happiness
• Had to obey husbands mother
• Learned the ways of her new home
• Gave birth to son gained respect
• Footbinding became a common practice

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Marriages

• Parents arranged marriages
• Peasant class wanted a women who would work hard
  and a bear a son
• Gentry wanted a women with resources
• Consulted the ancestors
• Go-between worked out the details
• Dowry
• Priest study birth dates to determine wedding
  date that would bring good fortune