Chapters 12,
13, 14
Social
China
Social Trends Tang-Song
 Land
reforms limited power of aristocracy
and improved lives of peasantry
 Improved farming techniques increased
food production
 The status of women was improving
under the Tang and early Song, but
steadily declined during the late Song.
 Upper-class women improved some
(activity, divorce, 2nd husbands)


Pre-marital rules, divorce, education, role in
home
Foot binding
Family and Society in the
Tang-Song Era.


Family organization resembled that of earlier eras.
Extended-family households were preferred


The Confucianist male-dominated hierarchy was common
in all classes.




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only the upper classes could afford them.
An elaborate process of making marriage alliances was
handled by professional female go-betweens.
Partners were of the same age; marriage ceremonies did
not take place until puberty.
Upper class women had increased opportunities for
personal expression and career possibilities under the Tang
and early Song.
The legal code had provisions supporting women's rights in
divorce arrangements.
The practice of allowing wealthy urban women to have
lovers is an example of female independence.
Neo-Confucian and Male
Dominance

The independence and legal rights of elite minority
of women worsened under the influence of NeoConfucian thinkers.

They stressed the roles of housemaker and mother,
advocated physical confinement of women,
emphasized the importance:
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

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of bridal virginity, wifely fidelity, and widow chastity.
Men were permitted free sexual behavior and
remarriage.
The decline of the opportunities once open in
Buddhism also contributed to the deteriorated status
of women.
New laws favored males in inheritance and divorce,
and females were excluded from the educational
system.
Growing importance of the
Examination system



Patronized academies to train state officials and
educate them in Confucian classics, which were
thought to teach moral and organizational principlesMinistry of Rites administered the examinations
Jinshi- those who passed exams on the philosophical
and legal classics and Chinese literature
Birth and family position still very important- upper levels
of power still dominated by aristocracy- fathers to sons
Japan
Japan’s Contact with China
 Impact
on women
 Successful
poets, artists, musicians
 Become involved in political and social
intrigues (form of power)
 Still relegated to secondary status
 Lower class women able to engage in
commercial activity

Guilds, merchant activities
 Warrior
class women ultimately minimized
(training, marriage, inheritance)
What evidence suggests that
women in merchant artisan
families had higher status?
 Participation
in guild organizations and
business management, positions
sometimes inherited by daughters
What was life like for women of
the warrior elite class?
 Primogeniture
stopped women from
passing property to their daughters
 not allowed to ride horses, use a bow
and arrow, or join the hunt
 shared division of estate but receive little
or no land or income
Korea
Describe the social system of
the Koreans at this time.
 Aristocrats
 Government
functionaries
 Commoners
 near-slaves

Near-slaves were miners, artisans, servants,
and entertainers.
 slaves
Vietnam
What was different about the scholarly-gentry
in Vietnam?
 They
did not enjoy as much power as they
would have in China
 control at village level less secure
 tended to identify with peasantry rather
than with court or higher administrators
 looked out for local interests and served
as leaders in village uprisings against ruling
dynasty when its demands on the
commoners became too oppressive
Mongols
Review of Pastoralists
(Pastoralism vs. Agriculture)
 Pastoralists
in society



Fewer restrictions
Greater role in public life
Involved in productive labor
 Mongol



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offered women a higher status
women:
Could initiate divorce
Could remarry if widowed
Served as political advisors
Active in the military
Gender Roles
•
•
•
•
•
Mongol women had a
strong role originally
They remained aloof
from Confucian
Chinese women
Refused to adopt foot
binding
Retained right to
property and control in
the household
Freedom of movement
Did the Mongol conquests
ultimately bring higher status
to Chinese women? Why or
why not?
 No,
because the Mongol era was too
short and the number of influential
women was too small to change a whole
society’s views on the role of women
What changes occurred in the
Chinese social structure under
Kubilai Khan’s rule?
 Refused
to reinstate examination system
and favoritism for Mongols and other
foreigners to dominate politics kept the
Confucian scholar-gentry from having a
lot of power, artisans and merchants have
better status than during Chinese rule
Chinese lower class reaction
 Kubila’s
policies favored peasantry,
protecting the agricultural land from
Mongol cavalry men turning it into pasture
 Famine
 Tax
relief measures were introduced
and labor burdens were reduced
Social Policies and ScholarGentry Resistance


Most of the scholar-gentry still viewed Khan as
a Mongol overlord, who was an uncouth
barbarian, who endangered Chinese
traditions
Also, he promoted the artisans and
merchants


Which further alienated the scholar-gentry class
Favorable policies toward peasants

Their land was protected from Mongol
cavalrymen turning it into pasture