1. Chapter 15 Section 3: China: Patterns of Life

2. 1. Who did peasants rely on?
Self-sufficient & self-reliant
Relied on family
Headman
Had little contact with distant rulers

4. 2. Social Classes All people were not equal
Age, gender, education, and occupation determined a persons place in society

5. 3. Organization of Social Classes
Gentry
Peasants
Artisans
Merchants

6. 4. Gentry Wealthy landowners, educated by Confucian classics
They looked down on those who did physical labor
To show they didn’t have to work with their hands they let their fingernails grow very long
Government officials & scholars, collected taxes and advised the emperor

8. 5. Majority of the People The vast majority were peasants
Owned land or tenant farmers
Paid taxes but avoided imperial government
Feared the government’s harsh system of justice and punishment
Enjoyed limited leisure time
Celebrated festivals & enjoyed tales told by storytellers

9. 6. Describe differences between Gentry & Peasants
no physical labor
government officials
time and wealth to support the arts
Peasants
physical labor
little to do with how nation was ruled
poor and most of their day working

10. 7. Village Headman Kept order Resolved disputes
Did not want to involve Imperial government – possible punishment

11. 8. Social Mobility Education
Families would use their wealth to educate their sons
Young men would then have to pass civil service exams
ensured that officials shared Confucian values and traditions.
Women “marry up”

12. Artisans & Merchants
Produced the goods the Gentry and peasants did not
Achieved social mobility through educating their children
At times an entire village supported the education of only one student

13. 9. Joint Families Ideal in China Farming societies
By working together families could produce what it needed to survive
Patrilineal and Patrilocal

14. 10. Values of traditional family
Family first
Respect for elders
Filial piety
Duty
Harmony

15. 11. Reverence for Ancestors
or Veneration
Filial Piety
Family’s interests before their own
Believed that the extended family included the living, the dead, & all future generations
Ancestors lived in another world and depended on descendants to provide them with necessities
Impact on earth
Without them the ancestors would become ghosts & their descendants would suffer

16. 12. Marriages Arranged Marriages
Gentry strengthened their position in society
Families consulted their ancestors for approval
Go-Between (Matchmaker) worked out the details of the marriage
ex. the dowry
Priests studies birth dates to determine wedding day that would bring good fortune

17. 13. Woman’s role Inferior to men---Patriarchal
Girls were valued for their work and motherhood
Daughters births were not celebrated, sons births revered
When she married she left the family & became part of her husband’s family
Under guidance of mother-in-law

19. 14. Practice in 950AD Foot Binding –
Painful Memories for China's Footbinding Survivors – NPR Hyperlink ---- Transcript link
Kept the feet small
Began at imperial court but spread to many parts of China
Women with bound feet were thought to be beautiful
to turn them into the prized "three-inch golden lotuses."
Feared that they would not be able to find a husband for a daughter who had large feet
Banned in 1912

20. Legend has it that the origins of footbinding go back as far as the Shang dynasty ( B.C.). The Shang Empress had a clubfoot, so she demanded that footbinding be made compulsory in the court.
But historical records from the Song dynasty ( A.D.) date footbinding as beginning during the reign of Li Yu, who ruled over one region of China between It is said his heart was captured by a concubine, Yao Niang, a talented dancer who bound her feet to suggest the shape of a new moon and performed a "lotus dance."

26. Shoe For a Bounded Foot
-The shoe is slightly larger
than a pack of cigarettes

27. Body Modification is common in many Cultures

39. How did tradition benefit Chinese society?
Creates order