229-461: Rural society in the People's Republic of China encompasses less than half of China 's population (roughly 45%) and has a varied range of standard of living and means of living. Life in rural China differs from that of urban China. In southern and coastal China, rural areas are developing and, in some cases, statistically approaching urban economies. In northwest and western regions, rural society
458-517: A Homo erectus who used fire , have been dated to between 680,000 and 780,000 years ago . The fossilized teeth of Homo sapiens (dated to 125,000–80,000 years ago) have been discovered in Fuyan Cave . Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 6600 BCE, at Damaidi around 6000 BCE, Dadiwan from 5800 to 5400 BCE, and Banpo dating from the 5th millennium BCE. Some scholars have suggested that
687-561: A failed war in northern Korea provoked widespread unrest. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties , Chinese economy, technology, and culture entered a golden age. The Tang dynasty retained control of the Western Regions and the Silk Road, which brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa , and made the capital Chang'an a cosmopolitan urban center. However, it
916-468: A nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget . It is a great power , and has been described as an emerging superpower . China is known for its cuisine and culture, and has 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites , the second-highest number of any country . The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it
1145-590: A certain amount of a commodity or sum of money to the township government in return for the use of land, or workshops, or tractors. The goal of the contracting system was to increase efficiency in the use of resources and to tap peasant initiative. The rigid requirement that all villages produce grain was replaced by recognition of the advantages of specialization and exchange, as well as a much greater role for markets. Some "specialized households" devoted themselves entirely to production of cash crops or provision of services and reaped large rewards. The overall picture
1374-470: A certain number of years. In the Qing dynasty, the widespread White Lotus Rebellion , whose participants were primarily landless people squeezed out because of commercialization, and the consequent battles destroyed the local agricultural economy. The rebellion at the same time stimulated the Qing government to initiate local militarization. The military organization was funded on its own and stayed autonomous from
1603-401: A climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops. In 2021, 12 percent of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland. China is one of 17 megadiverse countries , lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms :
1832-401: A commoner can become Guan Hu by donating a large amount of money, grain, or industrial materials to the imperial court. In 1006, Guan Hu accounted for 1.3% of the entire population. The percentage of Guan Hu increased to 2.8% by the year 1190. The growing population of Guan Hu was partly due to the system of En Yin which allowed a relatively easy entry into the stratum of Guan Hu. At the top of
2061-521: A cultural identity among its populace still remembered in the ethnonym of the modern Han Chinese . The Han expanded the empire's territory considerably , with military campaigns reaching Central Asia, Mongolia , Korea , and Yunnan , and the recovery of Guangdong and northern Vietnam from Nanyue . Han involvement in Central Asia and Sogdia helped establish the land route of the Silk Road , replacing
2290-613: A disputed land border with India and Bhutan . China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over territory in the East and South China Seas , such as the Senkaku Islands and the entirety of South China Sea Islands . The People's Republic of China is a one-party state governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP is officially guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics , which
2519-473: A family consisted of five or six people and was based on marriage between an adult son and an adult woman who moved into her husband's family. The variant family forms - either the very large and complex or those based on minor, nonstandard forms of marriage - were much less common. The state had outlawed concubinage, child betrothal , and the sale of infants or females, all of which were formerly practiced, though not common. Increased life expectancy meant that
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#17328760093572748-523: A far lower degree of economic development, a situation which persists to the twenty-first century. However, there are multiple, complex factors contributing to this state of affairs. For instance, distances are much greater, and geography often more challenging in western and interior regions. Population is more spread out; social structures may also play a role, in that the demographics and social structures of these regions often differ significantly from those of coastal China. Deng Xiaoping's reforms included
2977-700: A far-reaching popular uprising (the May Fourth Movement ). In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft military and political maneuverings known collectively as the Northern Expedition . The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of
3206-551: A fixed amount of allowance from the imperial court. The average amount of allowance ranges from 18 tael to 12 taels. The rest of the gentries mainly earned their living by teaching in private schools as mentors. Farmers during the Ming dynasty had two groups. Self-sustained farmers accounted for 10% of all farmers while tenants farmers of wealthy landlords made up as much as 90%. They had more burdens and gained less harvest than self-sustained farmers. Craftsmen were severely exploited by
3435-477: A greater proportion of infants survived to adulthood and that more adults lived into their sixties or seventies. More rural families were able to achieve the traditional goal of a three-generation family in the 1980s. There were fewer orphans and young or middle-aged widows or widowers. Far fewer men were forced to retain lifelong single status. Divorce , although possible, was rare, and families were stable, on-going units. A number of traditional attitudes toward
3664-471: A high density of plant species including numerous rare endemics. Tropical and seasonal rainforests , though confined to Yunnan and Hainan , contain a quarter of all the animal and plant species found in China. China has over 10,000 recorded species of fungi . In the early 2000s, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization. Regulations such as
3893-649: A high level of intermarriage among the children of high-level cadres. Most rural Chinese has lived in one of some 900,000 villages, which have an average population of from 1,000 to 2,000 people. Villages have never been self-contained, self-sufficient units, and the social world of Chinese peasants has extended beyond their home villages. Almost all new wives come into a village from other settlements, and daughters marry out. All villagers have close kinship ties with families in other villages, and marriage go-betweens shuttle from village to village. Before 1950 clusters of villages centered on small market towns that linked them to
4122-422: A higher rank. On the other hand, gentry and government officials were not commoners. They and their families belong to Guan Hu (Gentry). Guan Hu was not an exclusive social stratum like European nobility ; by participating and passing the imperial exam, one could be qualified as a member of Guan Hu. In addition, relatives of a government official can become Guan Hu through the system of En Yin. In some rarer cases,
4351-463: A landlord. The Communists denounced these organizations as feudal systems by means of which landlords exploited others. The lineages were suppressed in the early 1950s and their land confiscated and redistributed in the land reform . Communal worship of distant lineage ancestors lost much of its justification with the dissolution of the lineage estate and was easily suppressed over the next several years. Domestic ancestor worship , in which members of
4580-489: A major focus, special economic zones (SEZs) were created. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and some closed. This marked China's transition away from planned economy. China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. In 1989, there were protests such those in Tiananmen Square , and then throughout the entire nation. Zhao Ziyang was put under house arrest for his sympathies to
4809-541: A number of significant factors, which also included occupation, personal connections, and managerial talent. After 1949, the Chinese healthcare system, in rural areas the first tier was made up of " barefoot doctors " working out of village medical centers. They provided preventive and primary-care services, with an average of two doctors per 1,000 people. The barefoot doctors emerged in 1968 when China lacked qualified health workers in rural areas and in 1985, China stopped using
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#17328760093575038-499: A part of Song). Yuan dynasty introduced the policy of Colored population statistics ( Chinese : 諸色戶計 ). The policy divided commoners according to their occupation. Farmers, soldiers, craftsmen, hunters, physicians, messengers, and Confucian scholars are some of the categories under this policy. The farmers had the largest population among all the commoners in the Yuan dynasty. These categories are hereditary. One soldier will give birth to
5267-404: A permanent navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along with the sea trade. Between the 10th and 11th century CE, the population of China doubled to around 100 million people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. The Song dynasty also saw a revival of Confucianism , in response to
5496-433: A profound impact on the history of rural life in China. Under Deng Xiaoping , urbanization in China has expanded at an unprecedented speed since the declaration of "Reform and Open Policy". new policies in China's economy shifted the approach from collective farming to household-based production quotas, in many ways reversing decades of collectivization efforts. In many areas of China, especially southern and coastal China,
5725-444: A salient feature of this uneven development. One emerging trend since at least the 1990s is the "floating population" or "black (e.g. black market) people", rural migrants (民工 min gong ) entering urban areas in search of work. Until recent developments, rural residents lacked the legal permission to resettle in urban areas without approval, yet between tens and hundred of millions did resettle in search of jobs. Many have found work, in
5954-532: A similar policy during his visit to Hangzhou . Ming government formalized the registration with the yellow booklet which records every member of a given family. In addition, there was the white booklet which records the taxation of a family. The policy of Colored population statistics of the Yuan dynasty was inherited by Ming and reformed. The numerous categories of commoners were reduced into only 3 categories. Soldier, Commoners, and Craftsmen. These castes were hereditary and fixed. Moving from one category to another
6183-508: A single family worshiped and memorialized their immediate ancestors, continued at least until 1966 and 1967, in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution , when Red Guards destroyed altars and ancestral tablets. In 1987 the party was still condemning ancestor worship as superstitious but had made little effort to end it. The Marriage Law of 1950 guaranteed everyone the freedom to choose their marriage partner. Nevertheless, especially in
6412-514: A son who will later become a soldier. In comparison with other commoners, craftsmen were treated more fairly since the Mongols deemed the skills of making weapons necessary for their conquest of the world. The Mongols routinely massacred Chinese civilians with the exception of Craftsmen. Slavery was common during the Yuan dynasty. The main sources of slaves include captives, criminals, kidnapped commoners, buying and selling of human lives. Slave status
6641-402: A son-in-law were sometimes forced to sell their daughters as concubines or prostitutes . The variation in family size and complexity was the result of variation in class position and of the dual role of the household as both family and economic enterprise. From the 1950s onwards, China sought to pursue gender equality by including women in the formal labor force. In urban areas, this process
6870-491: A study of the revival of the song and storytelling traditions of the Tai Lüe people of Sipsongpanna, Yunnan, see Davis (2005). Village ritual, expressive culture, and festival activities reflect the villagers' struggle with their local environment. In southern rice-growing regions, which require intensive irrigation, both drought and floods can be a problem. The famous Chinese anthropologist, Fei Xiaotong, investigated village life in
7099-806: A term which developed under the Western Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne . It was used in official documents as an synonym for the state under the Qing . The name Zhongguo is also translated as 'Middle Kingdom' in English. China is sometimes referred to as " mainland China " or "the Mainland" when distinguishing it from the Republic of China or the PRC's Special Administrative Regions . Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China 2.25 million years ago. The hominid fossils of Peking Man ,
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7328-729: A vigorous last-minute effort by the Qing government to rapidly reform education, the military, and local administration. Despite the workers' lower status, they often earned more than peasants. Artisans and workers often worked directly for the state or gentry. Merchants were ranked lower because they were seen as unproductive leeches by the Confucians. Merchants could include anyone from street peddlers to entrepreneurs with high influence and wealth. They were assumed to thrive by unethical business practices. They would bribe government officials or use profit-sharing to gain funding. Merchant families could use this wealth to pay for their sons' training for
7557-622: A young girl, to a pregnant wife, and finally to a Rice Mother bearing child-grains," (McLaren, 2022, xviii). Lake Tai songs and stories include tales of a local hero who brought back the art of rice growing from a paradisial land to his home village (McLaren, 2022, 77–110). The songs of the Kam people of Guizhou reflect local "environmental management and agricultural practices" in this rice-cultivation zone (Ingram 2011, 445). Ingram observes that these instructional songs "complement and assist in retaining longstanding farming techniques" (Ingram 2011, 446). Drought
7786-454: Is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances . The Chinese constitution states that the PRC "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants," that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism ," and that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics
8015-469: Is a matter of debate. Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state. The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" ( simplified Chinese : 中华人民共和国 ; traditional Chinese : 中華人民共和國 ; pinyin : Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó ). The shorter form is "China" ( 中国 ; 中國 ; Zhōngguó ), from zhōng ('central') and guó ('state'),
8244-572: Is a serious problem for villagers living in the region of the Yellow River. The Dragon King is venerated because he can dispense rain and save the community from drought (Chau, 2006, 79). The ritual operas of Aoshi in Shanxi were performed "to bring rain during droughts, to drive away disease, and to prevent fires, as well as to celebrate the New Year" (Johnson 2009, 71–72). China China , officially
8473-829: Is bounded by the Bohai , Yellow , East China and South China seas. China connects through the Kazakh border to the Eurasian Steppe . The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N , and longitudes 73° and 135° E . The geographical center of China is marked by the Center of the Country Monument at 35°50′40.9″N 103°27′7.5″E / 35.844694°N 103.452083°E / 35.844694; 103.452083 ( Geographical center of China ) . China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast territory. In
8702-522: Is commonly agreed that pre-modern China's population experienced two growth spurts, one during the Northern Song period (960–1127), and other during the Qing period (around 1700–1830). By the High Qing era China was possibly the most commercialized country in the world, and imperial China experienced a second commercial revolution by the end of the 18th century. On the other hand, the centralized autocracy
8931-415: Is divided into 33 province-level divisions : 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four municipalities , and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions . Beijing is the country's capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center . China is considered one of the cradles of civilization : the first human inhabitants in the region arrived during
9160-461: Is home to a variety of forest types. Cold coniferous forests predominate in the north of the country, supporting animal species such as moose and Asian black bear , along with over 120 bird species. The understory of moist conifer forests may contain thickets of bamboo . In higher montane stands of juniper and yew , the bamboo is replaced by rhododendrons . Subtropical forests, which are predominate in central and southern China, support
9389-622: Is in opposition to profiting the state ( mou guo). Wu's claim was one of the major intellectual efforts to point out and attempt to solve family problems ( jiating wenti ) in the Republican period. Exposed to the Western ideal of conjugal families, radicals actively promoted the transformation of family structure. They urged damping the large families where members relied heavily on one another and were placed into an unequal generational hierarchy in an effort to advocate small conjugal families to comply with
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9618-603: Is now widely seen, both within and outside China, as a major economic disaster. Peasants often abandoned farming to produce steel or work in other industrial production. The three years between 1959 and 1962 were known as the "Three Bitter Years," the Three Years of Natural Disasters (although this name is now rarely used in China), and the Great Leap Famine, as the Chinese people suffered from extreme shortages of food. The period had
9847-451: Is protected by law, and as of 2005 , the country has over 2,349 nature reserves , covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares, 15 percent of China's total land area. Most wild animals have been eliminated from the core agricultural regions of east and central China, but they have fared better in the mountainous south and west. The Baiji was confirmed extinct on 12 December 2006. China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants, and
10076-405: Is sons who bear the primary responsibility for their aged parents remain. The party and government have devoted great effort to controlling the number of births and have attempted to limit the number of children per couple. But the authorities have not attempted to control population growth by suggesting that some people should not marry at all. In the past, kinship principles were extended beyond
10305-500: Is still perceived as lowly and primitive. Basic needs such as running water and accessible transportation are a problem in these areas. During the Republic of China period, neither the Beiyang government or the later Nanjing government succeeded in consolidating governance in rural China. Traditional rural leaders continued to hold power through economic means, interpersonal relationships, and symbolic resources like lineage. One of
10534-447: Is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters . The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou , who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries BCE, though the centralized authority of Son of Heaven was slowly eroded by fengjian lords. Some principalities eventually emerged from the weakened Zhou and continually waged war with each other during the 300-year Spring and Autumn period . By
10763-401: Is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party." The PRC officially terms itself as a democracy , using terms such as "socialist consultative democracy", and " whole-process people's democracy ". However, the country is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party state and a dictatorship , with among the heaviest restrictions worldwide in many areas, most notably against freedom of
10992-559: Is the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization , with $ 546 billion invested in 2022; it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects. Long heavily relying on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, China's adaptation of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years, with their share increasing from 26.3 percent in 2016 to 31.9 percent in 2022. In 2023, 60.5% of China's electricity came from coal (largest producer in
11221-672: The Encyclopædia Britannica , to 9,596,961 km (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook , and The World Factbook . China has the longest combined land border in the world , measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) and its coastline covers approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River (Amnok River) to the Gulf of Tonkin . China borders 14 nations and covers
11450-452: The 18th CCP National Congress in 2012. Shortly after his ascension to power, Xi launched a vast anti-corruption crackdown , that prosecuted more than 2 million officials by 2022. During his tenure , Xi has consolidated power unseen since the initiation of economic and political reforms. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to
11679-677: The Cultural Revolution , sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council. After Mao's death, the Gang of Four was arrested by Hua Guofeng and held responsible for the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution
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#173287600935711908-738: The Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and the subsequent Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by Maoist populism. Following the Sino-Soviet split , the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of relations with the United States . Economic reforms that began in 1978 moved
12137-507: The Jiahu symbols (7th millennium BCE) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system. According to traditional Chinese historiography , the Xia dynasty was established during the late 3rd millennium BCE, marking the beginning of the dynastic cycle that was understood to underpin China's entire political history. In the modern era, the Xia's historicity came under increasing scrutiny, in part due to
12366-618: The Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China. Afterwards, the CCP took control of most of mainland China, and the ROC government retreated offshore to Taiwan . On 1 October 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed
12595-549: The Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879 , in which between 9 and 13 million people died. The Guangxu Emperor drafted a reform plan in 1898 to establish a modern constitutional monarchy , but these plans were thwarted by the Empress Dowager Cixi . The ill-fated anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 further weakened the dynasty. Although Cixi sponsored a program of reforms known as the late Qing reforms ,
12824-602: The Palearctic and the Indomalayan . By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia . The country is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity ; its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was received by the convention in 2010. China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest in
13053-566: The Paleolithic . By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the Zhou dynasty , accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature , philosophy , and historiography . In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor , ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including
13282-556: The People's Republic of China ( PRC ), is a country in East Asia . With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India , representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land . With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country
13511-548: The Qin , Han , Tang , Yuan , Ming , and Qing . With the invention of gunpowder and paper , the establishment of the Silk Road , and the building of the Great Wall , Chinese culture flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties . After decades of Qing China on
13740-487: The Song dynasty social strata were clearly divided and enforced by the law. At the bottom of the pyramid were the commoners who were categorized into two groups: Fangguo Hu (city dwellers) and Xiangcun Hu (rural population). Fangguo Hu and Xiangcun Hu had ranks. The first rank, commoners (both Fangguo and Xiangcun), were the wealthiest. The ranks of commoners could change over time, as one who acquired more wealth could be promoted to
13969-469: The State Council , China's cabinet, composed of four vice premiers, state councilors , and the heads of ministries and commissions. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body that is critical in China's " united front " system, which aims to gather non-CCP voices to support the CCP. Similar to the people's congresses, CPPCC's exist at various division, with
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#173287600935714198-497: The Turpan Depression . China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons , which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist. A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts , particularly
14427-604: The World Trade Organization in 2001. At the 16th CCP National Congress in 2002, Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang as the general secretary. Under Hu, China maintained its high rate of economic growth, overtaking the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. However, the growth also severely impacted the country's resources and environment, and caused major social displacement. Xi Jinping succeeded Hu as paramount leader at
14656-692: The Xi , Mekong , Brahmaputra and Amur . To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848 m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154 m) in
14885-593: The Xi Jinping era, 2013's Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms , described the urban-rural divide as a main obstacle to China's continued modernization and stated that efforts should be made to further integrate development. A series of projects designed to decrease the urban-rural divide followed. In 2013, China announced a new plan to reduce poverty and develop impoverished rural regions by raising rural farmers' income growth and reducing obstacles in agricultural development. The plan includes
15114-536: The Xinhai Revolution of 1911–1912 ended the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China . Puyi , the last Emperor, abdicated in 1912 . On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT) was proclaimed provisional president. In March 1912, the presidency was given to Yuan Shikai , a former Qing general who in 1915 proclaimed himself Emperor of China . In
15343-564: The campaigns against Western Xia by Genghis Khan , who also invaded Jin territories . In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty , which conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in 1300. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew
15572-445: The gentry . By the Yuan dynasty , there was a decrease in protection by the law for commoners. The gentry, however, were given more privileges. The Yuan dynasty also saw an increase in slavery , as the slave status became hereditary. The new policy for commoners at this time also made the various categories within the commoner status hereditary. The Ming dynasty saw a decrease in the number of categories for commoners, in comparison to
15801-426: The imperial examination system , of written examinations based on Confucian thought, thereby undermining the power of the hereditary aristocracy. Imperial China divided the country into four occupations or classes, with the emperor ruling over them. Throughout this time period, there were attempts to eradicate this system. Social mobility was difficult, or sometimes nearly impossible, to achieve as social class
16030-534: The subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya , Karakoram , Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia . The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long and
16259-486: The "rural collective health system" that provided most of the country's medical care. Only the most seriously ill patients were referred to the third and final tier, the county hospitals, which served 200,000 to 600,000 people each and were staffed by senior doctors who held degrees from 5-year medical schools. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the availability and quality of health care varied widely from city to countryside. According to 1982 census data, in rural areas
16488-454: The 17th century, the population of the royal house was so large that their living expenditures had taken up to 225.79% of the annual tax revenue causing a virtual bankruptcy of the government. In the Qing dynasty , the population could be divided into five classes. The top class was the emperor and his immediate family. After that came the gentry (officials of the government). Next came the agriculturalists, landlords, farmers and peasants. Then
16717-440: The 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, though they are poorly enforced, frequently disregarded in favor of rapid economic development. China has the second-highest death toll because of air pollution, after India , with approximately 1 million deaths. Although China ranks as the highest CO 2 emitting country, it only emits 8 tons of CO 2 per capita , significantly lower than developed countries such as
16946-528: The 2010s. In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement , which, according to Climate Action Tracker , would lower the expected rise in global temperature by 0.2–0.3 degrees – "the biggest single reduction ever estimated by the Climate Action Tracker". China
17175-600: The Begile during the reform of Tianjuan. The reform eliminated the aboriginal Jurchen conventions and substituted them with the conventions of the Song and Liao dynasties. During the Jin dynasty, Minggan Moumuke, groups of Jurchen soldiers who settled down in Northern China, changed their nomadic lifestyle to the agricultural lifestyle of Chinese commoners. Kublai , the founder of the Yuan dynasty, notably gave many financial privileges to
17404-640: The British under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking , the first of what have been termed as the " unequal treaties ". The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) resulted in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula , as well as the cession of Taiwan to Japan . The Qing dynasty also began experiencing internal unrest in which tens of millions of people died, especially in the White Lotus Rebellion ,
17633-446: The CCP. The NPC is dominated by the CCP, with another eight minor parties having nominal representation under the condition of upholding CCP leadership. The president is elected by the NPC. The presidency is the ceremonial state representative, but not the constitutional head of state. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the CCP and the chairman of
17862-609: The Central Military Commission , making him China's paramount leader and supreme commander of the Armed Forces. The premier is the head of government , with Li Qiang being the incumbent. The premier is officially nominated by the president and then elected by the NPC, and has generally been either the second- or third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). The premier presides over
18091-505: The Chinese government divided Chinese people into four classes: landlord , peasant , craftsmen , and merchant . Landlords and peasants constituted the two major classes, while merchants and craftsmen were collected into the two minor. Theoretically, except for the position of the Emperor, nothing was hereditary. During the 361 years of civil war after the Han dynasty (202 B.C.E. - 220 C.E.), there
18320-450: The Gobi Desert. Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms , prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Japan and Korea. Water quality, erosion , and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in
18549-714: The Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people. According to academics, in order to limit climate change in China to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) electricity generation from coal in China without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045. With current policies, the GHG emissions of China will probably peak in 2025, and by 2030 they will return to 2022 levels. However, such pathway still leads to three-degree temperature rise. Official government statistics about Chinese agricultural productivity are considered unreliable, due to exaggeration of production at subsidiary government levels. Much of China has
18778-732: The Kuomintang and the CCP. Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population; as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died. An estimated 40,000 to 300,000 Chinese were massacred in Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation. China, along with the UK, the United States, and the Soviet Union , were recognized as the Allied " Big Four " in the Declaration by United Nations . Along with
19007-548: The Lower Yangzi Delta region in the 1920s. He observed that the villagers enacted religious ceremonies and rituals at times of drought, floods, and locusts (Fei, 2010, 134). For a comprehensive study of the ritual and expressive culture associated with rice growing in the Lower Yangzi Delta region see Jiang Bin (1996). Rice cultivators along the shores of Lake Tai in Jiangsu province believed that "the rice-seedling transformed from
19236-489: The Mandarins/literati came the 90% of the population who lived by agriculture, from poor tenant farmers to rich landlords. Many were very poor tenants or day laborers, however others, especially in the southern provinces, were better off and more secure by owning their land. Confucians praised agriculturalists as honest men who provided the nation's food. Famines and floods were serious risks. To forestall local rebellions
19465-631: The National Committee of the CPPCC being chaired by Wang Huning , fourth-ranking member of the PSC. Social structure of China The social structure of China has an expansive history which begins from the feudal society of Imperial China to the contemporary era . There was a Chinese nobility , beginning with the Zhou dynasty . However, after the Song dynasty , the powerful government offices were not hereditary. Instead, they were selected through
19694-580: The PRC initially allied closely with the Soviet Union , the relations between the two communist nations gradually deteriorated , leading China to develop an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons . The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974. However, the Great Leap Forward , an idealistic massive industrialization project, resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths between 1959 and 1961, mostly from starvation. In 1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched
19923-898: The People program for transforming China into a modern democratic state. The Kuomintang briefly allied with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Northern Expedition, though the alliance broke down in 1927 after Chiang violently suppressed the CCP and other leftists in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the Chinese Civil War . The CCP declared areas of the country as the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet) in November 1931 in Ruijin , Jiangxi . The Jiangxi Soviet
20152-526: The People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square , Beijing . In 1950, the PRC captured Hainan from the ROC and annexed Tibet . However, remaining Kuomintang forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s. The CCP consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the Land Reform Movement , which included the state-tolerated executions of between 1 and 2 million landlords by peasants and former tenants. Though
20381-494: The Qing government established an elaborate system to protect against famines and other disasters such as epidemics. It was built around a granary system, distributing free or subsidized grain during distress. This system was largely destroyed during the Taiping rebellion of the 1850s, leaving the population vulnerable. The introduction of sweet potatoes reduced excess hunger and reduced the propensity to revolt. After suppressing
20610-618: The Song dynasty saw a major transition in the composition of China's ruling elites. From the Han through the Tang, official posts filled by an aristocratic network of several hundred intermarried families based in the capital. Many of them were prominent for 500 years or more, far longer than European feudal dynasties. From the Song on, however, official posts were usually filled by a much larger but less cohesive class of gentry who married and owned property in their home provinces and who rose to prominence through
20839-610: The Taiping rebellion by the mid-1860s, the national government worked to relieve distress, stabilize society and improve farming. It reduced taxes and required corvée labor, reclaimed land, and promoting irrigation. After 1900 the government set up rural associations that published newspapers and instructional pamphlets for farmers set, up agricultural schools, held local training sessions, as well as agricultural exhibitions,. Programs to continue water conservation and forest station projects continued. The reforms in agriculture were one dimension of
21068-899: The UN representative for China was changed from the ROC to the PRC in 1971. It is a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB , the Silk Road Fund , the New Development Bank , and the RCEP . It is a member of the BRICS , the G20 , APEC , the SCO , and the East Asia Summit . Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy is
21297-483: The United States (16.1), Australia (16.8) and South Korea (13.6). Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest . The country has significant water pollution problems; only 89.4% of China's national surface water was graded suitable for human consumption by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2023. China has prioritized clamping down on pollution, bringing a significant decrease in air pollution in
21526-540: The Western model. Gender equality was also a popular topic among radicals during the May Fourth and New Culture Movement. The Kuomintang party further promoted marriage freedom and gender equality in Legal Reforms. The 1930 Civil Code perceived both men and women as equal citizens and granted women more agency to negotiate their interests in marriage and family. Women were entitled to inherit property from their fathers for
21755-562: The Yuan in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor . Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that admiral Zheng He led the Ming treasure voyages throughout the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa. In
21984-454: The actions of low-level administrative cadres still affected ordinary farmers or petty traders in immediate ways. The state and its officials still dominated the economy, controlled supplies of essential goods, taxed and regulated businesses and markets, and awarded contracts. The stratification system of the Maoist period had been based on a hierarchy of functionally unspecialized cadres directing
22213-489: The agrarian public sphere in contemporary China" (Chau, 2006, 242) Temple activities promote good community relations and offer assurance of mutual help in time of need (Chau, Miraculous Response , 144). For studies of the role of temples in the revival of Taoist sacrifices in Fujian see Dean (1993). He notes the importance of temples in the economic, political, and social life of the village (Dean,1993, 17). David Johnson has studied
22442-417: The apparent enticement to resettle in urban areas. Of course, jobs are still limited, so many do relocate in cities only to find prospects much more meager than they had expected. Statistics suggest a very high proportion of residents of rural areas are unemployed or underemployed . The development of Special Economic Zones also spurred rural growth in some parts of China. An important policy document of
22671-410: The armed forces, colleges, universities, and local administrative posts and even marriage prospects. The collectivization of agriculture was essentially completed with the establishment of the people's communes in 1958. Communes were large, embracing scores of villages. They were intended to be multipurpose organizations, combining economic and local administrative functions. Under the commune system
22900-595: The artisans and merchants. In last place came the lower classes of vagabonds and criminals. For centuries China had developed its system of social stratification based on the theoretical principles of Confucian philosophy. By the late 18th century, the system was largely fixed, giving political power at the national, provincial and local levels as well as status to a small number of men who after spending years in elaborate, expensive study, were able to pass extremely difficult written tests in Confucian philosophy. The highest level
23129-801: The bulk of East Asia, bordering Vietnam , Laos , and Myanmar in Southeast Asia; India , Bhutan , Nepal , Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia; Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia , and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia . It is narrowly separated from Bangladesh and Thailand to the southwest and south, and has several maritime neighbors such as Japan , Philippines , Malaysia , and Indonesia . China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them. China currently has
23358-541: The central. This militarization process led to the rise of the “military-predatory elite class,” which impeded the funding of industrial firms and sucked a considerable amount of surplus in funding on military means. Furthermore, rebellions, including the Taiping Rebellion , harmed the entrepreneurial class, such as merchants' local network. After 1911, China entered the Warlord Era . During this time, industrialization
23587-414: The civil service exams and thus jump to the high levels. The lower classes of ordinary people were divided into two categories: one of them the good "commoner" people, the other the "mean" people. Slaves , Servants, Prostitutes, Entertainers, Low Level Government Employees and Military Forces were part of the mean class. The soldiers were called a necessary evil, and civilians were placed in command to keep
23816-479: The close relationship between village temple opera and territorial units known as shȇ (Johnson 2009). He claims that village-level communal rituals were "the highest expression of the values and beliefs of ordinary people" (Johnson 2009, 10). In the contemporary era (post 1978), village administrators, including communist party officials, can be very involved in the running of village temple activities (Tsai 2007, 140). However, other aspects of village culture, such as
24045-401: The collective fields. Some cadres became full-time administrators in township offices, and others took advantage of the reforms by establishing specialized production households or by leasing collective property at favorable rates. Former cadres, with their networks of connections and familiarity with administrative procedures, were in a better position than ordinary farmers to take advantage of
24274-464: The collective unit, encouraged peasants to have many sons. Under the agricultural reforms that began in the late 1970s, households took on an increased and more responsible economic role. The labor of family members is still the primary determinant of income. But rural economic growth and commercialization increasingly have rewarded managerial and technical skills and have made unskilled farm labor less desirable. As long as this economic trend continues in
24503-483: The country away from a socialist planned economy towards an increasingly capitalist market economy , spurring significant economic growth. The corresponding movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council ;
24732-419: The country underwent many changes as the working class began to increase significantly. In 21st-century China, social structure is more reliant on employment and education, which allows citizens to have more social mobility and freedoms. The teaching of Confucius (551 BCE – 479 BCE) taught of five basic relationships in life: For dynasties that used Confucianism (not Legalism), the first noted person(s) in
24961-462: The country, particularly in rural areas. This mostly involved small-scale production, such as the smelting of "backyard" steel . It was thought that through collectivization and mass labour, China's steel production would surpass that of the United Kingdom within only 15 years from the start of the "leap." An experimental commune was established in Henan early in 1958, and soon communes spread throughout
25190-539: The country. Tens of millions were mobilized to produce a single commodity that was symbolic of industrialization: steel. Approximately 25,000 communes were set up, each with around 5,000 households. The hope was to industrialize by making use of the massive supply of cheap labor and avoid having to import heavy machinery . Small backyard steel furnaces were built in every commune where peasants produced small nuggets of cast iron made from scrap metal. Simultaneously, peasant communities were collectivised. The Great Leap Forward
25419-404: The countryside in the late 1980s, peasant families are likely to opt for fewer but better educated children. The consequence of the general changes in China's economy and the greater separation of families and economic enterprises has been a greater standardization of family forms since 1950. In 1987 most families approximated the middle peasant (a peasant owning some land) norm of the past. Such
25648-461: The countryside who had fewer native-place bonds and skillsets, they often found affiliation in gang activities and developed community solidarity. Strikes often happened in waves. The May Fourth Movement marked one substantial increase in labor strikes in Shanghai and later culminated again in 1937 at the beginning of the Japanese invasion. Strikes again increased during the Civil War period because of
25877-459: The countryside, there were few opportunities to meet potential mates. Rural China offered little privacy for courtship , and in villages there was little public tolerance for flirting or even extended conversation between unmarried men and women. Introductions and go-betweens continued to play a major role in the arrangement of marriages. In most cases each of the young people, and their parents, had an effective veto over any proposed match. In
26106-870: The crude death rate was 1.6 per 1,000 higher than in urban areas, and life expectancy was about 4 years lower. The number of senior physicians per 1,000 population was about 10 times greater in urban areas than in rural ones; state expenditure on medical care was more than -Y26 per capita in urban areas and less than -Y3 per capita in rural areas. There were also about twice as many hospital beds in urban areas as in rural areas. These are aggregate figures, however, and certain rural areas had much better medical care and nutritional levels than others. Traditional Chinese village life focused on agricultural, ritual, and festival activities based closely on seasonal and environmental requirements. Early Western studies of Chinese village life dealt with villages in Hong Kong or Taiwan as mainland China
26335-446: The decline, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and the Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year. The country under the nascent Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the Warlord Era , which was ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces purged members of
26564-461: The decollectivization and rural economic reforms had led to growing corruption probably reflected both the increased opportunities for deals and favors of all sorts and the ambiguous nature of many of the transactions and relationships. The party's repeated calls for improved " socialist spiritual civilization" and the attempts of the central authorities both to create a system of civil law and to foster respect for it can be interpreted as responses to
26793-449: The disabled, orphaned, or aged, was taken for granted. Less than half of China's population remembered the insecurity and risks of pre-1950 society, but the costs and inefficiencies of the collective system were fresh in their minds. Increased specialization and division of labor were trends not likely to be reversed. In the rural areas the significance of the work unit appeared to have diminished, although people still lived in villages, and
27022-512: The domestic group and were used to form large-scale groups, such as lineages. Lineages were quite distinct from families; they were essentially corporate economic-political groups. They controlled land and, in some areas of China, dominated whole villages and sets of villages and held title to most of the farmland. Like most other late traditional associations, lineages were dominated by wealthy and educated elites. Ordinary peasants paid as much of their crop to their lineage group as they might have to
27251-424: The drive for self-sufficiency in grain production and other economic activities, had severe social as well as economic consequences. Most peasants had neither reason nor opportunity for regular trips to town, and their opportunities for exchange and cooperation with residents of other villages were diminished. Villages became work units , with all that that implied. Decollectivization in the early 1980s resulted in
27480-553: The earlier path over the Himalayas to India. Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world. Despite the Han's initial decentralization and the official abandonment of the Qin philosophy of Legalism in favor of Confucianism , Qin's legalist institutions and policies continued to be employed by the Han government and its successors. After the end of the Han dynasty , a period of strife known as Three Kingdoms followed, at
27709-436: The earliest for which there are both contemporary written records and undisputed archaeological evidence. The Shang ruled much of the Yellow River valley until the 11th century BCE, with the earliest hard evidence dated c. 1300 BCE . The oracle bone script , attested from c. 1250 BCE but generally assumed to be considerably older, represents the oldest known form of written Chinese , and
27938-450: The earliest known attestation of the Xia being written millennia after the date given for their collapse. In 1958, archaeologists discovered sites belonging to the Erlitou culture that existed during the early Bronze Age ; they have since been characterized as the remains of the historical Xia, but this conception is often rejected. The Shang dynasty that traditionally succeeded the Xia is
28167-429: The early 1950s on, China's revolutionary government made great efforts to put the state and its ideology into direct contact with the villages and to sweep aside the intermediaries and brokers who had traditionally interpreted central policies and national values for villagers. The state and the party were generally successful, establishing unprecedented degrees of political and ideological integration of villages into
28396-420: The early 1950s to the late 1970s, when hereditary class labels were very significant, anyone with a "counter-revolutionary" background, that is, anyone previously identified with the landlord or even rich peasant class, was a bad prospect for marriage. Such pariahs often had no choice but to marry the offspring of other families with "bad" class backgrounds. At the other end of the social scale, there appeared to be
28625-537: The early Ming dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. With the budding of capitalism, philosophers such as Wang Yangming critiqued and expanded Neo-Confucianism with concepts of individualism and equality of four occupations . The scholar-official stratum became a supporting force of industry and commerce in the tax boycott movements, which, together with the famines and defense against Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and Later Jin incursions led to an exhausted treasury. In 1644, Beijing
28854-649: The east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains , while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include
29083-485: The economic and social system continued to change in response to the rapid growth of rural commerce and industry and to national economic policies and reforms. Increased commercial activity produced a high degree of normative ambiguity, especially in areas like central Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, where rural economic growth was fastest. Neither the proper role of local officials nor the rights and obligations of new entrepreneurs or traders were clear. The line between
29312-741: The economic success of their households. In 1987, for example, it was legally possible to leave the village and move into a nearby town to work in a small factory, open a noodle stand, or set up a machine repair business. Farmers, however, still could not legally move into medium-sized or large cities. The Chinese press reported an increased appreciation in the countryside for education and an increased desire for agriculturally oriented newspapers and journals, as well as clearly written manuals on such profitable trades as rabbit-raising and beekeeping. As specialization and division of labor increased, along with increasingly visible differences in income and living standards, it became more difficult to encompass most of
29541-633: The end of which Wei was swiftly overthrown by the Jin dynasty . The Jin fell to civil war upon the ascension of a developmentally disabled emperor ; the Five Barbarians then rebelled and ruled northern China as the Sixteen States . The Xianbei unified them as the Northern Wei , whose Emperor Xiaowen reversed his predecessors' apartheid policies and enforced a drastic sinification on his subjects . In
29770-502: The examination system. Scholarly explanations for the demise of the old class and the rise of the new include Empress Wu 's decision to promote newly risen bureaucrats, reforms that followed the An Lushan rebellion, the destruction of aristocratic families in the Huang Chao rebellion, and decisions taken by the families themselves in the Song dynasty to build up local power bases. During
29999-468: The face of popular condemnation and opposition from his own Beiyang Army , he was forced to abdicate and re-establish the republic in 1916. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented. Its Beijing-based government was internationally recognized but virtually powerless; regional warlords controlled most of its territory. During this period , China participated in World War I and saw
30228-537: The failed Taiping Rebellion that ravaged southern China in the 1850s and 1860s and the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in the northwest. The initial success of the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s was frustrated by a series of military defeats in the 1880s and 1890s. In the 19th century, the great Chinese diaspora began. Losses due to emigration were added to by conflicts and catastrophes such as
30457-409: The family have survived without being questioned. It is taken for granted that everyone should marry, and marriage remains part of the definition of normal adult status. Marriage is expected to be permanent. That marriage requires a woman to move into her husband's family and to become a daughter-in-law as well as a wife is still largely accepted. The norm of patrilineal descent and the assumption that it
30686-461: The first place, land, the fundamental means of production, remained collective property . It was leased, allocated, or contracted to individual households , but the households did not own the land and could not transfer it to other households. The household became, in most cases, the basic economic unit and was responsible for its own production and losses. Most economic activity was arranged through contracts, which typically secured promises to provide
30915-563: The first time. The law also elevated mothers to the equal status of fathers in terms of rights over children. In legal practice, many female litigants utilized the new legal codes to defend their personal interests. Women also made up for a considerable proportion of the entire workforce in urban areas. In Shanghai, most cotton-mill workers were women. Female labor was also important workforce in other industries, including flour mills, carpet making, and cigarette rolling. There were also native-place divisions among urban female workers. Similar to
31144-493: The following decades were Huangpu graduates, including Lin Biao , as well as nationalist Chinese generals. Historian Prasenjit Duara coins the cultural nexus of power to characterize the power dynamics in rural North China. The network of rural cultural institutions, including lineage and religions, legitimized local gentry to institutionalize their interpersonal privileges and achieved grassroots autonomy. However, this power structure
31373-441: The form of construction and other sectors with relatively low wages and benefits, and high workplace hazards. Numerous social issues have developed as a result, namely discrimination of ruralites in cities, psychological isolation of rural migrants, some of which has led to crime. In this sense, then, rural life has "entered" the cities. Lack of employment opportunities has increasingly made life in many rural regions difficult, hence
31602-411: The former practices of swapping labor between villages impossible. The household registration and rationing systems confined villagers to their home settlements and made it impossible for them to seek their fortune elsewhere. Cooperation with fellow villagers and good relations with village leaders became even more important than they had been in the past. The suppression of rural markets, which accompanied
31831-454: The gender line, generational hierarchy also went through significant transformation under the Legal Reforms. Instead of preaching “parents can never be wrong,” the new criminal and civil codes granted children more agency and treated both children and parents as equal citizens. The Kuomintang party-state changed the former generational hierarchy, backed by the principle of filial piety, to mutual legal bonds between parents and children. Entering
32060-511: The general association between the numbers of sons surviving to adulthood and long-term family success motivated individuals to create various non-standard family forms. Couples who produced no sons, or no children at all, adopted or purchased infants outright. Families with daughters but no sons tried to find men willing to marry their daughters and move into their families, abandoning their original families and sometimes even their original surnames . Families with daughters but no property to attract
32289-403: The gentries of Jiangnan region . After the defeat of the Song dynasty by the Yuan, making friends with the local elites of Song became important. As a consequence, the most wealthy ones in the Song social strata remained wealthy in the Yuan dynasty. Contrary to the situation of the gentry, commoners of the Yuan dynasty found themselves less protected by the law. Mongol rulers did not seem to make
32518-444: The gentry class. Social-bureaucrats were the officialdom of Qing China. They had the responsibilities of organizing public works projects and had a crucial role in the management of society. Social-bureaucrats wore distinctive clothing, including black gowns with blue borders and a multitude of rank insignia. Commoners addressed them with honorific titles and they received a high status along with favorable legal treatment. Far below
32747-545: The government. However, traditional slavery was not a common practice during the Song dynasty. Servants of the wealthy gentry usually kept a contract-like relationship with the lords served. In reality, the Song society's structure had evolved and changed over time. After the Jingkang incident , the phenomenon of land annexation became increasingly obvious. By land annexation, the wealthy commoners and government officials privatized lands that were public or owned by poorer people. In
32976-566: The government. They had to provide free services upon the demand of the imperial court without any reward. The two groups of Craftsmen are: Official craftsmen who directly worked for the court and Common craftsmen who provide paid services for others. In the Ming dynasty, the Royal house was a large and special social stratum. The royal house of Ming includes any descendants of Emperor Taizu of Ming and his nephew Prince Jingjiang Zhu Shouqian . Emperor Taizu had 26 sons and 19 of them had offspring. With
33205-473: The greatest rebellion in the 19th century world. Some of his top officials had also failed the exams such as Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan . Yuan Shikai came from a literary elite but he failed his exams; his family purchased a military command for him and he rose to the top of the military and in 1912 became president of China. The civil service exams were almost ended in the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 but
33434-510: The growth of Buddhism during the Tang, and a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and porcelain were brought to new levels of complexity. However, the military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jin dynasty . In 1127, Emperor Huizong of Song and the capital Bianjing were captured during the Jin–Song wars . The remnants of the Song retreated to southern China . The Mongol conquest of China began in 1205 with
33663-449: The household remained the basic unit of consumption, and some differences in standards of living remained, although they were not as marked as they had been before land reform. Under such a system, however, upward mobility required becoming a team or commune cadre or obtaining a scarce technical position such as a being a truck driver. Collectivization and other political processes led to widespread famine and tens of millions of deaths. In
33892-426: The individual. The role of families has changed, but they remain important, especially in the countryside. Family members are bound, in law and custom, to support their aged or disabled members. The state, acting through work units , provides support and benefits only when families cannot. Households routinely pool income , and any individual's standard of living depends on the number of household wage earners and
34121-500: The inequality in large families and its disadvantages for the whole society. In an article published in 1915, he pointed out that in large families where adult sons and their core family members still lived together with their brothers without dividing family property, the male elders had considerable authority to manage family affairs and enjoyed various privileges in social and legal life. He blamed large families for corruption and bribes, claiming that profiting one's own family ( mou jia )
34350-400: The informal paramount leader . The current general secretary is Xi Jinping , who took office on 15 November 2012. At the local level, the secretary of the CCP committee of a subdivision outranks the local government level; CCP committee secretary of a provincial division outranks the governor while the CCP committee secretary of a city outranks the mayor. The government in China is under
34579-438: The interests of commoners a priority. A great number of ordinary farmers were converted to plantation workers working for the gentries. The wealthy entered upon the properties of commoners while making them essentially slave peasants. The Mongols in the Yuan dynasty belong to numerous clans. Tao Zongyi first provided a list of all the Mongol clans which was later falsified by Japanese historian Yanai Watari. However, Tao's account
34808-495: The introduction of planned, centralized management of the macro-economy by technically proficient bureaucrats, abandoning Mao's mass campaign style of economic construction. Deng sustained Mao's legacy to the extent that he stressed the primacy of agricultural output and encouraged a significant decentralization of decision making in the rural economy teams and individual peasant households. At the local level, material incentives, rather than political appeals, were to be used to motivate
35037-439: The investment, and for the great majority it did not pay off. Increasingly the richest families instead purchased their certificates of high status. The elite was closed for practical purposes, and those who failed became often very frustrated and even led rebellions. For example, Hong Xiuquan (1813-1864) repeatedly failed, despite innate talents that enabled him to study Christianity in serious fashion and go on to form and lead
35266-447: The labor force, including allowing peasants to earn extra income by selling the produce of their private plots at free market. Rural markets selling peasants' homegrown products and the surplus products of communes were revived under the more free-market economic approach of Deng. Not only did rural markets increase agricultural output, they stimulated industrial development as well. With peasants able to sell surplus agricultural yields on
35495-427: The labors of a fairly uniform mass of peasants. It was replaced in the 1980s by a new elite of economically specialized households and entrepreneurs who had managed to come to terms with the administrative cadres who controlled access to many of the resources necessary for economic success. Local cadres still had the power to impose fees, taxes, and all manner of exactions . The norms of the new system were not clear, and
35724-409: The largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022. China is the third-largest country in the world by land area after Russia , and the third- or fourth-largest country in the world by total area. China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km (3,700,000 sq mi). Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km (3,696,100 sq mi) according to
35953-455: The last goal, the party work teams convened extensive series of meetings, and they classified all the village families either as landlords , rich peasants , middle peasants, or poor peasants. These labels, based on family landholdings and overall economic position roughly between 1945 and 1950, became a permanent and hereditary part of every family's identity and, as late as 1980, still affected, for example, such things as chances for admission to
36182-530: The late 1970s, administrators in provincial-level units with extensive regions of low yields and consequent low standards of living began experimenting with new forms of tenure and production . In most cases, these took the form of breaking up the collective production team, contracting with individual households to work assigned portions of collective land, and expanding the variety of crops or livestock that could be produced. The experiments were deemed successful and popular, and they soon spread to all districts. By
36411-404: The late Song dynasty, the society's two ends were polarized. Wealthy landowners devoured most of the cultivable lands, leaving others in extreme poverty. Even the imperial court's profit was curbed. Taxation was illegally avoided by wealthy landowners and the court eventually found itself collecting much less amount of taxes than ever before. Xie Fangshu, an investigating censor famously described
36640-411: The line of Prince Jingjiang, the royal house consists of 20 different cadet branches. Members of the royal house were not allowed to have an ordinary life by laboring. All the expenditures of the royal house were paid by the money taken from the annual tax revenue collected from commoners. Additional perks such as legal privileges and luxury items were given as gifts by the imperial court. In the middle of
36869-427: The local bullies, who collected tax for-profit and impaired the ecology of the rural economy. This process destroyed the alliance among the state, local elites, and rural people without establishing a new system to replace the long-existing power nexus. Peasant economy also persisted throughout the Republic era. According to Hung, Despite all the economic and social changes happening in the late Qing and Republican era,
37098-597: The mainland noticed the revival of pre-1949 religious and festival practices throughout rural China in the post-Mao era. Thomas David DuBois investigated village life in Cang County, Hebei, from 1997 to 2002. According to DuBois: "What has remained constant is that religion continues to permeate all aspects of life in rural North China," (DuBois 2005, p. 2). Funerals in rural villages can last for days and include thousands of people and complex funeral rituals . Thousands of temples were rebuilt at village and county level in
37327-412: The major avowed objectives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during its rise to prominence between 1921 and 1949 was the improvement of the standard of living of the average Chinese citizen, the vast majority of whom were rural dwellers. During the pre-1936 period, the CCP played a major role in transforming rural life in areas it influenced or controlled. A major area was land reform , where control
37556-586: The military from dominating society. Those who worked in entertainment were given a special status that allowed for them to be punished severely without consequence. The mean people were heavily discriminated against, forbidden to take the Imperial Examination , and mean and good people could not marry each other. During the early Qing dynasty, hereditary slavery was a common practice that declined quickly. Slave girls(婢女), were largely sold and bought through contractual agreements where they would serve for
37785-641: The multiple consultation mechanisms that exist in Chinese government. According to the CCP constitution , its highest body is the National Congress held every five years. The National Congress elects the Central Committee , who then elects the party's Politburo , Politburo Standing Committee and the general secretary ( party leader ), the top leadership of the country. The general secretary holds ultimate power and authority over party and state and serves as
38014-407: The next generation. They may, however, own and transmit houses. Rural families pay medical expenses and school fees for their children. Under the people's commune system in force from 1958 to 1982, the income of a peasant family depended directly on the number of laborers it contributed to the collective fields. This, combined with concern over the level of support for the aged or disabled provided by
38243-425: The normal use of personal contacts and hospitality and extraordinary and criminal favoritism and corruption was ambiguous. There were hints of the development of a system of patron-client ties, in which administrative cadres granted favors to ordinary farmers in return for support, esteem, and an occasional gift. The increased number of corruption cases reported in the Chinese press and the widespread assumption that
38472-509: The number of dependents. In both cities and villages, the highest incomes usually are earned by households with several wage earners, such as unmarried adult sons or daughters. In late traditional society, family size and structural complexity varied directly with class. Rural landlords and government officials had the largest families, poor peasants the smallest. The poorest segment of the population, landless laborers, could not afford to marry and start families. The need to provide for old age and
38701-446: The open market, domestic consumption stimulated industrialization as well and also created political support for more difficult economic reforms. Development remains uneven, with many highly prosperous areas far outpacing deeply impoverished regions where parents have great difficulty attaining enough income to ensure their children can be sent to school, despite the already-low education fees. Indeed, educational and social imbalances are
38930-409: The opportunities offered by the growth of markets and commercial activity. Even those cadres not wholly devoted to increasing their own families' income found that to serve their fellow villagers as expected it was necessary to act as entrepreneurs . Village-level cadres in the mid-1980s were functioning less as overseers and more as extension agents and marketing consultants . By 1987 rural society
39159-468: The other three great powers, China was one of the four major Allies of World War II , and was later considered one of the primary victors in the war. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Taiwan, including the Penghu , was handed over to Chinese control ; however, the validity of this handover is controversial. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between
39388-662: The past, marriage was seen as the concern of families as well as of the two parties to the match. Families united by marriage were expected to be of equivalent status, or the groom 's family to be of somewhat higher status. This aspect of marriage patterns has continued while the definitions of status have changed. Because inherited wealth was eliminated as a significant factor, evaluation had been shifted to estimates of earning power and future prosperity . The most desirable husbands have been administrative cadres, party members, and employees of large state enterprises. Conversely, men from poor villages have had difficulty finding wives. From
39617-444: The peasant economy, particularly in the form of handicraft and household cotton industry, continued to prevail and dominate the rural areas. In the urban workplace, native-place origins of workers were closely related to the job opportunities. In Shanghai, people with different native-place origins fell into different industries and occupations. Examples were carpenters from Canton and coppersmith from Ningbo. For refugee migrants from
39846-408: The people (or "min") envisaged as peasant families. The male miners worked in the fields to produce grain for their own food and for taxes; their wives made clothing for everyone. Agriculture was thus fundamental. Crafts and trade were secondary, and typically pernicious by diverting productive labor and promoting extravagance. From the Qin dynasty to the late Qing dynasty (221 B.C.E.- C.E. 1840),
40075-685: The performances of itinerant folk musicians, are subject to minimal regulation by the state (Jones 2009, xxi). Folk musicians carry out ritual roles as well as provide entertainment. Jones distinguishes between the "institutional" role of temple Buddhist and Daoist monks and the more "diffused" activities of lay Buddhist and Daoist ritual practitioners, many of whom are "ordinary peasants performing for life-cycle and calendrical ceremonies" (Jones, 2009, xxi). Very talented rural singers may be able to adapt their repertoire to attract both elite and popular audiences (Gibbs 2018). In border areas, informal and often hidden song traditions help bolster ethnic identities. For
40304-408: The policy implemented during the Yuan dynasty. The three categories that remained were hereditary, making it nearly impossible to move between them. Gentry was also divided into two types. By the Qing dynasty , the peasants were seen as the most respected class. Merchants were far lower in status unless they purchased gentry status. During China's economic reform of 1978 , the social structure in
40533-537: The press , freedom of assembly , free formation of social organizations , freedom of religion and free access to the Internet . China has consistently been ranked amongst the lowest as an "authoritarian regime" by the Economist Intelligence Unit 's Democracy Index , ranking at 148th out of 167 countries in 2023. Other sources suggest that terming China as "authoritarian" does not sufficiently account for
40762-468: The problem. On the local level, where cadres and entrepreneurs were engaged in constant negotiation on the rules of their game, the problem was presumably being addressed in a more straightforward fashion. In past Chinese society, the family provided every individual's support, livelihood, and long-term security. Today the state guarantees such security to those with no families to provide for them, and families and work units share long-term responsibility for
40991-571: The promotion of new types of agricultural businesses, such as family farms and organized cooperatives, and encouraging industrial and commercial enterprises to invest in agriculture. The first major action to alter village society was the land reform of the late 1940s and early 1950s, in which the party sent work teams to every village to carry out its land reform policy. This in itself was an unprecedented display of administrative and political power. The land reform had several related goals. The work teams were to redistribute some (though not all) land from
41220-417: The protests and was replaced by Jiang Zemin . Jiang continued economic reforms, closing many SOEs and trimming down " iron rice bowl " (life-tenure positions). China's economy grew sevenfold during this time. British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau returned to China in 1997 and 1999 , respectively, as special administrative regions under the principle of one country, two systems . The country joined
41449-602: The reactionaries won out. The system was finally abolished in 1905. Gentry or Mandarins were government officials. Most Gentry owned land, which was where most of their income came from. For other gentry the main source of income was from their government service. There was a large increase in the gentry class following the victory of the Hunan Army over Taiping in 1864, as many people were given quasi-official titles. Many took official local administrative positions. Others used their military rewards to purchase land and also join
41678-515: The reform era (post 1978). Temples provide entertainment and festival occasions as well as religious activity. According to Adam Yuet Chau, who studied the Dragon King Temple in rural Shaanbei in north China, the temple was the focus of entertainments such as folk operas, dance troupes, storytellers, and musicians (Chao, 2006, p. 242). He argues further that "Temple associations…have played an important role in expanding folk cultural space and
41907-402: The relationship was always superior and had to act as a guide and leader/ role model to the second noted person(s), as the second person was to follow. For example: Father, 1st noted; Son, 2nd noted. In the Confucian view of the economy, agricultural work was morally superior. The point was work was the embodiment of a social contract. The emperor and his officials worked to ensure the welfare of
42136-415: The revival of rural marketing, and a limited relaxation of controls on out- migration opened villages and diminished the social boundaries around them. The social world of peasants expanded, and the larger marketing community took on more significance as that of the village proper was diminished. Village membership, once the single most important determinant of an individual's circumstances, became only one of
42365-614: The rising inflation. Family structure went through a significant transformation during the Republican era. Since the late Qing, and especially during the May Fourth Movement, scholars and social activists cast doubts on the utility of the existing large family structure. Some theorized families of big sizes and senior authority as a social problem impeding the agenda of social development. Wu Guanyin, an official at Beiyang government and former international student in Japan, harshly criticized
42594-406: The rival Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against the KMT-led Nationalist government . Following the country's invasion by the Empire of Japan in 1937, the CCP and KMT formed the Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the KMT resumed their civil war as soon as
42823-422: The rural population in a few large categories. During the early 1980s, the pace of economic and social change in rural China was rapid, and the people caught up in the change had difficulty making sense of the process. The state retained both its powers and its role in the rural economy in the 1980s. Decollectivization, like the collectivization of the 1950s, was directed from the top down. Sometimes, apparently, it
43052-434: The situation as "The flesh of the poor ones becomes the food of the strong ones" (弱肉强食). The Jurchen Jin dynasty coexisted with the Song dynasty after the Jingkang incident. The Jurchen Empire ruled the northern part of China. Under the Jurchen rule, the conventional code Begile was introduced. Under this code, an emperor and his courtiers were equal. Emperor Xizong of Jin reformed the empire's legal system and abolished
43281-444: The social pyramid was the royal house of the Song dynasty. The royal house consists of the Emperor, Empress, concubines, princes, and princesses. The royal house enjoys the highest quality of life with everything provided by other social strata. With imperial fields (fields that were owned by the emperor), the basic food supplies of the royal house were satisfied. Luxury items in the imperial court also had their sources. Tea, for example,
43510-563: The sole control of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members. The National People's Congress (NPC), with nearly 3,000-members, is constitutionally the " highest organ of state power ", though it has been also described as a " rubber stamp " body. The NPC meets annually, while the NPC Standing Committee , around 150 members elected from NPC delegates, meets every couple of months. Elections are indirect and not pluralistic, with nominations at all levels being controlled by
43739-495: The south, the general Liu Yu secured the abdication of the Jin in favor of the Liu Song . The various successors of these states became known as the Northern and Southern dynasties , with the two areas finally reunited by the Sui in 581. The Sui restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture, economy and imperial examination system, constructed the Grand Canal , and patronized Buddhism . However, they fell quickly when their conscription for public works and
43968-570: The standard of living improved dramatically after Deng's reforms. Township and Village Enterprises brought industrial production to rural areas—predominantly along the southern coasts, helping open these rural communities to greater economic prosperity. (The idea of industrial production in rural areas had been attempted under Mao but with much more limited success; for instance, industrial plants in highly remote areas found their ultimate production efforts hampered.) Soon, however, an imbalance appeared where northern, interior, and western China remained at
44197-443: The standardization of Chinese characters, measurements , road widths, and currency . His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi , Guangdong , and Northern Vietnam . The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor's death. Following widespread revolts during which the imperial library was burned , the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE, creating
44426-558: The state and of village-level awareness of state policies and political goals. The unintended consequence of the economic and political policies of the 1950s and 1960s was to increase the closed, corporate quality of China's villages and to narrow the social horizons of villagers. Land reform and the reorganization of villages as subunits of people's communes meant that villages became collective landholding units and had clear boundaries between their lands and those of adjacent villages. Central direction of labor on collective fields made
44655-450: The term of barefoot doctor. Most of them were transferred to village doctors as private practitioners, making a living out of drug sales based on user fees. At the next level were the township health centers, which functioned primarily as out-patient clinics for about 10,000 to 30,000 people each. These centers had about ten to thirty beds each, and the most qualified members of the staff were assistant doctors. The two lower-level tiers made up
44884-458: The time of the Warring States period of the 5th–3rd centuries BCE, there were seven major powerful states left. The Warring States period ended in 221 BCE after the state of Qin conquered the other six states, reunited China and established the dominant order of autocracy . King Zheng of Qin proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Qin dynasty , becoming the first emperor of a unified China. He enacted Qin's legalist reforms, notably
45113-412: The trades by masters, but were treated similarly to slave girls. Upon reaching the end of the apprenticeship, they were allowed to leave their masters and find work by themselves. In 1924, the Soviet Union helped Sun Yat-sen rebuild the Nationalist Kuomintang , GMT, and KMT military force, most notably through the Military Academy, an island on Pearl River near Guangzhou . Many military leaders of
45342-423: The vast majority of Chinese still lived, and who were the ostensible focus of the revolution, but to urban centers. Identity card systems channeled unequal degrees of resources, including food rations, to urbanites and rural dwellers. During the Great Leap Forward campaign of 1958 to 1961, China's leaders attempted to accelerate collectivization and dramatically increase the pace of industrial production throughout
45571-424: The war ended. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country, proclaiming the People's Republic of China and forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to the island of Taiwan . The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China . Following the implementation of land reforms , further attempts by the PRC to realize communism failed:
45800-488: The wealthier families or land-owning trusts to the poorest segments of the population and so to effect a more equitable distribution of the basic means of production; to overthrow the village elites, who might be expected to oppose the party and its programs; to recruit new village leaders from among those who demonstrated the most commitment to the party's goals; and to teach everyone to think in terms of class status rather than kinship group or patron-client ties. In pursuit of
46029-409: The wider economy and society. Most peasants were only a few hours' walk or less from a market town , which provided not only opportunities to buy and sell but also opportunities for entertainment , information , social life , and a host of specialized services. The villages around a market formed a social unit that, although less immediately visible than the villages, was equally significant. From
46258-483: The winter of 1982–1983, the people's communes were abolished; they were replaced by administrative townships and a number of specialized teams or businesses that often leased such collective assets as tractors and provided services for money. The agricultural reforms of the early 1980s led to a confusingly large number of new production arrangements and contracts. Underlying the variability of administrative and contractual forms were several basic principles and trends. In
46487-399: The world's largest economy by PPP-adjusted GDP , the second-largest economy by nominal GDP , and the second-wealthiest country , albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy , human rights and religious freedom . The country has been one of the fastest-growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter , as well as the second-largest importer . China is
46716-485: The world), 1,221 species of birds (eighth), 424 species of reptiles (seventh) and 333 species of amphibians (seventh). Wildlife in China shares habitat with, and bears acute pressure from, one of the world's largest population of humans. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger of local extinction , due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution and poaching for food, fur and traditional Chinese medicine . Endangered wildlife
46945-428: The world), 13.2% from hydroelectric power (largest), 9.4% from wind (largest), 6.2% from solar energy (largest), 4.6% from nuclear energy (second-largest), 3.3% from natural gas (fifth-largest), and 2.2% from bioenergy (largest); in total, 31% of China's energy came from renewable energy sources. Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets and next to India, has been
47174-453: Was wiped out by the KMT armies in 1934, leading the CCP to initiate the Long March and relocate to Yan'an in Shaanxi . It would be the base of the communists before major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria . Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), a theater of World War II . The war forced an uneasy alliance between
47403-414: Was a partial restoration of feudalism when wealthy and powerful families emerged with large amounts of land and huge numbers of semi-serfs. They dominated important civilian and military positions of the government, making the positions available to members of their own families and clans. The Tang dynasty extended the Imperial examination system as an attempt to eradicate this feudalism. The Tang and
47632-404: Was also hereditary. A slave will give birth to slave children. The Ming dynasty was the second to the last imperial dynasty of China established in 1368 following the fall of Yuan dynasty . The imperial court of Ming kept a nationwide register of every subject---Ji (籍). This practice of registering population was inherited from the previous Yuan dynasty. Venetian traveler Marco Polo noticed
47861-406: Was captured by a coalition of peasant rebel forces led by Li Zicheng . The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing dynasty , then allied with Ming dynasty general Wu Sangui , overthrew Li's short-lived Shun dynasty and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912,
48090-417: Was devastated and weakened by the An Lushan rebellion in the 8th century. In 907, the Tang disintegrated completely when the local military governors became ungovernable. The Song dynasty ended the separatist situation in 960, leading to a balance of power between the Song and the Liao dynasty . The Song was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish
48319-431: Was disintegrated during the first half of the twentieth century as the Nationalist government expanded its fiscal power over local communities by establishing new state agencies to collect the tax. Confronted with the heavy burden of the various taxes, the protective brokerage, the gentry who used to collect tax in a sustainable way, retreated from the rural governance and gave their way to the entrepreneurial brokerage, i.e.,
48548-557: Was facilitated by the development of a network of public nurseries, daycare centers, and kindergartens. In rural areas, working mothers obtained support from mothers-in-law and other extended family members, usually on the father's side. By the mid-1970s, the extended family on the father's side was the most important safety net for rural child care. The work of childcare was primarily associated with women, particularly mothers-in-law who exercised significant authority. In contemporary society, rural families no longer own land or pass it down to
48777-414: Was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahabharata (5th century BCE) and the Laws of Manu (2nd century BCE). In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Although use in Indian sources precedes this dynasty, this derivation is still given in various sources. The origin of the Sanskrit word
49006-402: Was foreign to them. Both the government and Mongol nobles opened up pastures in China by taking the rice fields away from ordinary farmers. Other social castes including Semu , Hanren, and Nanren existed under the rule of Mongols. Hanren refers to dwellers of Northern China, Korea, and Sichuan. Nanren refers to citizens of the Song dynasty (excluding people from Sichuan, although the region was
49235-451: Was imposed on communities that had been content with their collective methods. But in permitting households and communities greater leeway to decide what to produce and in allowing the growth of rural markets and small-scale industries, the state stepped back from the close supervision and mandatory quotas of the 1960s and 1970s. Decollectivization obviated the supervisory functions of low-level cadres, who no longer needed to oversee work on
49464-523: Was known as the “gentry” or the literati. Their numbers grew from 1.1 million in 1850 to 1.5 million in 1900. The exams were the route whereby Han Chinese had access to high government office, which was otherwise largely monopolized by the small Manchu governing minority. The exams became more difficult, and more arbitrary as shown by the notorious “ Eight-legged essay ”. The vast majority of candidates wasted their years on expensive preparation as they failed again and again. Only wealthy families could afford
49693-418: Was more open and diverse than in the 1960s and 1970s, and the rigid collective units of that period, which had reflected the state's overwhelming concern for security , had been replaced by networks and clusters of smaller units. The new, looser structure demonstrated the priority placed on efficiency and economic growth . Basic security, in the sense of an adequate supply of food and guarantees of support for
49922-439: Was not accessible to Western scholars at that time. For a useful compendium of studies on the Hong Kong New Territories see James L. Watson and Rubie S. Watson (2004), which comprises studies based on fieldwork carried out from 1969 to 1997. For studies of village life in Taiwan see Seaman (1978), and Ahern and Gates (1981). In the 1980s and 1990s it became possible to undertake fieldwork in mainland China. Anthropologists working in
50151-448: Was not used by the Chinese themselves during this period. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese , Malay , and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna , used in ancient India . "China" appears in Richard Eden 's 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa . Barbosa's usage was derived from Persian Chīn ( چین ), which in turn derived from Sanskrit Cīna ( चीन ). Cīna
50380-492: Was one of increasing specialization, differentiation, and exchange in the rural economy and in society in general. Rural incomes increased rapidly, in part because the state substantially increased the prices it paid for staple crops and in part because of economic growth stimulated by the expansion of markets and the rediscovery of comparative advantage. Decollectivization increased the options available to individual households and made household heads increasingly responsible for
50609-426: Was one of the few contemporary accounts of Mongols during the Yuan dynasty. The records and documents of the Yuan dynasty provide extremely limited information about the social strata of Mongols. Despite the lack of historical records, it is safe to say that Mongols enjoyed privileges that other ethnic groups did not. During their reign, the Mongols converted a large number of rice fields into pastures because agriculture
50838-453: Was primarily defined by an individual's identity. To rise required passing a very difficult written exam. The great majority failed, but for those who passed their entire family rose in status. During the Song dynasty, there was a clear division in social structure which was enforced by law. However, commoners could move up in society through the acquirement of wealth. Through passing the imperial exam or donating resources, people could enter
51067-444: Was provided by the imperial tea plantation. Annually, local products from various regions of China were paid as tributes to the royal house. During the Song dynasty, slave trading was forbidden and punished by law. However, slavery was not entirely absent from the history of the Song dynasty. To some extent, there were slave traders who illegally kidnapped commoners and sold them as slaves. Criminals were sometimes converted to slaves by
51296-408: Was rebuked, with millions rehabilitated. Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978, and instituted large-scale political and economic reforms , together with the " Eight Elders ", most senior and influential members of the party. The government loosened its control and the communes were gradually disbanded. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized. While foreign trade became
51525-418: Was slow to non-existent; between the years 1920 and 1949, the industrial sector had only increased by less than three million members, mainly women, and children working in cotton mills. The main changes in the social structure were the military. Many laborers were hired to work on the various construction projects at this time. A small portion of the working class were apprentices. They were trained to work in
51754-492: Was strengthened in part to suppress anti-Qing sentiment with the policy of valuing agriculture and restraining commerce, like the Haijin during the early Qing period and ideological control as represented by the literary inquisition , causing some social and technological stagnation. In the mid-19th century, the Opium Wars with Britain and France forced China to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to
51983-411: Was taken from traditional land owners and wealthy peasants, and appropriated to the state, that is, collectivized . China in the early post-1949 period saw increases in mechanization of agriculture, the spread of electricity, running water, and modern technology to rural areas. However, by the late 1950s, much remained to be done. Mao noted that most benefits were accruing not to the rural areas, where
52212-422: Was the last imperial dynasty of China. The Ming-Qing transition (1618–1683) cost 25 million lives, but the Qing appeared to have restored China's imperial power and inaugurated another flowering of the arts. After the Southern Ming ended, the further conquest of the Dzungar Khanate added Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang to the empire. Meanwhile, China's population growth resumed and shortly began to accelerate. It
52441-450: Was virtually impossible. Subcategories of the three main categories were more specific and profession-based. According to Taiwanese historian Cai Shishan, there were also salt refiners which were independent from other 3 categories. Gentries during the Ming dynasty belong to the caste of commoners. There were two types of gentries. Those who passed the entry-level exam of the imperial exam were called Shengyuan (生員). All Shengyuan receive
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