A Study Of The Social Mobility In The Qin And Han Dynasty

The relevant circumstances of social mobility in the Qin and Han Dynasties were partlyrecorded and reflected in the literature, bamboo and wood inscriptions during that period. Bymeans of sociological theory, this paper generally analyses legal provision of social classpartition and social mobility restricted by the national policy formulation and adjustment afterdividing the members of society into officials and civilians. The paper focuses on the majorand minor approaches to becoming official in the Qin and Han dynasties including education,marriage, chances of promotion and removal. We can better understand the social mobility inthe Qin and Han Dynasties from a micro-perspective through the observation of the socialstatus changes of Liu Bang Commoner Group.Social hierarchy has a long history and it developed in different dynasty. During the Qinand Han Dynasties, there were still distinct boundaries with various presentations andregulations between officials and civilians. Officials possessed the privilege that they wereexempt from taxes and corvee. The emperor instead of laws decided whether a convictedofficial would be punished or not. Compared with scholar, farmer, artisan and merchant,officials had more political rights, more wealth and more wives and concubines than civilians.Even when an official was removed from the position, he still held the mental superiority andinfluence among the civilians.Regime alternation, formulation and adjustment of the national policies had effects onthe changes of social status of different social classes. It was especially the case for theimperial clan and those who sacrificed a lot for the establishment of the new regime. Theadjustment of national policies as well as emperor’s wills had great impact on the changes ofsocial status of different social classes. Any class’ being rich and noble or not was subject tothe emperor’s own will. This is the staring point to know the social mobility of Qin and HanDynasty.Learning and education helped significantly to obtain a job, increase the income andpromote social status and reputation. Li Si was the role model of scholar class who changedhis destiny via knowledge and also proved that environment played a major role in a person’sdestiny. Official schools and private schools had enormously developed in Han Dynasty dueto the change that education is combined with the system of appointed officials. All this encouraged more people to study Confucian Classics and to struggle to be the master ofpolitical power. However, not all of them could obtain education and not all of them could getinto official career.Marriage was the main approach by which people could promote the social and politicalstatus and improve the cultural and economical environment. It was also the approach forwomen to change their destiny. Especially when a woman was married to the royal family, itwould bring glories to the whole family and clan and even influence the national politics.Honor and disgrace of emperor’s relatives in-law intensively embodied the rich senses offamily at ancient society in china. The women in Han dynasty were relatively free toremarry which enabled the married women to change their destiny again. Men could havemarvelous career development and step into the upper class by marrying themselves to thewomen from rich families with solid political background. The illicit lovers of princess andhandsome men favored by emperor, such as Dong Xian, were regarded as a shame, but theyhad great power in the imperial government. The marriage of being well-matched in socialstatus did harm to social mobility and normal social operation, and it also encouraged thesocial climate of associating with royal nobles and families. The marriage situation amongcivilians was severely affected because the female civilians tried hard to get close to the royalfamilies and nobles. However, we still have the well-known loyal love legends. For example,Song Hong refused to marry the princess Hu yang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and thetalented Zhuo Wenjun from rich family eloped with Sima Xiangru who was as poor as achurch mouse in the Westerv Han Dynasty.In addition, there were other approaches to social mobility for man and women in theQin and Han Dynasties. The young women as singsong girls were adopted, trained to besinger and dancer and then sent to imperial palace, such as Wang Wengxu, Emperor Xuan’smother. Some women were appreciated by the emperor and imperial concubines because oftheir great talents and rich knowledge, such as Banzhao”. The female doctors and theirfamilies could step into the upper class by getting along with rich and noble families, such asChun Yuyan. It also worked to be the wet nurses of emperor. Men could enter official careersvia military exploits, rich knowledge of laws and superb talent. The eunuch who had beencastrated sometimes dominated the political situation and power of an imperial government.Owing to the system of official appointment and mobility, officials were extensively andfrequently on the move. Starting from the analysis of the social mobility of official class inQin and Han dynasty, this paper analyses the approaches to promotion of officials and reasonsfor removal of officials. The experienced administrative officials transferred all over the country had made a profound impact on politics, economy, culture, ethnic relations andexternal relations. We can thoroughly understand all these features by deep research on socialmobility of Liu Bang Commoner Group.As a result of the stimulation from national policies and hierarchy, every class werecontinuously struggling to be free from household register restriction, to pursue richness andnobility, and to transfer upward to high class due to the survival principle of drawing onadvantaged and avoiding disadvantages. The official classes were especially transferringupward and downward much more frequently because of various reasons, subject to nationalpolicies of social mobility.Chinese people have been consistently making great efforts to change their destiniesthroughout the Chinese civilization for thousands of years. The approaches to and results ofsocial mobility varied a lot duo to all kinds of restrictions. We can well analyze andunderstand the human nature and characteristic features of that time from micro-perspectivesby means of the research on various individuals’ and social groups’ destinies which wereaffected by various factors including major and minor approaches to becoming officials andthe promotion and removal inside the official class.