Four occupations

Long ago in China, people had four main jobs.

First were the scholars. They used their minds to lead.

Next were the farmers. They grew food in the soil.

Then came the makers. They used skill to make tools.

Last were the traders. They moved and sold goods.

People could change their jobs. A son could learn a new trade. This helped the whole land grow.

Long ago in China, people were grouped into four main jobs. This was called the four occupations.

These groups were the shi, the nong, the gong, and the shang.

The shi were the first group. At first, they were warrior nobles. They rode in chariots and used bows.

Later, they became scholars. These scholars studied hard to lead the government.

The nong were the farmers. They worked the soil to grow grain. This work was seen as very important for wealth.

The gong were the makers. These were artisans who used skill to make tools.

The shang were the traders. They moved and sold goods.

This system was not like other rules. A person was not stuck in one job for life. A son could learn a new trade. Many people took hard tests to become officials.

These tests helped people move up in society.

In ancient China, people used a special way to group jobs called the four occupations.

This system helped organize how people worked for the state and society. The four groups were the shi, the nong, the gong, and the shang. The shi were scholars or warriors who used their minds to lead. The nong were the farmers who grew food and created wealth. The gong were the artisans who used skill to make tools and items. Finally, the shang were the merchants who moved and sold goods.

This system worked by looking at how useful a job was to the land. Scholars were placed first because they used their minds rather than muscle. Farmers came next because they were the primary creators of wealth. Artisans followed them as skilled makers of useful things. Merchants were placed last because people thought they could cause price changes.

This order was not always the same in different books. Some texts even put merchants before farmers. However, the idea of grouping people by their work was very common.

The history of these groups changed a lot over many centuries. Long ago, during the Zhou dynasty, the shi were warrior nobles.

They rode in chariots and used bows and swords. As time passed, the shi changed from warriors into scholar-officials. This happened as new ways of ruling began to appear. In the Qin dynasty, the government started using officials instead of just nobles. This helped create a large system for running the whole country.

Many people worked hard to move between these different groups.

Unlike some other systems, these jobs were not always passed from father to son. A son of a craftsman could become a merchant. Even better, any man could try to become a government official. They did this by taking very difficult imperial examinations. These tests focused on learning the Confucian classics. By the Song dynasty, many people were taking these tests to find success.

This way of grouping people spread to other parts of Asia too. In Japan, the system was used but the groups were a bit different. In Korea, people called it "Sa, nong, gong, sang." Vietnam used a similar name for the four occupations.

Even though the names changed, the idea of organized roles remained. This system helped shape how many different cultures in Asia grew. It shows how much people valued education and different types of work.

The four occupations was a system used to classify people based on their work.

This classification appeared in ancient China during the late Zhou dynasty. It served as a central part of the fengjian social structure. Scholars used this system to organize society into four distinct categories. These categories were the shi, the nong, the gong, and the shang. This system was not just about money or social class. It was an idealization of how a society should function. It focused on how much each group contributed to the state.

The system worked by ranking groups based on their economic usefulness. The shi were the scholars who used their minds rather than muscle. They were placed first in the hierarchy. Next were the nong, the peasant farmers who grew grain. Farmers were seen as the primary creators of wealth for the land. The gong were the artisans and craftsmen who made useful tools. They used specific skills, known as qiao, to create items. Finally, the shang were the merchants and traders who moved goods. Merchants were often placed last because they could cause price fluctuations. Some thinkers even viewed them as a social disturbance due to wealth accumulation.

These four occupations were not strictly hereditary. This means a person was not forced to stay in their father's job. A son of a gong craftsman could become a shang merchant. In theory, any man could become a government official. They did this by passing the Imperial examinations. This made the system different from European feudalism. However, the system did not include every social group. There were also "mean people" called jianmin who were considered outcasts. These were people in roles like entertainers or prostitutes.

The shi class underwent a massive transformation over many centuries.

During the early periods, the shi were a knightly class of warrior nobles. They were distinguished by their right to command battles from chariots. They used composite recurved bows and double-edged swords called jian. As chariot warfare declined, the role of the shi changed. They transitioned from warriors into scholar-bureaucrats. This shift happened as intellectual pursuits became highly valued by the state.

New philosophies helped drive this change in the shi class. The Legalist philosophy in the State of Qin emphasized merit. It rewarded those who labored for the state and obeyed the law. This helped diminish the power of the old nobility. When the Qin dynasty unified China, they replaced feudalism with a centralized government. Later, the Han dynasty introduced recruitment through examinations. Emperor Wu used the Confucian classics to select officials. This created a system where talented individuals could rise through education.

The Song dynasty saw a major expansion of this system.

The recruitment of people through exams became much more important. The number of exam candidates grew from 30,000 to 400,000 by the end of the dynasty. Widespread printing helped more people learn and compete for degrees. The shi class became more bureaucratic and less aristocratic. These scholar-officials did more than just run the government. They also funded public hospitals, schools, and retirement homes. They provided essential services to their local communities.

The concept of the four occupations spread across the Chinese cultural sphere.

In Japan, the system was adapted into a different structure. The three classes below the samurai were considered equal occupations. In Korea, the system was known as "Sa, nong, gong, sang." Vietnam also used a similar classification called "Sĩ, nông, công, thương." While the specific definitions of the shi changed, the framework remained. This shows how deeply these ideas of social order influenced many different Asian cultures.