What is the social structure of the Four Peoples?

The Four Peoples was the basic division of civilian occupations in ancient China, referring to the Shishi (scholars), agriculture, industry, and commerce, but the order of which varied through the ages.

Society of the Four Peoples characterized the social form of traditional China. The main body of traditional Chinese society was composed of four social groups: scholars, farmers, workers and merchants. Shi, Nong, Gong and Shang, also known as the Four Peoples.

In traditional China, the four social groups of scholars, peasants, workers, and merchants were not hierarchically differentiated, although they were divided into separate occupations and residences; this social form was called the society of the four peoples. This social form, known as the Four Peoples' Society, is also the main feature and distinctive mark that distinguishes traditional Chinese society from Western feudal society. The prototype of the four-people society already existed in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

The formal emergence of the society of the four peoples was a product of the disintegration of the feudal system, and its emergence took place at the time of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Gu Yanwu, a scholar of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, once said in his "Record of Daily Knowledge" that "the scholar, the farmer, the industrialist, and the businessman are called the Four Peoples, and the saying began with Guan Zi." This refers to the fact that Guan Zhong, the prime minister of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period, was the first to set down the order of "the scholar, the farmer, the industrialist and the businessman", which has been used up to the present day.

Other East Asian countries

Influenced by Confucianism, countries in the Chinese character culture circle, such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu, have inherited to varying degrees China's division of the "scholar, farmer, industrialist, and businessman".

In the feudal system of Japan, in addition to the division of "soldiers, peasants, industrialists and merchants", another category of "untouchables" was added, and "shi" referred to the samurai. When "Shishu" was introduced to Japan, its meaning was still similar to that of China during the Kamakura period, and the theory of the Four Peoples was developed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Japan, and the Emperor recognized all people as Four Peoples. In the Muromachi period, the meaning of the term was changed, and in addition to occupations, there was also a distinction between the status of the scholar-peasant, the farmer-industrialist, and the industrialist.

During the Joseon Dynasty, the Joseon court used a system of good and bad people to categorize all people in the country, except the royal family, into good people and bad people. Among them, the good people were divided into four classes according to their status, namely, two classes, middlemen, permanent residents, and white men, and intermarriage was strictly prohibited between the classes.

Refer to Baidu Encyclopedia - Four Peoples' Society for the above