The Chinese also believed in ghosts. People who died and had no descendants to care for them or who were neglected by their family. In a Chinese family, the father had authority over his wife and children. Marriages were arranged by parents with the help of go-betweens. However many wealthy men kept concubines. Children were supposed to be obedient.
In China, male heirs were very important as they carried on the family. Girls were valued less than boys and baby girls were sometimes left outside to die or were drowned. In any case, infant mortality was high. People would have many children but not all would live to adulthood. Some boys went to school.
There they learned the teachings of Confucius by heart. They also learned calligraphy. Of course, only a minority of boys went to school.
Most did not. Instead, they worked in the fields from an early age. Foot binding became common in China during the Song Dynasty When they were 4 or 5 girls sometimes had their feet bound. In Ancient China the upper class were officials called mandarins. To become a mandarin you had to pass certain exams.
The exams were, in theory, open to almost all men. However Chinese merchants were held in low esteem. Imperial China produced some great women. Liang Hongyu c was a Chinese woman general. Life in Ancient China was hard. Most farmers were poor. They owned chickens and pigs and sometimes an ox or mule.
In the North, people grew crops of wheat or millet while in the South they grew rice. Growing rice was backbreaking labor as the fields had to be irrigated and rice plants were planted by hand. In the 16th century, new crops such as sweet potatoes, maize, and peanuts were introduced. Other crops included tea, sugar, and cotton. Ordinary women worked in their homes weaving cotton.
Even though they worked the land, they did not own it. Instead, the property was usually owned by a nobleman or the imperial family. The reason that their work was so difficult was mostly due to the fact that most of it were done by hand. While they had animals to pull plows, such as oxen, they still had to manually harvest whatever it was that they were growing.
Of course, this took a long time, which left little time for leisure or play. They did celebrate a Spring Festival each year. This was done to help assure a good harvest.
In the North of China, farmers were expected to grow wheat, while in the warmer South, they would grow rice. They might also grow tea, sugar, or cotton, depending on the needs of the landowner. Farmers also had to work for the government throughout the year. This work would not usually be for farming, however. While farmers had to toil furiously in the fields both day and night, life in the city was much different. People that lived in cities usually worked for themselves.
These jobs included merchants, artisans , scholars, or government officials. While merchants were considered higher on the social ladder than farmers, they were often a neglected sector in city life. They did not have a ton of importance or social status. In fact, during times of war, merchants would usually be exiled to outside of the city limits. They would be expected to protect themselves without any assistance from the government.
The food that was available to people in ancient China largely depended upon their occupation and social status. The rich ate very well. Their diet usually included grains, such as rice, wheat, and millet. They also had plenty of different kinds of meat, like pork, chicken, goose, duck, and even dog. Rich members of Chinese society would also have eaten plenty of fish and vegetables.
Here are some examples of the harshness of daily life when growing up in ancient China and among its many diverse peoples and dynasties. The Chinese philosopher Confucius established teachings which were the basis of society in China, including the structure of the family and the role within of each of its members.
Confucius, who lived five centuries before the Common Era, placed an emphasis on morality of individuals and authorities, which began as children, who were instilled with the requirement to submit to their parents, and in particular to their father. The concept of filial piety was directed to the eldest male in a household, who was the highest authority, and bowing to his will was the basis of Chinese society.
If the father was absent, the eldest son played the leading role. This by nature made the role of women subservient, mothers were required to obey the whims of their sons, should the eldest male support them, and daughters were little more than chattel. The abuse of children did not mitigate their societal obligation to return respect and obedience to their father, or to the eldest brother if the father was absent.
The role of the male to command extended upwards throughout Chinese society to the head of the ruling dynasty, and respect to the male authority was the cornerstone upon which Chinese law and customs were built.
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