Through passing the imperial exam or donating resources, people could enter the gentry. However, commoners could move up in society through the acquirement of wealth. ĭuring the Song dynasty, there was a clear division in social structure which was enforced by law. The great majority failed, but for those who passed their entire family rose in status.
To rise required passing a very difficult written exam. Social mobility was difficult, or sometimes nearly impossible, to achieve as social class was primarily defined by an individual's identity. Throughout this time period, there were attempts to eradicate this system. Imperial China divided the country into four occupations or classes, with the emperor ruling over them. Instead, they were selected through the imperial examination system, of written examinations based on Confucian thought, thereby undermining the power of the hereditary aristocracy. However, after the Song dynasty, the powerful government offices were not hereditary.
There was a Chinese nobility, beginning with the Zhou dynasty. The social structure of China has an expensive history which begins from the feudal society of Imperial China to the contemporary era. Metropolitan Civil Examination Records from the Sixth Year of the Hongzhi Reign (1493)
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