page_title: Four occupations
section_title: Slaves
hierarchical_section_title: Four occupations / Unclassified occupations / Slaves
caption_attribution_description: English: A contract for the purchase of a slave during the Tang dynasty (661 ACE) in Turpan, Xinjiang. The Contract records the purchase of a 15 year-old slave for six bolts of plain silk and five Chinese coins. Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China.
context_page_description: The four occupations or "four categories of the people" was an occupation classification used in ancient China by either Confucian or Legalist scholars as far back as the late Zhou dynasty and is considered a central part of the fengjian social structure. These were the shi, the nong, the gong, and the shang.
  The four occupations were not always arranged in this order. The four categories were not socioeconomic classes; wealth and standing did not correspond to these categories, nor were they hereditary.
  The system did not factor in all social groups present in premodern Chinese society, and its broad categories were more an idealization than a practical reality. The commercialization of Chinese society in the Song and Ming periods further blurred the lines between these four occupations. The definition of the identity of the shi class changed over time—from warriors, to aristocratic scholars, and finally to scholar-bureaucrats. There was also a gradual fusion of the wealthy merchant and landholding gentry classes, culminating in the late Ming Dynasty.
  In some manner this system of social order was adopted throughout the Chinese cultural sphere.
context_section_description: Slavery was comparatively uncommon in Chinese history but was still practiced, largely as a judicial punishment for crimes. In the Han and Tang dynasties, it was illegal to trade in Chinese slaves (that were not criminals), but foreign slaves were acceptable. The Xin dynasty emperor Wang Mang, the Ming dynasty Hongwu emperor, and Qing dynasty Yongzheng emperor attempted to ban slavery entirely but were not successful. Illegal enslavement of children frequently occurred under the guise of adoption from poor families. It has been speculated by researchers such as Sue Gronewold that up to 80% of late Qing era prostitutes may have been slaves.
  Six dynasties, Tang dynasty, and to a partial extent Song dynasty society also contained a complex system of servile groups included under "mean people" (賤人) that formed intermediate standings between the four occupations and outright slavery. These were, in descending order:
  the musicians of the Imperial Sacrifices 太常音聲人
  general bondsmen 雑戶, including Imperial tomb guards
  musician households 樂戶
  official bondsmen 官戶
  government slaves 奴婢
  And in private service,
  personal retainers 部曲
  female retainers 客女
  private slaves 家奴
  These performed a wide assortment of jobs in households, in agriculture, delivering messages or as private guards.
caption: Contract for the purchase of a slave, Tang dynasty Xinjiang
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