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Social Pyramid of Ancient China

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The Slaves

Slaves

History

In the Shang Dynasty, roughly 5% of China's population was subjected to slavery. Some of these slaves were convicts (mostly because of rape), and slavery was their punishment. During the Qin dynasty, many male slaves were forced to create the Terracotta Army. There was an increase in slavery because of this. Afterwards Emperor Wang Mang decided to outlaw slavery, whic would oonly last up to his death. Similary, during the Ming Dynasty, slavery was banned (yet still practised). In the Tang Dynasty, there were trades with Korea for woman, as there were a shortage at the time.

Their Position

Slaves in Ancient China were the lowest group on in the Social Pyramid (picture above). They were owned by Emperors and Nobles alike for jobs such as field work, crafting, serving and more.  In the Han Dynasty, 5 punishments were legalised for misbehaving slaves.

 

1. Tattooing, which wasn't a vanity item in Ancient China, but a punishment (usually on the forehead).

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2. The cutting off of the nose, usually done in public areas like town squares.

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3. Amputation of the arms or legs was done incredibly slowly to insure maximum pain to the recieving slave. Sometimes, the

kneecaps were removed, making it nearly impossible to walk.

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4. Castration (applies only to men), when a man's testicles would be either surgically pr chemically removed.

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5. Death, which would be done by numerous methods, the most common one being were the victim was put on his/her hands and knees, and was struck over the head.

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Why This Wouldn't Work in Modern Australia

WTWWMA

Today, in Australia, we run what's called a democracy, or a country that allows input from the civilians (like elected government). This works well for us as a country, as it makes sure that we, on the majority, are happy with who runs this country and what laws are passed. However, the same can not be said for Ancient China. In Modern Day China, they do use a semi democratic system (wanting to reinvent on the 'western' way), but Ancient China used a Monarchy.

The Emperors

In Ancient China, the ruler was known as The Emperor, which would either be passed down through a family (dynasty), or stolen by force. These Emperors were believed to picked by the gods. When misfortune would fall upon China, he would be forcibly removed.

Why it wouldn't work

In Ancient China, there were defined catergories for who you were, and how you should be treated. In Australia, a democracy, this wouldn't work, as anyone that was remotely low on the scale would be mistreated and wouldn't be respected enough to do anything to society (unless it was for the upper-class exclusively). This would cripple our modern society (though it works in the ancient era).

Other Differences

In Australia, many of these trades don't exist. Now, we don't have nobles, or scholars, or (most importantley) slaves. Slavery is illegal in most countries nowadays, especially 1st World countries. So the social pyramid would obviously not work there. Secondly, in the modern world, merchants are regarded much higher because they distribute the goods to everyone else.

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