Portal:Social sciences/article/2
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Chinese society in the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD) was marked by political and legal reforms, a philosophical revival of Confucianism, and the development of cities beyond administrative purposes into centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce. The inhabitants of rural areas were mostly farmers, although some were also hunters, fishers, or government employees working in mines or the salt marshes. Contrarily, shopkeepers, artisans, city guards, entertainers, laborers, and wealthy merchants lived in the county and provincial centers along with the Chinese gentry—a small, elite community of educated scholars and scholar-officials.
As landholders and drafted government officials, the gentry considered themselves the leading members of society; gaining their cooperation and employment was essential for the county or provincial bureaucrat overburdened with official duties. In many ways, scholar-officials of the Song period differed from the more aristocratic scholar-officials of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Civil service examinations became the primary means of appointment to an official post, and competitors vying for official degrees dramatically increased. Frequent disagreements between ministers of state, on which policies were most beneficial to the economy, the people, and their own careers, often led to political strife within the central court and gave rise to political factions, hindering the central government's ability to administer the empire and uphold political stability.
