The Characteristics of the Chinese Society

In a pluralistic society, like that of the modern west, the many forces of church and state, capital and labor, government and private enterprises are balanced under a rule of law. In Chinese life the personal probity and loyalty, sincerity and benevolence which were taught by the family system, provided the norms for social conduct. Law was a necessary tool for administration, but personal morality was the foundation of society. Far from being anarchic because of the weakness of the legal concept, Chinese society was firmly knit together by Confucianism. In China this great ethical institution occupied much of the place which is filled by both law and religion in the West.

In old China, there was a wide gulf in power and prestige between the rulers and those being ruled. The old Chinese society was traditionally divided into four classes which in the descending order were the scholar- administrator, the farmer, the artisan ,and the merchant. The scholar administrator as an educated man ,was presumed to be morally superior, exercising the power under the supreme authority of the Emperor who was normally considered as the son of heaven mandated to rule the country, consequently dominating all aspects of public life..

This concept and practice of me superiority of educated men was clearly related to authoritarian family pattern of old China, which provided a basis for social order in political as well as domestic life. The role of the emperor and his officials was merely that of the father. Just as the emperor was the father of the whole nation, so a county magistrate was called "parent " of the people in that county. In feudalistic China only educated men could become officials through a special kind of examination - the Imperial Examination System. Even today many young people still hold an ideal of " study hard for officialdom ".