Page 72 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

farming families;
s o l d i e r s b e i n g
considered of a
lower order. By the
Ming Dynasty, the
socio-economics of
the Shi had become
more indistinct and
t h e b o r d e r l i n e s
between them and
the next level of
society, the Gong or
artisans, had
become blurred.

Peasant farmers were second only to Gentry scholars in ancient China

The Gong: The
Gong was made
up of artisans
and craftsmen;
the word literally
means “labour”.
They produced
essential goods
for all society
but, because
they owned no
land, were not
s o u r c e s o f
taxation. They
occupied an
unusual social
p o s i t i o n -
surprisingly it
The Gong were those who had skills to make useful objects
was above the
merchants. Artisan
s k i l l s w a s
something that was handed down from father to son through the generations since earliest
ancient times. The Gong could be either government employees or self-employed. A
successful and highly skilled artisan was theoretically able to gain enough capital to hire
others as apprentices or additional labourers that could be overseen by the chief artisan
acting effectvely as manager. Hence, artisans could create their own small enterprises in
selling their work and that of others, and similar to the merchants, they formed their own
guilds. It is this mechanism that later allowed highly skilled and successful silversmiths to
own and run their own workshops.