Page 73 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

The Shang: The
merchants, traders and
itinerant salesmen were
regarded as essential to
society, yet, because
they were non-productive
they were placed on a
lower rung of the social
l a d d e r . A l t h o u g h
essential, they were also
generally regarded as
b e i n g g r e e d y a n d
distrustful. The concept
of making profit from
goods others had made
w a s d e e m e d t o b e
parasitic. The scholarly
class looked down on
this, but they were
eventually to see there
were benefits to being
able to do this, so they
began to use agents to
transact on their behalf in
order not to be seen to
d e fi l e t h e i r s o c i a l Wealthy Peking merchants entertained at dinner by a group of courtesans
standing. Merchants in 1901. In ancient Chinese society, merchants were the lowest of the "four
could become very occupations" deemed socially necessary.
wealthy and by the end
of the Ming Dynasty
funding for infrastructure projects was often sought from merchants. Gradually merchants,
with their new-found wealth, acquired manners equal to the scholarly elite, causing the
latter to inculcate the merchants with morality and business ethics. Eventually they
reached a level where the scholars believed the merchants and traders were a model of
proper behaviour and ethics. Further blurring of the social boundaries occurred.

THE TIDES OF CHANGE

If one takes all these transitions into account, by the mid-18th century this was the new
order that shaped Chinese society. Obviously, many categories of society were left out of
this structure; soldiers, guards, religious clergy, entertainers, courtiers, slaves, prostitutes,
concubines and low-class labourers all existed in a peculiar social ether that was to all
intents and purposes a way for the scholarly class to exert control. Eunuchs were probably
the only category from this group to become influential; they came to dominate the