Surely everyone at least once wanted to travel back to ancient times to see how our ancestors lived, however, only a few would want to stay there. At that time, the world was full of cruelty and harsh life principles, which laid a heavy burden on the shoulders of all residents, if only they were not rich.
It was especially hard to live in Ancient China, where only wealthy men from influential families had a privileged position. As for the rest, they were left with an unenviable fate from childhood. Historians note that Chinese civilization is one of the most interesting and wealthiest, but also does not deny the fact that ordinary survival at that time was akin to a feat.
1
Sons respect
One of the main, if not the main philosopher of Ancient China was Confucius, who built his fundamental doctrine on filial piety. This teaching has become dogma in China for many years. Father occupied the top line in the family hierarchy, leaving his mother the role of a servant, obliged in all respects to obey the head of the family. Also, her duties included the birth of a son, who automatically became the head and ruled the mother if the father died. The severity of the doctrine consisted in the deplorable fate of the wife, which the husband could legally leave if she could not give him a son.
I wonder how the girls who are on our list of the most beautiful Chinese women in the world relate to this. How much are they committed to traditions, because many of them are forced to bare themselves in front of millions of people?
In addition, the teachings of Confucius rejected the possibility of raising people up the class ladder. Each “caste” strictly fulfilled its duties, not claiming a place higher. Father could freely disrespect his offspring, while they were obliged to treat him with all respect. As Confucius taught, the father must give orders, and the child must follow them, not paying attention to circumstances. Unquestioning obedience was also implied in relation to the emperor, the former father of the whole nation, and even eyes should be turned to cases of incompetence or corruption in some ruling dynasties.
2
Admission to education
With filial piety, everything is clear, but how to get people to unquestioningly obey the higher strata of society? Everything is simple - they need to be deprived of education, forcing them to spend their whole lives in poverty and ignorance of the real situation in the country. In ancient China, only the children of the most influential and wealthy nobles could get an education. After that, they were allowed to take difficult examinations, which gave them the right to occupy important posts or become politicians.
To close the circle, it is worth noting that the schools taught mainly the writings of Confucius, seasoning the school curriculum with calligraphy lessons. Even if you did not receive the right to study, you had to know by heart the 5 main points of Confucius, called virtues. Any Chinese could be stopped on the street and asked a corresponding question. A public program for the intellectual development of the population began just 200 years BC, with the accession to the throne of the Han Dynasty. The emperor decided to open schools to all comers.
Social activity in the ranks of commoners began to go through the roof, as everyone wanted to get to the final point of education - the right to pass exams for admission to the civil service. Thus, they could climb to the highest level of society not by origin, but by talent, saving themselves from the need for hard physical labor. Needless to say, the authorities did everything possible to allow a minimum of rootless Chinese to the promised benefits. The training lasted at least 10, or even 20 years, after which the exam time came. It was necessary to come to him with a restroom bucket, food and stationery. Each subject was closed in a separate room, not allowing to leave for three days.
The level of exams began from the provincial and ended with the imperial, which was personally attended by the head of the empire. The chance of a successful outcome was terribly small, sometimes a positive result is only one in three thousand students. These people were child prodigies, and their destinies were sung by subsequent generations of ancient Chinese and are still being studied. If you think that you would write off the correct answers to several questions without problems, we want to immediately cool your ardor with punishment for wrongdoing. The scam was punishable by death!
3
Occupation Choices
Most of the people in ancient China were born and spent their whole lives in the dilapidated shacks of poor villages. In such places, there was only one job - in the fields. Almost no one should have expected more, almost all women, men and children worked hard every day, growing rice. This culture was mainly cultivated in the south of the country, as for its northern part, here millet and wheat were held in high esteem.
We strongly recommend that you enjoy wonderful photographs of the most beautiful rice fields that we wrote about on our site most-beauty.ru.
All wealthy Chinese were based in large cities, existing at the expense of the labor of the poor, who made up the majority of the population. Life in the villages was so difficult that many families were forced to sell their daughters to the rich, who they turned into slaves. The whole social system was to maintain the majority of the luxurious life of a minority. In addition to slave labor in the fields, the poor were forced to serve the feudal lords, who could turn them into slaves, make them eunuchs, forcing them to unquestioningly fulfill any whim.
Long nails were considered a sign of high status, meaning there was no need for physical labor. The peasants could not afford such luxury, their legs were carefully trimmed and "well-groomed" by work in the fields.
4
Love and marriage
Confucius left his teachings on interclass taboos and marriage. In China, mixed marriages were not just bad manners, they were illegal. The marriage was arranged by parents with the help of professional matchmakers. For men, the norm was to marry at age 30, while the girls got married when they were half the age. Of course, it was a trauma for a teenager to leave his parental home, knowing that she and her father might not be able to see her for a very long time. An important nuance: the bride and groom first saw each other only at the wedding!
Having moved to her husband, the bride became the servant of his mother, obeying all her whims. Despite all the humiliation, the girls could not refuse the wedding, as they would have lost all respect without a legitimate “master” - a vicious circle. The wife and children were considered the property of the head of the family, equating to property. If the husband had a lot of money, he could freely cheat on his wife.
5
Diet
The Chinese rich living in cities ate quite varied. In addition to traditional rice, they could afford vegetables and meat, for example, bear meat or pork. They also ate dog meat, shark fins, and other "delicacies." However, the rich Chinese’s main diet consisted of rice and fish, sometimes diluted by poultry. Although chickens, ducks, pheasants and other birds served at the dinner table, it was often filled with vegetarian dishes. Also, some civil servants (who were able to pass the test) indulged in soups, poultry eggs, shark fins and wine.
The poor could only dream of such diversity. Besides noodles and rice, they saw almost nothing. One could only dream of fish or meat. That is why hunger epidemics swept through China during the years of crop failure.
6
Beliefs, entertainment and relaxation
Chinese leisure was inextricably linked with traditions and Chinese culture. Young people preferred outdoor activities, playing checkers, a kind of modern football, mahjong, and also engaged in archery. In addition, the teachings of Lao Tzu, one of the founders of Taoism, which entered into confrontation with Confucianism, was popular among the common people. It implied the worship of ancestors, who were revered in every family.
Also held in high esteem by the ancient Chinese was the deity Zao Sheen - the protector of the hearth. A peculiar paper icon of Zao Shen was stored in each house. It was believed that he left home every month in order to report on their life in heaven. When the deadline for “reporting” approached, the Chinese helped Zao Shen go to heaven, burning his image and releasing many fireworks into the air. For a good report, lips on the icon on the icon were smeared with honey. When the defender of the house was absent, the Chinese did nothing reprehensible so as not to attract evil spirits.
Also in ancient China, various festivals were popular during which all stocks of pyrotechnics were destroyed, and the population made huge models of dragons.
7
Health care system
Medicine was available only to the rich, although it was of little use. There were no professional doctors at that time, since the appearance of the disease was explained from a philosophical or religious point of view. According to the Chinese "doctors", a person could not catch a cold because of the cold, the culprits of the cold were ghosts or evil spirits. The role of doctors was being tried on by charlatans or priests who were not very different from the first. If their “treatment”, consisting in exorcism sessions, did not help, people were treated with folk remedies. This has led to an increase in the popularity of acupuncture and herbal decoction treatments.
8
Slavery
The harsh truth of life in ancient China was that the bulk of the population was in slavery. Because of the teachings of the class system, most people have already been born slaves. Of all the Chinese who kill health in the fields, only a small part was free. The life of a slave completely belonged to his mandarin (lord), who turned him into prisoners of war or sentenced to prison. As domestic servants, children were selected who were turned into eunuchs. For a minimum misconduct, such as appearing in a home without an invitation or a knock, the servant was punished by death.
With the death of the slave owner, relief did not come, on the contrary, a terrible fate awaited his slaves - everyone was buried alive, so that he could give them orders in the afterlife. In addition, thousands of slaves were chosen for acts of intimidation - their heads were cut off so that others would not even think about an uprising.
The first good deed of the emperor from the Zhou Dynasty, who began rule in 1046 BC, was the abolition of the tradition of killing slaves after the death of the owner. The official abolition of slavery occurred in the second half of the 14th century during the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Nevertheless, in some areas, slavery existed until the middle of the 20th century!
9
Foot bandaging
Miniature female feet were considered the first sign of beauty and attractiveness in ancient Chinese. The fashion of leg bandage originates with the accession to the throne of the Tang Dynasty. “Golden lotuses,” and this is what it was called, they began to do from childhood, when the girls reached the age of four. Their feet were wrapped tightly with bandages so that their fingers curled under the foot, changing its shape and stopping in growth.
Needless to say, how painful it was - for the rest of their lives, women walked on tiny feet with broken fingers, while no one freed them from the hassle of the house and the manifestation of bullying by her husband. If a girl was forced to try to spread her legs, she could easily be beaten. The fashion for the "golden lotuses" lasted as long as 10 centuries, until this practice was canceled in 1912.
You can learn more about this ritual in our article, which is fully devoted to the tradition of leg bandaging.
10
Growing up
Few inhabitants of ancient China reached the age of majority. This was especially true for girls, since they were valued much less than the male population. At that time, it was commonplace to drown or simply throw a newborn into the pit. Also, high mortality at an early age was due to lack of medicine, slavery, difficult working conditions, hunger and poverty.
However, when boys or girls reached adulthood, they were waiting for a beautiful ceremony of initiation into adulthood. As a rule, the father led the ceremony, instructing his child before the opening of a new chapter. The boys underwent the “rite of mowing and covering the head” at the age of 20, and the girls became adults at the age of 15, after the rite of “pinning the hair”.