Thegentry, or landed gentry in China was the elite who held privileged status through passing theImperial exams, which made them eligible to hold office. These literati, orscholar-officials, (shenshi 紳士 orjinshen 縉紳), also called 士紳shishen "scholar gentry" or 鄉紳xiangshen "local gentry", held a virtual monopoly on office holding, and overlapped with an unofficial elite of the wealthy. TheTang andSong dynasties expanded thecivil service exam to replace thenine-rank system which favored hereditary and largely militaryaristocrats.[1] As a social class they included retiredmandarins or their families and descendants. Owning land was often their way of preserving wealth.[2]
TheConfucian ideal of thefour occupations ranked thescholar-official above farmers, artisans, and merchants below them in descending order, but this ideal fell short of describing society. Unlike acaste this status was not inherited. In theory, any male child could study, pass the exams, and attain office. In practice, however, gentry families were better able to educate their sons and used their connections with local officials to protect their interests.
Members of the gentry were expected to be an example to their community asConfucian gentlemen. They often retired to landed estates, where they lived on the rent fromtenant farmers. The sons of gentry aspired to pass theimperial exams and continue the family legacy. Bylate imperial China, merchants used their wealth to educate their sons in hopes of entering thecivil service. Financially desperate gentry married into merchant families which led to a breakdown of the old class structure.
With theabolition of the exam system and the overthrow of theQing dynasty came the end of the scholar-official as a legal group.
The imperial government and scholar-official system ended but the landlord-tenant system did not.New Culture radicals of the 1920s used the term "gentry" to criticize land owners as "feudal".Mao Zedong led the way in attacking "bad gentry and local bullies" for collecting high rent and oppressing their tenants during theRepublican period. Many local landlords organized gangs to enforce their rule.Communist organizers promised agrarian reform and land redistribution.
After thePeople's Republic of China was established, many landlords were executed afterclass struggle trials and the class as a whole was abolished. Former members were stigmatized and faced persecution which reached its heights during theCultural Revolution. This persecution ended with the advent of thereform and opening up underDeng Xiaoping.
