Saturday, March 29, 2008

Class System in Ancient China (Critical Question)

To all my students in Sec 1A4, 1A2 and 1E3 - I am really proud of all of you because I have seen great improvements since the last three weeks. Congatulations!

As promised, since we have finished the chapter on Class System in Ancient China, I want to ask one higher-order question. This question is to test a student's critical analysis and to check for greater understanding.

As you have noticed, traders are placed last on the pyramid during the Zhou dynasty. Why are traders in ancient China not given the same importance as those in ancient India (vaishyas) and Southeast Asia (trading class)? Before answering, you may wish to look at the diagram below.


Cheers,
Mr Syed

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

the class system in ancient china is divided into 2 dynasties.tge shang&zhou dynasty.the shang dynasty has the RULING CLASS and the WORKING CLASS.the zhou dynasty also have 2 classes-the RULING&WORKING CLASS.but the zhou dynasty's working class is divided into 4 parts-SCHOLARS,FARMERS,CRAFTSMEN,TRADERS.

Anonymous said...

class system in ancient china is divided to two dynasty.And they are Shang and Zhou.In Shang dynasty,have two classes.And they are Ruling class and Working class.In working class, have traders,scholars,farmers and craftsmen

Muhd Rasul
1A2
Greendale Secondary School

Anonymous said...

I think that Mr Syed has done a good job doing this blogspot. I enjoy reading about the past about the Ancient China. Before I even read this article, I do not really understand what is it about. I learn that that Ancient China is really very interesting. It really brought me to feel how is it about the past. There are really a lot of dynasty in the Ancient China. Eventhought it is hard for me to remember it, i think that this topic is really fun and excitng..


Signing Off,
KImberly Pe
1A2

Anonymous said...

I like reading this topic as I have been thought a lot about it. There are Shang and Zhou dynasty. There are a lot of classes in Zhou dynasty. I found it really hard to understand the names and spelling for the first time. But, with this blogspot, I can learn more about this and other topics. To me, it is fun and interesting to learn about the past.



Signing off,
Athira Amani
1A2

Anonymous said...

I have learn a lot in this history topic. Eventhough the Shang and Zhou dynasty is very confusing about the classes, but, I can only remember some of them. But with Mr Syed's help, I got to understand more about it. To me, Ancient China is very interesting and fun to learn. I hope that I can know more about Ancient China and understand them better. I hope Mr Syed will make the lessons more interesting by putting us in groups and we will try our best to score better for YOU!


Signing off,
Evien Chow
1A2

Anonymous said...

tha traders were looked down upon and ranked the lowest.this is because they did not produce anything and were thought to make thier living from the hard work of others.

Anonymous said...

Traders in Southeast Asia and India thinks that traders are important as they help to increase the trading class and they also allow traders to set up their own business.On the other side which is the Zhou dynasty I think the traders were the lowest as all the other class were given an important role to do but the traders have to do their own business to survive and they do not have a important role in the Class System thus I think that the traders were last in the working class.

Anonymous said...

Hello....
Trader is business man.
Traders trade things from country to country.
Some merchants are rich,some of them wore silk clothes.

Name:Sheryl
Class:1A2

Anonymous said...

In Ancient China,the 'traders'were placed/put at the bottom because chinese people in Ancient China thought they only knew how to make money.the traders were MERCILESS and did not care about anyone.

Kush;1A2
GREENDALE SECONDARY SCHOOL.

Anonymous said...

Hi,my name is KUSH.I AM GOING TO TELL YOU SOME DIFFERENCES ABOUT THE shang AND zhou dynasty.Now,SHANG DYNASTY had 2 diferent classes-THE RULING CLASS and THE WORKING CLASS.The ZHOU DYNASTY had-THE RULING CLASS and THE WORKING CLASS.THE WORKING CLASS in the ZHOU DYNASTY was divided into 5 different parts-SCHOLARS,FARMERS,CRATSMEN,TRADERS.
SO YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE between the SHANG &ZHOU DYNASTY.

1A2,GREENDALE SECONDARY SCHOOL.

Zinc said...

I think that the Ancient China look down on the Traders as they have a more associate place , thus , they are rich , such as the Kings , Imperial family and Feudal Shi ... They look down as they are rich and they did not need anything to trade ... Thus , the traders there , are poor , and their income salary is usually low ...
I think that in The Ancient India , the poeple there don't look down on them as their "city" os not so sucured , thus , the Rulling class , which is the Kings , His imperial family members , does not look down on them ... so , they normally trade things for (e.g) wedding purpose and others ... so , although traders are not at a high ranking , the real thing is that , they are useful ... (e.g) there's a wedding ceremony , thus , you wanted to trade some jewelleries ... and you can trade from the traders easily ... conveniently ... =P
*The OTHER THING WHICH TRADERS HATE MOST IS BEING OTHERS' SLAVE ... AS THEY ARE NOT THEIR "MAIDS" THUS , THEY DON'T LIKE BEING SOMEONE'S SLAVE ... ESPECIALLY IN THE ANCIENT CHINA ... MOST OF THE TRADERS ARE BEING TREATED AS SLAVES BY THE RULLING CLASS ...* =p

HUI'RU (12)
1E3
GREENDALE SECONDARY SCHOOL

jeff hardy said...

As the traders made their living from the hardwork of others whereas the vaishyas are given importance as they were divided according to jobs and they did not behave the way the traders in china did and the vaishyas spoke their language 'sanskrit' better than the shudras.The southeast Asia class system of the traders was second as they were important to the whole class system as they had a lot of businesses and they were so important that special officials were appointed to take care of their needs.Even the ruling class was also part of the trading class. stefan j.s.m 1A2 greendale secondary school

Anonymous said...

1 think this was because traders in the past ancient China did not contribute any helps or any uses to the emperor so they were placed last of the pyramid.

Ngieng Jiaen
1E3

Anonymous said...

In India and Southeast Asia the traders have an important role which help to increase the trading class and to take care of the needs of their members if they were appointed by special offcials but for the Zhou dynasty, they have all the important role taken up by the ruling class or the scholars, framers or craftsmen. Traders also was under the last class in the Castle System because they did not produce anything to trade thus I think what is why they are the lowerest in rank. Bjorn,1A2

Ben10 said...

The traders are place last on the pyramid during the Zhou dynasty because the traders need money if you need anythings.The chapter as such, makes very dry reading for a 6th Std.Student,because there are so few illustrations.Study aids such as well-demarcated sections with section headings are missing in this chapter. A significant omission from the chapter is a map of India, which could have greatly facilitated the understanding of the essay type text.

Ben Tan Yu Han 1A2
Greendale Secondary School

Anonymous said...

the class system in acient china is divided in two dynasties.the are shang and zhou dynasty.In shang dynasty, they are two classes, they are ruling class and working class.In the working class, have scholars,farmers and traders and craftsmen.

by adwin leong
1a2
greendale secondary school

Anonymous said...

Sometimes people do not want to trade their things away and so the trader have nothing.But for the farmer they everyday have things(eg.rice) to give or sell to the working class or to the rulling class.(China,the Zhou)In India maybe the trader always trade with the farmer,craftmen for thing before they(farmer and craftmen) sells it away to the people.


Terence Leong (1E3)
(GDLSS)

Anonymous said...

Trader is business man.
Traders trade things from country to country.

Tay Jun Jie
1A4
GDSS

Anonymous said...

the shang dynasty is no a good rule , he kiiled many people .



Signing off,
dehooi[28]
1A4
Greendale Secondary School

Anonymous said...

Traders in Southeast Asia and India thinks that traders are important as they increase the trading class and also allow them to set up their own business.On the Zhou dynasty the traders were the lowest as all the other class were given an important role to do but the traders have to do their own business to survive

1a2 vanessa tan
greendale secondary school

Anonymous said...

Me,Hakim.the ruling class in the Zhou dynasty is respected for their
KNOWLEDGE.While the lowest working class is looked down and ranked the lowest,they were the TRADERS.They are the lowest becausethey did not produce anything and were thought to make their living from the hard work of others.

Signing off,
Hakim(Kimster)
From 1A2

Anonymous said...

Hi Jun Jie (1A4),

You mentioned that "trader is a business man and they trade things from country to country".

What you have given is the definition or meaning of the word trader. But more importantly, you did not answer the main question which is: why are traders at the bottom of the pyramid during the Zhou Dynasty.

In other words, why do you think the ancient Chinese society respected the traders the least?

Cheers,
Mr Syed

Anonymous said...

Hi Dehooi,

Thank you for your posting :)

You mentioned that the Shang period is not a good rule because the ruler killed many people .

Can you give more details over what you have said? From what I have taught the class, we did not discuss any specific examples on the Shang Dynasty.

Instead the ruler that we have talked about is Qin Shihuang from the Qin Dynasty.

However more importantly, my question to all of you is: WHY are the traders placed at the bottom rung (level) of the social pyramid?

If you look at Singapore's case today, trading is such an important feature of our economy (this means that trading help bring in a lot of money to Singapore).

So WHY is it that traders are put so low in ancient China? WHAT is the reason?

Cheers,
Mr Syed

Anonymous said...

To Hakim (1A2),

Well done!

You answered the question well!

Keep telling the rest of your friends in class to read this blog and regularly post their comments :)

Mr Syed

Anonymous said...

The ruling class in the china is called the class system. At the top is the ruling class and the bottom one is the working class.


Camillia Tan 1A4

Anonymous said...

The traders in china only know how to make money and they don't care about the others.In india & southeast asia traders, they care for others.;

Conan Lim
1A2
GDLSS

Anonymous said...

I think Mr.Said have done a good job as a teacher,he is really very patient with my class,his history lessons were fun and interesting,i do not really know much about history till i read this blogspot..I think this blogspot have help me a lot..Now i know how interesting History could be i will put alot more attention that is needed in class..Mr.Said have help me so now i have to pay him back by doing well in all of my test,
i promise i can do it :)



Solehin

Anonymous said...

In Zhou dynasty,Ruling class is at the topbut Working class is divided into four parts-scholars,farmers,craftmen,traders they put at the bottoms

Jolene Ong
1A2
Greendale Sec

Anonymous said...

trader is in the last position because the job is not contributing to the society instead only the trader is benifiting .(trading 4 each other stuff,thing)

nathalie wong
1e3

Anonymous said...

I think that the traders are lost are becuase they stole all of the other people's business,more people will rather trade then sell so traders are put at the bottom as they stole people's business



SohYanWei
1E3
Greendale sec school

Transit said...

I think that it is because it is known that the Traders in the Zhou dynasty do much more better than ancient India (vaishyas) and Southeast Asia (trading class)

Thats why they are not given the same
importance.

Henry,
1E3 (32)

Anonymous said...

the traders are ranked the lowest because they were look down they did not produce anything and were thought to make a living from the hard work of others

koh sheng jia
1a4
GrEeNdAlE SecOnDaRy

Anonymous said...

hi MR.SYED.
in ancient china,traders only knew how to make money and did not care for people.BUT in ancient india,traders cared for people.

Kush[23]
1A2

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr Syed!

This is about the Class System in ancient china:

During the Centuries,ancient was divided in two dynasty.Zhou and Shang dynasty.During zhou dynasty,it was divided in two groups,The Ruling Class and The Working Class.

But when Shang Dynasty,The Working Class Was divided in FOUR groups
which are:

-Scholars
-Farmers
-Craftsmen
-Traders

One Question i want to ask.Why they divided in FOUR Groups when Shang Dynasty.

Hope you can give the answer when history lesson.

~Affandi~
1A4

Anonymous said...

I think that the traders in the pyramid were placed at the bottom because they can also be considered working people because they had to trade for a living.They trade things such as coins and many others.Well while the india's caste system were not regarded the lowest maybe because China's place has a very strict rule,while the india's rul was not that strict.

Siti Nurziana(13)
1E3

Anonymous said...

In Ancient China Traders Were The Last In the pyramid Because to me some of them may be con-man/women that scams people things or money away.In the early Han dynasty the traders were powerful and strong almost the same wealth were the same as nobels and high rank officials.To preven them from being powerful, later in the Han dynasty the Emperor Put Laws To Stop the traders from becoming more powerful. If they dis-obey the rules they will be punished.
I Remebered it without a Textbook.O.o

Ashton Goh
1a2
Greendale Secondary School

Anonymous said...

mr syed i really like your teaching it is interesting and clear i really like it but i wish i have more activities. i have learn lots of clss systems zhou and shang dynasty.but i very sure of the zhou dynasty and i think and i wish you can help me more mr syed
THANKS!

Patrick koh
1A4

Anonymous said...

I think that Mr Syed is a very good teacher. Everything that he teach or explain, I understand it very well. I am always looking forward to Mr Syed's lesson as he brings fun and joy to the class. Thank you very much Mr Syed.

Celia Yee(1A4)

Anonymous said...

In ancient china, traders did not produce anything and were thought to make the living from all the hard work of other people.


Ai Min
1E3

Anonymous said...

the traders are place at the last persition in acient china because they find that traders are con-man so they put traders as the last persition while the indus put traders as the third persition because they can earn more money than the shudras and the untochables.

BennyHongLiQian
1A2
Greendale Secondary School

Anonymous said...

The class system was divided in to 2 class in the shang dynasty. The are the working class and the ruling class.In the zhou dynasty the were 5 class the ruling class,scholars,farmers,craftsmen, traders.Trader doeswp not need to product the object. They earn by the hard work of the craftmen.They sell the object the craftmen will give them amount of money when the sell their work.

Anonymous said...

The China class system had developed and change over time. During the Shang dynasty(1523-1027 BCE) there were two broad classes of people-the ruling class and the working class.
The ruling class
Was made up of the king,his high priests and the feudal shi.
The working class
consisted of the common people such as farmers,soldiers and craftsmen.
By the next dynasty, the Zhou dynasty(1027-221 BCE), the people had discovered better farming methods. This enabled them to grow more crops.With more food, the population grew and the economy expanded.
Jia Ying
1E3
Greendale Secondary School

N I C :) said...

hEllo Mr. Syed, i would just like to say well-done!..The blogspot is now like a museum!hahax...

anyways, India and China had different styles of looking up to people and this examples the traders. The traders in India was not looked down or was not ranked the lowest but rather in between which was in the group called vaishyas. While in ancient China, traders were ranked the lowest this is because they did not produce anything and were ought to make their living from the hardwork of others. The two countries had also different system where in India had the Caste system and China was called the Class system.

P.s: don't forget BURGER KING VERY SHIOK!:p

m.l.a.r,
Nicole Matheus,
1A2
Greendale Secondary School

Anonymous said...

I think traders were not that important because what they did was only trading things with others.. while exmaple Farmer did was putting lot of effort to grow crops.

Kendra[:1E3

Anonymous said...

In India, people are group in three groups. The kshatriyas (warriors and rulers) were the most highly ranked class followed by the brahmins (priests, scholars and teachers) and the vaishyas (traders, farmers and landowners). There were no rules regarding the behaviour and actions of each member of a class. Individuals could move from on class to the another and marry someone who belonged to a different class.
In China, people are group under the The Ruling Class (king, priests, feudal shi) and The Working Class (farmers, soldiers, craftman). The feudal shi were given lands and limited ruling power by the king in return for their loyalty and support. There lands remained were the families of the feudal shi and were passed down from fathers to sons. The people respect the king and unlike the india they could do anything they want. This is the differences.

Sign off,
Fannie Wong
1A2