Essay on Similaries and Differences of Feudal Japan and...

Feudal Japan and Ming China were two times in history within these similar countries, that have been around since ancient times. These countries have similar and different traditions, a way of doing things, that have defined them as a civilization and a world power. The Japanese and Chinese had times where select families or people were in control, dynasty, because of their ranks and their abilities, in addition their social classes were similar in the way they treated people, and how people treated other people depending on their jobs and their status. There were the shoguns,a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan, and in China there were the emperors, the ones ruling the empire (land), these were the people that were at the top†¦show more content†¦Within china it went the emperor, then local gentry â€Å"a term that refers to individuals who have at the rank and status of government officials, but who reside at home and may not have any specific political respo nsibilities†(course reader 119), then scholars, citizens who were preparing for the exams, next were Peasants, Craftsmen, merchants, and then just people in general. The Feudal japan ranking system went Shoguns at the top, then Daimyo, the landholding military lords, next were samurai, and at the bottom were peasant. Being a peasant one would not usually be able to afford elite education for themselves or for their children. Naturally the more privileged people in the empire’s would get a better education then the peasants children would have. This alone made climbing the social ladder a clear struggle for the people at the bottom. Japan and China both had social classes that helped define the people of that area, the lower one was, was the harder it was to climb up the social ladder. These social classes had specific orders that figuratively â€Å"put people in their place†. These classes dictated what one has the capability of doing over and what one’s role in society is. The commoners had the responsibility of supplying food and other goods to people that were higher then them on the social pyramid, getting paid little . The people that were at the top had an important job as well,