9. The Artisan’s Place: The ‘Four Occupational Groups’ and the Social Position of Craftspeople

Abstract

In imperial and pre-imperial periods, Chinese governments made practical provisions to allocate and supervise skilled labour in the service of the state. A particular perspective of social hierarchy came with this system which expressly included artisans. The concept of the 'four occupational groups' originates from the intention of rulers and administrators to divide and settle the population according to occupations and to monitor their numbers and activities. Together with the assessment that scholars and farmers were 'fundamental' but artisans and merchants were 'secondary' or derived groups, this notion confirmed the dominance of agriculture and Confucian learning and administration. Origins and Early Applications of the Concept Chinese philosophy has brought forth several concepts of hierarchy in human society. The first textual evidence for the basic Confucian view can be traced back to the philosopher Mencius (fl. fourth century B.C.), who considered the most fundamental relationships in human life to be those between father and son, ruler and minister, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and between friends. These pairs, which set up a hierarchy of age, descent, and gender, were captured in the formula of the 'five human relationships', which was sometimes also reduced to the first three matching pairs. They were shaped into the principal outlook on humanity by Confucian commentators in the first century B.C. This is still-at least partly-culturally relevant to East Asian societies. A further concept that also goes back to Mencius is the distinction between rulers and administrators, who work mentally, and the ruled, who labour physically. It is the quintessence of an explanation for the necessity of the division of labour: Great men have their proper business, and little men have their proper business. Moreover, in the case of any single individual, whatever articles he can require are ready to his hand, being produced by the various