Feudalism In Ancient China

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Feudalism is system of government were many people would live on a manor including a lord, vassals, and knights. The lord would typically be the owner of the fief, he would then find vassals that would be willing to provide protection for him in exchange for use of the land, but not ownership. There is special ceremony performed to show the importance of this relationship called an homage, at this ceremony the agreement of the vassal providing physical protection to the lord, and the lord allowing the vassal the use of the land. It was considered a serious offence if either party were to break this commitment. These vassal would often hire knights in order to provide this protection to the lord, and in return they would also allow them …show more content…
The emperor held the most power in the Chinese Feudal hierarchy, he was considered a divine son of God, he had the final say on everything whether it was right, or wrong. Below the emperor were nobles, the emperor would grant them each a piece of land which they were to act as the emperor of. The emperor broke nobles into 5 different classes known as Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi, and Nan, their power decreases with the ranks starting with Gong, till you end with Nan which holds the least amount of power. Lastly in the hierarchy are the commoners these men held no power at all, they were at the complete mercy of the emperor. There were 4 sub categories of common men which were peasants, artisans, servants, and …show more content…
The major reason that I believe this primitive system failed is, because the lack of centralized government. In most cases a centralized government provides basic services to keep the people happy, and comfortable. For example road repairs, sanitation, and regulating laws without these people are free to do as they please, and if this causes harm to other citizens they may complain, and revolt against there land owners. A good government is able to guide it's people peacefully, and still effective decisions, unlike with Feudalism where lord only acts as a leader for his own

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