China Caste System

1. What is the difference between class and caste?

The difference between class and caste becomes prominently evident while reading about social inequality of China and India. In contrast to the caste system of India was the class system of China. In India, social hierarchy was referred to as the caste system, which is defined as “race” or “purity of blood.” This type of social hierarchy was meant to restrain social mobility and was associated with a certain color, part of the body of god Purusha, and certain duties. The class system of China was developed based off of a person’s wealth or value to the society. For example, in China the highest class was that of the officials or “scholar-gentry” who were educated peoples and were potential

This also contrasted from the caste system of India who defined their social groups much more strictly either by “purity of blood” (Varna) or by occupation (Jati). Another great difference from the class system of China and the caste system of India was social mobility. In China, people were able to move up the class system by becoming wealthy and/or the purchase of extensive property. This was very different from that caste system of India in the case that they people of a certain class could not move from class to class because the Hindu god Purusha had made the caste system eternal. Rarely did the people of India gain enough land or wealth to progress toward a higher class. Similarly, India’s caste system exploited the poor, whereas China’s class system respected the peasant class and had more respect for the poor than the caste system of India did. Another difference between class and caste was that the caste system was more localized and religious (Hinduism) whereas the class system of China was recognizable and similar throughout the entire state. Another dissimilarity was that China’s class system was based on social order, merit, and wealth where as the Indian caste system was more religious pulling

For example, in China, emphasis on Confucian teachings formed the basis of the imperial academy in which wealthy students would study to become potential officials. These potential officials made up the high class or class of political officials. Also implementing Confucian teaching into his ruling was ruler Wang Mang who saw the peasant farmers as the important backbone to Chinese society. In China, rebellious acts of the peasants in 184 C.E. during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, united under a form of Daoism. Another second-wave civilization that used religious, philosophical, or cultural ideas to legitimate the class and/or gender inequalities was the Indians. In the Varna caste system of India, the four castes: Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and the Sudras, were formed from the body of Hindu god, Purusha and were declared eternal. This meant that none of the people in any of the different castes could move from caste to caste and once born into that caste, you stayed there forever. The Indian caste system also had the Brahmins, or priests, become the highest part of their caste system because they believed that these priests performed rituals to ensure peace of the world. Also, the inequality of the castes in India incorporated the ideas or karma, dharma, and rebirth which were ideas pulled from