How did the structure of Chinese society change in the seventeenth century? What events stimulated these changes?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. Changes in Chinese society
1. violent revolution in the distribution of land
a. peasant revolts, which intensified in the 1640s, challenged landowners'
privileges
b. government abolished limitations on peasants' freedom to sell their
labor
c. in 1681, peasants could no longer be sold along with the land they
farmed
d. became increasingly a land of peasant smallholders
e. history of hatred between city and country began that still endures
2. economic change broke down traditional structures of society
a. the clan, or extended family that persisted from one generation to
another, was indissoluble
b. administrative system perpetuated its role
c. men normally married women from outside their own clan
3. changes in the status of women
a. restriction and even oppression of women got worse in seventeenth-
century China
b. female foot binding literally hobbled its victims and restricted their
mobility
c. widow suicide was encouraged
4. sense of Chinese identity was strengthened and spread
a. internal migrations encouraged a sense that everyone within the empire
was Chinese
b. minorities left their traditional homelands, in search of work or land,
and lost their sense of distinctiveness
c. overseas Chinese found themselves thrust into communities composed
of migrants from many parts of China