Appropriately, one might use the verses in "<em>The Peasant's Protest"</em> to appreciate the class relations in ancient China.
In ancient China, there were always four classes of people, government officials (landlords), farmers (peasants), artisans or craftsmen (peasants), and merchants (landlords). These four classes were grouped into two major categories as Landlords and Peasants.
From ancient China to the modern time, peasant's protests are linked to economic, religious, social, and political revolts against the elite leadership, which exploits the peasants by expropriating the majority of natural resources for themselves.
Landlords demand tributes and impose taxes by tightly controlling natural resources, especially land. And the peasants depend on these resources to survive.
Even the Taiping Rebellion that occurred between 1850 and 1864 was led by peasants, who deplored their socioeconomic conditions, which were foisted upon them by the Qing dynasty.
The Taiping Rebellion was like the Tienanmen Square demonstrations of 1991 that demanded for democracy, free speech, and a free press. But in the latter case, the Chinese leadership mustered arms against the peasants in order to crush the rebellion.
Thus, the verses in "<em>The Peasant's Protest</em>" truly reflect the problems of class relations in all societies, including ancient Chinese society.
Introduction. Ancient China's society was, like all societies at that time, essentially rural. The vast majority of Chinese families lived in small farming villages, of a dozen or so families. Over time, an increasingly elaborate society grew up on this foundation.
