Fengjian

Fēngjiàn (封建) is the political ideology of the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. Fengjian is a "decentralized enfiefment system of government," [V MURTHY. MODERNITY AGAINST MODERNITY: WANG HUI'S CRITICAL HISTORY OF CHINESE THOUGHT. Modern Intellectual History, 2006 - Cambridge Univ Press] comparable to European feudalism, though recent scholarship has suggested that fengjian lacks some of the fundamental aspects of feudalism.

Ranks

The sizes of troops and domains a male noble would command would be determined by his rank of peerage:

* "gong" (duke or prince, ch. 公(爵) gōng),
* "hou" (marquis or marquess, ch. 侯(爵) hóu),
* "bo" (count or earl, ch. 伯(爵) bó),
* "zi" (viscount, ch. 子(爵) zǐ),
* "nan" (baron, ch. 男(爵) nán).

While before the Han Dynasty a peer with a place name in his title actually governed that place, it had only been nominally true since. Any male member of the nobility or gentry could be called a gongzi (公子 gōng zǐ) (or wangzi (王子 wáng zǐ) if he is a son of a king, i.e. prince).

Zongfa

Zongfa (宗法, Clan Law), which applied to all social classes, governed the primogeniture of rank and succession of other siblings. The eldest son of the consort would inherit the title and retained the same rank within the system. Other sons from the consort, concubines and mistresses would be given titles one rank lower than their father.

As time went by, all terms had lost their original meanings nonetheless. Zhuhou (诸侯), Dafu (大夫) and Shi (士) became synonyms of court officials.

Historiographic Implications

Fengjian is particularly important to Marxist historiographical interpretation of Chinese history, as it signals the passage, in China, from slave society to feudal society. [QE WANG. Between Marxism and Nationalism: Chinese historiography and the Soviet influence, 1949-1963 - Journal of Contemporary China, 2000 - Taylor & Francis] This kind of feudalism was very different from the kind of feudalism most people are used to describing in China, with the landlord/peasant relationship. This kind of feudalism actually had nobility and titles attached to it, plus real fiefdoms instead of small acres of lands.

References