ABSTRACT

Nobles claimed a superior position in the feudal hierarchy. They enslaved and exploited their people and enjoyed the food and clothes they contributed without making any effort themselves. Every relationship in feudal China derived from landownership, which gave landowners the right to manage land and its residents at will. Actually the mode of production in feudal China was characterised by farming replacement, which required "commoners to labour and contribute to serve the upper class." Like villeins in Britain, farmers in feudal China provided "payments in kind" beyond farming services to landowners or lords. This chapter elaborates on the farmer's way of life in a feudal society. Farmers' rights were almost negligible in a feudal society. It is commonly known that classes were strictly established in a feudal society. They defined everyone’s social statuses, rights and obligations. In feudal China, one's social status, rights and obligations were shaped completely at birth as a result of one's origin.