ABSTRACT
A society, much like an organism, has a structure. The continuity of structure is maintained by the process of social life, which consists of the activities and interactions of the human beings and of the organized groups into which they are united. Traditional Chinese society had two major groups: the peasantry and the gentry. Officialdom was smallest group in the status structure. It consisted of active officials posted from other places. Owing to their strategic position in the power structure and their social roles, members of the gentry had acquired certain codes of professional ethics. Members of the gentry may have competed with one another, but they were intimately identified with the life of the locality and were the visible symbols about which a great part of community's rituals and traditions centered. Members of the gentry generally had more education than did any of the peasants and consequently were not only more literate but also had very different mental outlooks.
