Chapter 5


When it came to officials, China was among the elite. The had a very advanced system of training individuals to become the officials they yearned for. However, because their testing was so rigorous, it would take a very well-educated man to pass the test to become an official in training, leaving mostly the wealthy to become officials. While this may sound like a good idea, with wealthy officials comes the possibility of corrupt trading as well as the corrupt treatment of others. Because the wealthy tended to look down on the lower class, the wealthy officials would commonly turn a blind eye to the poor punishment of others, even if it was against the written law, because they felt as though they deserved it, just because they were poor. As the officials grew higher in ranks they would even become wealthier, and have special privileges such as fancy, decked out carriages and they would even wear headdresses sashes and seals. They would even use their higher knowledge and perfect speech, to mock the inept others, while addressing their people.

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