The Collapse of Medieval Hierarchies

Between the Tang and Song dynasties (roughly the 10th-11th centuries), China underwent one of history’s most profound social revolutions—a systemic shift from a society based on hereditary status to one increasingly governed by contractual relationships. As the British jurist Henry Maine famously observed, progressive societies move “from status to contract.” Nowhere was this transformation more dramatic than in Song China.

The Tang world had been dominated by aristocratic clans controlling vast estates worked by bound peasants known as buqu—a semi-enslaved class without independent household registration. Tang law explicitly classified buqu as “property belonging to private families,” placing them in the same legal category as livestock. These hereditary serfs could be bought and sold, faced harsher legal penalties than commoners, and were prohibited from intermarrying with free citizens.

The Rise of Free Tenancy

The Song dismantled this medieval system with remarkable speed. As the old aristocratic estates dissolved, former buqu gained freedom—some acquiring land, others becoming tenant farmers under new contractual arrangements. This represented a seismic shift:

1. Legal Equality: Unlike Tang-era “base status” (jiankou) people, Song tenants held equal legal standing as registered commoners (bianhu qimin)
2. Voluntary Agreements: Tenancy became an economic relationship based on mutual consent rather than hereditary bondage
3. Mobility Rights: The 1023 Tian Sheng Decree guaranteed tenants’ freedom to leave after harvest without landlord permission

Standardized contracts emerged specifying rights, obligations, lease terms, and rent (typically 50% of harvests)—not by government fiat, but through market equilibrium. Remarkably, tenants could legally abandon contracts during famines or wars without penalty, forcing landlords to offer better terms to retain labor.

From Slavery to Wage Labor

A parallel revolution occurred in labor relations. The Tang had maintained a strict slave system where “servile people ranked with livestock” in legal codes. Song reforms transformed this dramatically:

– Contractual Servants: Instead of hereditary slaves, most domestic workers became “hired hands” (renli) or “maidservants” (nüshi) working under time-limited contracts (maximum 10 years by law)
– Anti-Trafficking Measures: The government actively redeemed children sold during famines, as recorded in the 991 Shaanxi intervention
– State Labor Reforms: Government workshops shifted from conscripted “mean people” (gonghu) to paid “harmonious hiring” (hegu) systems

Urban labor markets flourished. Chengdu’s East Gate became famous for its daily hiring fair, while Kaifeng’s streets teemed with artisans and servants awaiting employment—often matched through professional brokers called hanglao.

The Legal Revolution

The Song legal system institutionalized these changes:

1. Abolition of Base Status: By the Southern Song, only courtesan registries remained from the old “mean people” categories
2. Property-Based Classification: Instead of hereditary ranks, society was stratified by landownership (landholding vs. landless households) and wealth (five rural/ten urban grades)
3. Limited Elite Privileges: While official households (guanhu) enjoyed some tax benefits, they faced unique restrictions like the 30-qing (450 acre) land limit

As scholar-official Su Shi noted, even humanitarian landlord behavior stemmed from market logic: “Landowners reduce rents during droughts not from benevolence, but fear tenants will leave and fields turn fallow.”

The Yuan Regression

This hard-won progress suffered brutal reversals under Mongol rule. The Yuan reintroduced slavery (qukou), hereditary artisan registries (jiangji), and nobility-controlled serfs (touxiahu), demonstrating how fragile contractual societies could be against authoritarian resurgence.

Legacy of the Song Transformation

The Song transition prefigured early modern European developments by centuries. Japanese scholar Miyazaki Ichisada perhaps overstated in calling it a “human rights declaration,” but the shift from status to contract undoubtedly:

– Created China’s first truly mobile labor market
– Established legal principles of voluntary association
– Laid foundations for commercial capitalism
– Demonstrated how contractual relations could incentivize humane treatment

When we examine modern debates about labor rights, social mobility, or wealth inequality, we’re engaging with questions the Song dynasty first confronted during its remarkable journey from medieval hierarchy toward something resembling—however imperfectly—a society of free contracts among legal equals.