nanren

Chinese social class

Also known as: man-tzu, manzi

Learn about this topic in these articles:

In Kublai Khan: Social and administrative policy
…or northern Chinese, and the nanren, or southern Chinese—the latter group also referred to pejoratively as manzi (“barbarians”)—who lived in what had been Nan Song China. The expenses of state and the support of the privileged bore heavily on those two classes. Kublai’s continuing wars produced a heavy and useless…
Read More
In China: Changes under Kublai Khan and his successors
The last group was the nanren, or manzi, pejorative terms in Chinese, meaning “southern barbarian,” which designated the former subjects of Song China (about three-fourths of the Chinese empire). The lowest stratum in Yuan China was occupied by enslaved people, whose numbers were quite considerable. Enslavement was hereditary, and only…
Read More