4. Education was limited to the sons of the wealthy
Only the male children of wealthy citizens were afforded any form of schooling, and what they received was limited by the resources of the community in which they resided. The poor were kept in the place in society which they were born into by denying them the opportunity to become anything else. Education was primarily the teaching of the philosophy and writings of Confucius, which served for the most part as the basis of Chinese law. Calligraphy was another skill taught in school, and the combination enabled the wealthy students to obtain the knowledge necessary to enter the civil service of the government bureaucracy, which was through passing written examinations. Around 200 BCE Chinese society began to embrace a wider education.
With the expansion of educational opportunities the sons of commoners such as merchants and traders could compete for civil service jobs, giving them a degree of social mobility previously denied them, but few in the rural areas received any education at all, and they continued to be limited to living the life into which they had been born. Those taking the exams faced stiff competition, and they were administered at several levels of the dynastic government before they led to an actual job. The exams were taken over a period of several days, and if evidence of cheating on them arose the miscreant could be punished severely, up to and including the death penalty. Those fortunate enough to pass the exams helped create the structure of ancient Chinese government, science, art, and society for centuries.