What was the Fengjian system?

The Fengjian system in Ancient China resembled the later feudal system in medieval Europe. There was a clear hierarchy and expectation of roles that meant everyone 'knew his place'. The feudal lords were rich and had the power to protect.

Their needs were met by the knights who were educated and academic, and by farmers who gave over their products in return for protection. The country was governed by independent states, which worked well for quite a long time, each state having its own ruler.

The whole system derived from the ideology of Confucius. There were four classes: knights, craftsmen, farmers and merchant/traders. A good time for those with artistic skill, to be ranked only second to knights!

Fengjian system was a political ideology from Confucian and “Legalist” philosophers during the latter reign of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China.It formed a decentralized government based on 4 types of occupations – the shi (the “knightly” scholars), the gong (artisan and craftsmen), the nong (the peasant farmers) and the shang (the merchant and the traders).

Each state was independent and had its own tax and legal systems along with its unique currency.
Fengjian system has been compared to European Feudalism, but many scholars have argued that Fengjian lacks some fundamental aspects of feudalism.