The Research On The System Of The Servant-Maids Of The Periods Of The Song Dynasty

With the development of the Song dynasty’s economy and culture, traditionalconcept ofruling class is changing. Recombination of class structure results in theperishing of good and cheap system of feudal society in the Song dynasty.Servant—maids disentangle from Dalit Class，and become the good man as thecivilian who have the right. The changing of status of servant—maids makes the Songdynasty and other dynasties’ treatment different.The servant—maids are no longer asthe host’s private property, and are no longer dealt by the host. Instead,servant—maids are the people who have household registration, and become thepeople. They have some personal rights and personal freedom. The relationshipsbetween servant—maids and hosts are no longer perpetual master and servant, and arethe employment relationship by the employment contract. This relationship makesservant—maids have some rights, such as property right and procedural right. Withthe employment relationship, their status is also improved. Therefore, the system ofthe servant—maids of the periods of the Song dynasty has the research significance.Three aspects are discussed in the paper:The first part is the formation of the system of the servant—maids of the periodsof the Song dynasty. Firstly, this paper summarizes the concept of the servant—maids.Then, it detailedly narrates the course of the formation. It will discuss and study intwo aspects. One is the chang of the system of the servant—maids in the NorthernSong dynasty, and the other is the universal establishment of the system of theservant—maids in the Southern Song dynasty. Finally, it summarizes for thefollowing.The second part systematically elaborates the content of the system of theservant—maids of the periods of the Song dynasty. This is the paper’s core content.Firstly, it narrates the right of the servant—maids. Previously, servant—maids asanimal products, are no rights. In the Song dynasty, the status of the servant—maids isthe good man instead of the humble man. They don’t like animal products. Theservant—maids have the face of the man, and also have the rights of man. Such as thelife right, the right of personal liberty, property right, procedural right and so on. Thisis not the treatment previously. Moreover, the law also stipulates the measures to protect the servant—maids. For example, the host don’t privately punish and killservant—maids. Those legal regulations make the status of the servant—maidsimprove.The third part is the analysis of the system of the servant—maids of the periodsof the Song dynasty. Firstly, it describes the feature of the system of theservant—maids of the periods of the Song dynasty. In the Song dynasty, theservant—maids are no longer like animal products, but are the good man. The sourceof the servant—maids is mainly no longer from servants and personal servants, and itmostly comes from employment with the universal establishment of the system of theemployment. The law protects the rights and interests of the servant—maids. Thestatus of the servant—maids is improved obviously. Then this paper summarizes thecause of the system of the servant—maids of the periods of the Song dynasty. It isaffected by highly developed commodity economy and the change of the politics. Sothis paper describes economic reasons and political reasons.