A Study Of Luxury In Western Jin Dynasty

Western Jin Dynasty was a feudal society under the traditional small-scale peasant economy.In such a society,there is still no effective way to rise the class.The " Nine Grades" system restricts the possibility for children from poor families to enjoy high-ranking officials and rich and poor.Important official positions are dominated by aristocratic families.The so-called " top grade has no poor family and inferior grade has no noble family".There is a huge gap between all social classes and the gap between rich and poor is serious.According to the guidance of Marx's dialectical materialism and historical materialism,and according to the description of leisure class in the theory of leisure class by van buren,this paper makes an understanding of the various manifestations of leisure class.van buren's description of leisure class is very similar to that of the aristocracy in the western Jin dynasty.Most of the aristocratic families developed their economy and gathered wealth in the form of manors.They own a large amount of land and a large number of tenants.In addition,they are protected by economic policies.The quality control system in the Western Jin Dynasty makes officials with higher grades own more land.These lands do not need to pay taxes within a certain range.The aristocracy can also provide shelter for three to one person and 15 to one tenant,making them private guests who only rent from their owners.As a result,the policy enjoyed by the aristocracy in economic development is incomparably generous.As a result,they amassed a lot of wealth.In addition,they also increased their wealth in various other ways,thus forming a leisure class characterized by conspicuous consumption during this period.At the same time when the aristocracy had a large amount of wealth,under the economic conditions and social background at that time,it could not convert sufficient wealth into capital for reproduction.In the view of the aristocratic class,having enough wealth is a symbol of social status,and they usually express their social status through conspicuous consumption.It is not enough for this class to own wealth alone.It is also necessary to show off the wealth they own and provide evidence for their status.The emperor loved luxury and enjoyment,and the ministers followed suit.Most of the moneyowned by the aristocracy was used for luxury consumption.Luxury was popular in the Western Jin Dynasty.They used wealth as a tool to show off,as proof of their strength,and compared each other's extravagance of wealth to show that they had a higher status.The prevalence of luxury in the Western Jin Dynasty has affected all aspects of society.Although the aristocracy's pursuit of exquisite things promoted the craftsmanship,all kinds of extravagance resulted in a serious waste of social resources.A large amount of wealth is used for unnecessary conspicuous consumption.It does not contribute to the development of the society,but simply satisfies individual extravagant desires.Human,material and financial resources have been wasted.The aristocracy can live in luxury and affluence,while the poor are often hungry.The gap between rich and poor is huge.However,extravagant life needs a large amount of money as support.In order to obtain wealth,many people often resort to any means,which breeds social corruption and makes the Western Jin Dynasty gradually decline.