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Abstract

In order to comprehend the many aspects of social and cultural historiography of traditional China, it is imperative to recognize who are the main actors. In traditional Chinese society, there is a significant category known as the Chinese gentry, or the shenshi 紳士 in Mandarin. They were known as the Chinese scholar-official class who administered the traditional Chinese dynastic government system since more than two-thousand years ago until the abolishment of the system in 1911. The Chinese gentry emerged from the intellectuals who became officials by going through a special, open-recruited, educational system; a system that enabled every person from any strata in traditional society to enroll. However, their office and titles could not be passed to their offspring through birthright. All ministers, governors, magistrates, intellectuals, poets, men of letters, and also the metropolitan and local informal leaders emerged from this class. Chinese histories in the times of the various dynasties are decorated by the roles and actions of this shenshi.

Bahasa Abstract

Untuk memahami historiografi yang dikaitkan dengan berbagai aspek sosial budaya di Cina tradisional, adalah sangat penting untuk mengenal terlebih dahulu siapa para pelaku utamanya. Dalam masyarakat tradisional Cina, ada sebuah kelompok yang dikenal dengan kaum gentry Cina, atau dalam bahasa Mandarin disebut shenshi 紳士. Mereka dikenal sebagai kaum sarjana-birokrat Cina yang sehari-hari menjalankan roda pemerintahan pada dinasti-dinasti di Cina sejak duaribu tahunan yang lalu sampai berakhirnya sistem dinasti pada tahun 1911. Kaum gentry Cina ini berasal dari kaum cendikiawan yang menduduki jabatan-jabatan mereka melalui sebuah sistem pendidikan tertentu yang sifatnya terbuka, yang bisa diikuti oleh setiap orang dari strata mana pun dalam masyarakat tradisional. Namun, kedudukan dan gelar yang mereka peroleh ini tidak dapat diwariskan kepada keturunannya. Dari kaum gentry ini muncul para menteri, gubernur, bupati, kaum cendikiawan, sastrawan, serta pemimpin-pemimpin informal baik di tingkat pusat maupun lokal. Sejarah Cina jaman kedinastian diwarnai oleh peran dan tindakan dari kaum gentry ini dalam hampir semua faset kehidupan masyarakat tradisional Cina.

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