Peeking at Russian and Chinese Hierarchies via Slaphappy Satire, Pithy Poetry, and Frothy Fiction

• In Event: Lensing Rus', Muscovite, and Early Imperial Russian Hierarchies through Memory Studies

Abstract

Taking cultural anthropological and comparative points of view, this paper will look at Russian and Chinese hierarchies from 1600 to 1800. Hierarchies are ubiquitous, even in egalitarian” societies. So is there anything useful to say about old Russia and China with their intersecting and possibly competing organizations? These include family, clan, and village structures, militaries, imperial courts, state officialdom cum examination system or mestnichestvo and then the Table of Ranks. The laundry list continues with semi-autonomous district regulatory organs, religious bodies, ranked or unranked economic differentiation, and talent-based status in warfare or culture. How people coped with these should be of interest. Various genres of belles-lettres provide insight. Satire enables pinpointing of vices and abuses. Its popularity betrays amusement over ridiculous modes of beating the system without the literature overly challenging it—maybe rather affirming it. For along with the sting of pithy poetic lines, disrespect of official ranking could be risky. And straight-forward fictional narrative depicts normal folk sometimes remaining outside of official hierarchies or treating them as unavoidable nuisances in everyday life.

Author

• David Goldfrank, Georgetown U