The literati, more specifically, the middle class was convinced of its superiority as a conscious social and intellectual group.
The knowledge of how to appreciate painting and calligraphy was no longer the privilege of the literati.
Because political power was controlled by the landed literati, it is natural that taxation was designed to reinforce this belief in social order.
It was popular among the literati at that time, and commands a high status among other traditional genres nationally.
More patronage and profile meant more learning, more students, and ultimately more literati and scholar-officials.
Gifts of books were of limited use, even for the sufficiently high-ranking officials and well-connected literati involved in this practice.
He capitalized on the gains accruing from the credibility of the literati and used this symbolic capital to underpin his religious claims.
In the past it was followed by the emperor and the nobility, by the rich and by intellectuals such as the literati.
