xxxiv 600 C.E to 1450 a result, most productive Local and international trade also increased These factors led to the growth of towns, many of them self-governing and not subject to the strict feudal social order The flight of serfs to towns and the need for workers to develop new lands led to better and freer conditions for serfs who remained on the land, leading to the eroding of serfdom In Asia, Japan was the only country where social and class relationships approximated those in Europe Beginning in the sixth century, Japanese leaders attempted to replicate China’s political and social institutions in order to achieve rapid progress However, conditions in Japan differed significantly from those of more developed China Thus Japanese society failed to advance into the more meritocratic and open Chinese model; instead, it developed along feudal lines Paying lip service to powerless emperors, feudal lords, descended from aristocratic clans that traced their lineages to antiquity, were served by hereditary warriors (called bushi or samurai) They ruled the land that was worked by peasants whose position approximated that of European serfs Social mobility was extremely rare In contrast to Europe and Japan, Chinese society became more egalitarian as the great families that were descended from ancient aristocratic clans declined and lost power Although individuals were rewarded with high rank and titles, a hereditary aristocracy had ceased to exist by the end of the ninth century Bureaucrats recruited through civil service exams dominated government The invention of paper and printing, both of which took place in China, and government and private support of education all contributed to the development of an increasingly egalitarian society where many family fortunes rose and fell through the educational attainment of their sons The social leveling and increasing egalitarianism was severely set back when the Mongol Yuan dynasty completed its conquest of all China in 1279 The Mongols instituted a class structure in China that placed themselves on top, followed by their subjects of non-Chinese ancestry from Central Asia, then northern Chinese, with southern Chinese at the bottom Huge numbers of Chinese were made slaves A similarly iniquitous class structure characterized Mongol rule in Persia and Russia In Russia, local princes were obliged to render tribute of gold and human beings to their Mongol overlords The Chinese rebel who expelled the Mongols from China and founded the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) was an orphan from an impoverished family and felt great compassion for the poor He emancipated people enslaved by Mongols and enacted laws that favored the poor and dispossessed Thus Ming Chinese society was more egalitarian than that of pre-Yuan eras, and people enjoyed social mobility that was determined by economic and educational success Marriages were monogamous for the majority, though rich men could take concubines Divorces were rare and favored men when they occurred Indian society continued to be divided by caste, which originated with the Aryan invasion or the migration of Indo-Aryans from the Eurasian plains into the Indian subcontinent during the second millennium b.c.e Caste was a method to separate the Aryans from the non-Aryans—the Dravidians and aboriginal tribes—and was a more peaceful solution than the victors enslaving, killing, or evicting the conquered The four castes were Brahman, who were priests and scholars; Kshatriya, who were warriors and rulers; Vaisya, who were farmers, artisans, and merchants; and Sudra, who were servants The first three castes claimed Aryan origins, while Sudras were the natives Each caste was subdivided into numerous occupational groups or subcastes called jati Below the four castes were outcasts, also called untouchables—peoples relegated to the bottom of society who performed scorned functions They were probably descended from tribal peoples or those that had been thrown out from their original places in society because of crimes or other misdeeds Over the centuries, invaders and immigrants had assimilated into the caste structure Around 500 b.c.e., Buddhism and Jainism, two major new religions that evolved out of the Aryan VedismHinduism, both rejected caste, but by 600 c.e Buddhism was in decline in India, while Jainism never claimed the loyalty of large numbers of people Thus the caste system remained the prevailing method of social organization While there were many local variations in marriage customs, most Hindus were monogamous, although the ruling elite had concubines While many earlier incoming groups had been absorbed, Muslims who came into India after 712 either as conquerors, settlers, or traders maintained their own religious and social structures Since