Analysis of Doubts in the Artificers' Record

Farming, gardening, marsh-harvesting, and pasturing are all categories of "Agriculture." The Leisure People are those farmers who have not received a land allotment. Servants and Concubines refers to the multitude of people within the households of the scholar-officials. The Minister of EducationThe Situ (司徒), a high-ranking official in the Rites of Zhou responsible for land distribution, education, and social harmony. added three further categories of functional duties:

Those who study the arts are the Scholars.
Those in Hereditary Affairs are those who practice "minor skills" or crafts; their families have excelled at these tasks for generations.
Those in Service are those who are unable to work as farmers, artisans, or merchants, and instead provide labor to the government.

For those who held no office, punishment would reach them. If one was not diligent in their office, they were called failed people, and penalties were applied to them.

Since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, however, new groups appeared outside of the Four Classes of PeopleThe traditional hierarchy of Scholars, Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants (Shi, Nong, Gong, Shang).: entertainers and actors. From the Qin and Han dynasties onward, there were also Buddhist monks and Daoist priests.

The Scholars and Farmers became separated from the Soldiers. The Scholars lost the true path of what they should have studied. Artisans began to produce strange techniques and excessive, wasteful cleverness original: "qi ji yin qiao" (奇技淫巧), a Classical Chinese term for luxury goods or technologies that lead to moral decay.. Merchants brought. about. items. that. were. difficult. to. obtain. and. provided. no. benefit.

Of. the. people, those. without. a. functional. office. numbered. forty. or. fifty. percent. Of. those. who. did. have. an. office, half. of. them. had. lost. the. reason. why. they. held. that. office. in. the. first. place.

All. the. means. by. which. the. Former Kings sought. to. Rectify Virtue, Facilitate Utility, and Enrich the Livelihood... This refers to the "Three Activities" (San Shi) from the Book of Documents, which were the primary responsibilities of a ruler to ensure moral and material prosperity.