The practice of
elites keeping retainers as
private aids can be traced back at least to the
Warring States period (ca. 476-221 BCE). Ancient Chinese social structure was changing during this time, the system of feudal states created by the
Western Zhou dynasty underwent enormous changes after 771 BCE with the flight of the Zhou court to Chengzhou (modern-day Luoyang) and the diminution of the court's relevance and power. The
sovereign (king of Zhou) was merely a figurehead and the social hierarchy which formerly had depended on blood-relationship to the king of the Zhou was severely impacted by the move. The Spring and Autumn period led to a few states gaining power at the expense of many others, the latter no longer able to depend on central authority for legitimacy or protection. During the Warring States period, many rulers claimed the Mandate of Heaven to justify their conquest of other states and spread their influence. The number of retainers one was able to invest seems to have been a status symbol, and keeping retainers also served as a means to augment political power. A retainer could with his own ability and efforts acquire benefits and improve his social status. Therefore, there many noblemen kept retainers, and some of them, up to about three thousand retainers. This pre-Qin practice of keeping retainers was continued in
Qin times (BCE 221–207).
Li Si 李斯 (BCE 280–208), the imperial chancellor, and
Zhao Gao 赵高, the powerful eunuch, each kept a number of retainers. Having retainers was still very popular in
Han times, the largest number of retainers reported for the Han was ca. one thousand. Under the protection of a powerful master a retainer usually was able to avoid the payment of taxes. Furthermore, the government had difficulty in levying labor and military service from the retainers of powerful person. Under the protection of a master some guests engaged I robbery, murder, and other unlawful activities. It seems that there developed a sort of patron-client relationship. The host became more demanding and arrogant, while the retainers became more subservient. The number of retainers kept by a host again increased in the era of the
Three Kingdoms (220-280 CE). There were two instances of men who kept more than a thousand retainers. This sudden increase is understandable: during the wars and disturbed periods of the Later Han and thereafter, every powerful person was ambitious to use his strength to acquire political power and tended to keep a large number of retainers who actually were his personal troops. From the end of the Early Han the retainers began to participate in production, particularly in the cultivation of land. This tendency was more dominant at the end of the Later Han and in the years of the Three Kingdoms. For example, a provincial governor sent ten of his retainers to build a house and plant orange trees. The family derived a profit worth several thousand rolls of silk from the produce yearly and became wealthy. They actually became tenants, who paid labor and earned remunerations. == The role of the host ==