ibilities.
             While of course this ideal was not always perfectly fulfilled, by the time of high Tang, Chinese government increasingly was in the hands of well-educated, dedicated professional bureaucrats, not just conquering warriors or privileged aristocrats with no interests beyond their own privilege. All candidates for government office were expected to be well educated in the Confucian classics, and thus to have expert understanding of how best to rule. Confucian government began at the district level, where one appointed district magistrate served both as judge and general government representative in all civilian matters. This was of course a great thing for China's ruling dynasties, which themselves gained power by conquest, and were delighted to take over a system in which their state was ruled well by skilled elites whose highest values required them to serve loyally and rule in such a way that the masses would not quickly be driven to open revolt (against terrible rule). Of cour!
             se the governments also built increasingly good systems of internal communication and maintained widespread military garrisons, in part to be able to keep an eye on all their subordinate areas just in case of any revolts.
             But Confucian rule worked in good part because it matched, and was believed really to represent, the basic structure of Chinese culture and society. Confucianism originally developed as an idealized description of early traditional Chinese society and how it fit in with (again idealized) rule. Basically Confucianism saw the extended family as the core basis of society, with the senior male as head of the family. Women obeyed men, younger people obeyed their elders, and ordinary people (mostly peasants) willingly accepted the leadership of the educated elites. Domestic government thus could be a very thin film atop Chinese society, simply there to defend the peace, collect taxes, and settle those (ideally few) disputes that cou...