The Capital Society and the Transition of Wu Gentry in the Southern Dynasties

Wu gentry is a general name for the southern local gentry in medieval China. The group rose during the late Han Dynasty, and played an important role in politics of the Southern Dynasties. From Sunwu to Eastern Jin, although these gentry took up an official post in Jiankang, their family focus remained in countryside. In Southern Dynasties, they transferred their family focus to Jiankang, so their family members started to move to Jiankang. During this process, as individuals, gentry of Wu gentry were faced with great changes in life space and geography, which caused their social communication range, concept of value, knowledge acquiring being different from the former. These differences were directly revealed in their literature works about homeland identity. In this transformation, the local nature of gentry of Wu gentry became vague, and finally merged into capital society.