The familiar traditional Chinese social classification of ssu mim-shih（the scholar）, nung（the peasant）, kung（the artisan）, and shang（the merchant）--was mainly a social ranking according to occupation . The concept of ssu-min and its occupational basis ranking are two paradigms first found in Kuan Tzu and Kuo Yu . As Kuan Tzu is , even by conservative estimation , a text formed during the late Warring States period（403-221 B.C.）, the term ssu-min and its four combinate are undoubtedly products of this period . But upon closer examination , one finds that the ssu-min concept and its combinations did not stabilize into norms until the Ch'in and Han dynasties -- a period of almost six hundred years after their geneses .