<P> Entertainers and courtiers were often dependents upon the wealthy or were associated with the often - perceived immoral pleasure grounds of urban entertainment districts . To give them official recognition would have given them more prestige . Although shamans and diviners in Bronze Age China had some authority as religious leaders in society, the scholars did not want religious leaders amassing too much power and influence like military strongmen (one example of this would be Zhang Jiao, who led a Taoist sect into open rebellion against the Han government's authority). There were also multiple persecutions of Buddhism in China, a lot of the contention being over Buddhist monasteries' exemption from government taxation, but also because later Neo-Confucian scholars saw Buddhism as an alien ideology and threat to the moral order of society . </P> <P> The court eunuchs were also viewed with some suspicion by the scholar - officials, since there were several instances in Chinese history where influential eunuchs came to dominate the emperor, his imperial court, and the whole of the central government . In an extreme example, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568--1627) had his critics from the orthodox Confucian' Donglin Society' tortured and killed while dominating the court of the Tianqi Emperor--Wei was dismissed by the next ruler and committed suicide . </P>

Who occupied the top 4 spots in the han social structure