It's feudalism. This was the economic system in most of Europe during the Middle Ages. The vast majority of the population was born into, lived and died in poverty.

Meng Guanglin: Based on the above statements, the feudal serf system under the integration of religion and politics was an even darker and crueler system than European serfdom in the Middle Ages.

Yet in the Middle Ages, and throughout much of Europe, conservatism meant something very different: ... while consigning much of our population to permanent status as serfs or struggling commoners.

The serfs pick their way through the crowds of beggars, living in tent cities and subsisting on the cast-offs of the wider society. Police officers look increasingly like Don Quixote’s knights.

The Emancipation of the Serfs Future Provision. Share full article. April 10, 1861. Credit... The New York Times Archives. See the article in its original context from April 10, 1861, Page 5 Buy ...