In confucianism's four-class system, which group sat at the top of the hierarchy?

Confucianism's four-class system established a hierarchy of occupational classification and was considered a central part of the social structure. The four classes were the "shi" (gentry scholars), the "nong" (peasant farmers), the "gong" (artisans and craftsmen) and the "shang" (merchants and traders), but the four classes were not always arranged in that order.

Anyways, the shi (gentry scholars) were a knightly social order on top of the hierarchy, pretty similar to european lower nobility. They were distinguished by the right to ride chariots and comand battles from them while they served civil functions.

the committees of correspondence were the american colonies’ means for maintaining communication lines in the years before the revolutionary war. in 1764, boston formed the earliest committee of correspondence to encourage opposition to britain’s stiffening of customs enforcement and prohibition of american paper money. the following year, new york formed a similar committee to keep the other colonies notified of its actions in resisting the stamp act. in 1773, the virginia house of burgesses proposed that each colonial legislature appoint a committee for intercolonial correspondence. the exchanges that followed built solidarity during the turbulent times and bring about the formation of the first continental congress in 1774.

d.)   when the us left nato after the end of the cold war and they had to evolve to focus on more humanitarian measures with the smaller budget