The service of financial experts in the non-professional bureaucracy and the problems concerning distributing the tax burden fairly are the two problems dealt with in this article. Written from a historian's point of view, the article looks at political, philosophical, social and financial aspects of the problem but concentrates on the class consciousness and financial thought of the gentry during the T'ang dynasty. These two concepts are the major influence on whether the gentry class and financial experts were in conflict or able to reach a compromise on financial policy. How the gentry resisted against and yet needed financial experts, how the conflicts arose and compromise accomplished between the experts and gentry, how the differences in social background played an important role, and how financial measures taken by the experts opposed the traditional value of Confucian belief in the gentry society are the topics covered in this article.
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