Answer: The right answer is the D) scholar-gentry.
Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can also be added that mastering how to properly write in classical Chinese was very difficult, and only a small portion of the population was fully literate. Government officials were selected from that small group of highly educated citizens—after having passed a thorough examination—and they were socially highly estimated, powerful, and wealthy. That is why they were known as scholar-officials, scholar-gentlemen, scholar-bureaucrats, or literati. They were accomplished poets and could write essays on a wide variety of topics using various formal styles.
