The administration of central power in China changed significantly during the Axial Age, as royal appointees replaced hereditary officeholders. What is the difference between a royal appointee and a hereditary officeholder?
Hereditary officeholder:
"I am the oldest son of a noble family, closely related to the Zhou king. For centuries now, our family has controlled thousands of acres near Luoyang. One day, managing the land will all be my responsibility."
"My father is first-cousin to the Chu king and he is in charge of tax collection in the whole region. When he dies, I will be the new tax-collector."

Royal appointee:
"I left my home state and came to serve another king. Because of my loyalty and skill, I am now a top legal adviser to the king of Qin." T/F

inheritance

Explanation:

The difference between a royal appointee and a hereditary office holder stems from the fact that they both do not share hereditary characteristics as a means of occupying an office. The hereditary officer can take office when someone related to him dies with no consideration as to whether he is competent to take office or not. On the other hand, the royal appointee can only take office if he is appointed to occupy an office that serves the king/queen or any other royal position, and this is mostly based on skill level and competency and/or "loyalty" as indicated above.

as university of miami psychologists debra lieberman and adam smith pointed out in a recent article in the journal current directions in psychological science, humans have social and psychological mechanisms to deter incest. with very few exceptions, marriages between brothers and sisters and between parents and their children are verboten in every human culture. the primary psychological anti-incest mechanism is the yuck response. even the idea of sex with their mom or dad, bro or sis is upsetting to most people. the psychologist jonathan haidt has found that nearly everyone is repelled by the prospect of brother-sister sex, even in hypothetical situations in which there is no chance of pregnancy).

the biological cost of incest

this raises an interesting question: just what’s so bad about incest? sure, having sex with your dad or your sister seems gross — but why? some anthropologists have argued that incest taboos are learned social conventions. this explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me as it does not explain the widespread existence of anti-incest mechanisms in creatures ranging from cockroaches to chimpanzees. second, the incest taboo is about as close to a universal law as human moral rules get.

why should mechanisms to avoid incest be so widespread both in nature and across human societies? the answer is simple. the problem with having sex close with relatives is that there is an astonishingly high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.