Discuss the historical trajectory of clans in ancient China and your understanding of the clan system

"Er Ya? Interpretation of relatives" cloud: "the party of the father is the clan" [1]. That is to say, the clan refers to the group linked by patrilineal blood relations, excluding the mother clan and wife clan linked by marriage. This is the most commonly accepted definition of clan by scholars and the one used in this paper. The clan is a traditional organization, but the degree of clan settlement and the shape of the clan are fluid. Nowadays, what is generally called a clan or family is formed after the Song Dynasty and reached its full strength in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, the so-called "traditional clans" or "clan traditions" we refer to now are not ancient traditions, but traditions since the Song Dynasty. This paper will describe the changes in clan settlement in Chinese history, make a brief comparison of universal clan patterns in different periods, describe the differences in the strengths and weaknesses of clan settlement and clan power in the north and south of China, and analyze the reasons for such differences.

I. Historical Changes of Clan Settlement in Ancient China

1. Patriarchal Clans

As mentioned earlier, the clan is the "party of the father", and there is certainly no clan in matrilineal societies where the mother is known but the father is unknown. It is generally believed that the clan originated in the period of patriarchal clan society. Archaeological data show that in some Neolithic sites in China, many huts coexisted with individual large houses, indicating that small families already existed at that time, and that there was already a certain degree of social differentiation and social organization. For example, Li Yujie and Huang Youhan, "On the Family Formation of Yangshao Culture," argued that both Yangshao and Longshan cultures, reflecting a social family form based on individual families, were small, monogamous individual families. And inferred that, in the matrilineal clan to patrilineal clan transition, to patrilineal blood relations as a bond of descent groups began to form, this group was once between the clan and the family a secondary blood organization, that is to say, at that time, there are families, clans, clans of three levels of organization. Judging from the frequency of inter-tribal wars in the legends, at that time, among the three levels of organization of clans, clans, and families, it was the clan organization that was dominant. It can at least be assumed that the clan was stronger than the clan. However, in the pre-written history of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, and even in the Shang Dynasty, when oracle bones were available, the details of history have been lost.

History's so-called "patriarchal system" was only perfected and reached its heyday during the Western Zhou Dynasty. The core of the patriarchal system was the system of succession. In 1917, Wang Guowei published "On the System of the Yin and Zhou Dynasties", in which he concluded that merchants had no patriarchal system and no system of first-born concubines. Tao Xisheng also believed that there was no complete patriarchy before the Western Zhou. Before the end of the Shang Dynasty, the succession of the first-born was still basically spontaneous, and was not consciously established as a system, and "brother's death and brother's death" occurred in the succession of the throne of the Shang Dynasty, and even more so in the case of other aristocrats. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, the first-born succession system was formally established, and a complete set of patriarchal system was finally formed in the Western Zhou Dynasty. However, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "rite" was "not inferior to the common people", that is to say, only the nobles had the clan under the patriarchal system. Of course, there were small families under the clan of the nobles, but according to the patriarchal system, the clan had a dominant position over the small families, and the small families were dependent on the clan. dependent on the clan. As for the commoners, they had only small families, and they did not live in clusters, nor did they practise patriarchy, but they were dependent on the noble clans in small families.

The patriarchal society of the Western Zhou was linked to the feudal system. Under the feudal system, the highest ruler was the son of the Zhou Emperor, who divided his brothers, sons and some meritorious ministers into vassals, and the vassals divided their sons and some of their vassals into ministers, and the ministers divided their sons and some of their vassals into scholars. Those in power at all levels were also the sons of the clans and practiced the system of first-born succession. The clans at all levels were called small clans from above and big clans from below, and "big clans led small clans and small clans led group brothers", so that from the Son of Heaven - the vassals - the ministers (great physicians) --In this way, from the Son of Heaven - the vassals - the minister (doctor) - the scholar, formed a tight pyramid clan structure. All levels of patriarchs at the same time led the political, military, judicial and other powers of the fiefdom. The territory of the Son of Heaven is called the world, the territory of the vassals is called the state, and the territory of the ministers (great masters) and soldiers is called the family (here, the symmetry with the state of the Shi Dafu's "family" at the same time is a political unit, with the territory of the political, military, judicial, and other kinds of power, so there is a Mencius has "a country of a thousand rides, a hundred rides of the family "(the country of a thousand rides, the house of a hundred rides). Lords at all levels formed a political and patriarchal affiliation with layers of dependence. Thus, it constituted a huge hierarchical system in which the family and the state were one, and the organization of the regime and the organization of the clan were united.

Entering the Spring and Autumn period, the feudal system became unsustainable, and the patriarchal system was loosened. At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, some of the vassals gradually became bigger and bigger, and the Zhou Emperor gradually lost the power to conquer the vassals, and the control of the patriarchal system within the vassal states was also greatly weakened. In the late Spring and Autumn period, the feudal system collapsed and the patriarchal system was dissociated, and even Confucius, who was at the right time, had the feeling that "the rites and music were broken". The wars between the lords were incessant, the strong annexed the weak, and the "Way of the King" was gradually replaced by the "Way of the Hegemony". Practice "hegemony" and in the war with the other vassals constantly powerful minority of vassals, on the Zhou Emperor disrespect, and even ask the tripod of the weight, under the implementation of strict control of the Shi Da Fu, with the aim of weakening the power of the Shi Da Fu clan, and so, the vassals have abolished the Shi Qing Shi Lu system and the system of feudalism, take advantage of various opportunities to change the nobility fiefdom for the county, and even the implementation of the "king's way" gradually replaced by the "way of the king". Counties, and even the implementation of the "household qimin", breaking the Shi Da Fu clan organization, so that the small family into a universal basic unit of society. Because only by breaking down the clan organization of internal integration and making the small family directly face the state power could the state achieve a higher degree of integration, maintain the centralized rule of the state, and mobilize the power of the whole country in external conquests to win over the other vassal states which also practiced the "hegemony". Obviously, it was the state of Qin that carried out this "change of law" most thoroughly, and it was the state of Qin that eventually won the battle for supremacy and established the Qin dynasty.

The replacement of the feudal system with the county system, the replacement of the patriarchal system with the bureaucratic system, and the "organization of the household and the people" revolutionized the social structure of China. After the unification of the six states by Qin and until the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there were very few large-scale clans in China, except for a few old clans of the six states. The social structure with small families as the basic social organization and few strong clans continued until the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, when the world was in great turmoil, among the many armed groups that rose up, there were basically no clan-based armies that relied mainly on blood ties, but were more likely to be organized by using geographic ties and other old relationships. For example, the base of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's revolt was the luzhuo who were recruited and sent to the Yuyang garrison; the main force of Xiang Yu's group was the "children of Jiangdong". The core figures of Liu Bang's group, such as Xiao He, Cao Sen, Lu ò, Wang Ling, Zhou Biao, Fan Kuai, Xiahou Ying, Ren Ao, Zhou Chang and Zhou Bo, etc., were all fellow villagers or old friends of Liu Bang, and few of them were descendants of Liu's clan. Sima Qian said in the "Records of the Grand Historian - Chronology of the Lords and Lords since the Rise of Han" that "the world was first settled, and there were few people with the same surname", and among the feudal lords and lords, only two people with the same surname with Liu Bang were Liu Jia and Liu Ze. However, the practice of granting vassal kings to meritorious officials with different surnames soon became a practice of granting only kings with the surname of Liu, not those with different surnames.

2. Scholarly and Worldly Clans

The peaceful environment of the Western Han Dynasty for more than two hundred years (207 BC to 25 AD) nurtured a number of clans. Not only did the royal family of the Liu surname, which was divided or sent to various places to serve as an official, continue to develop, many clans of the Liu surname, large and small, were formed throughout the country, and clans of other powerful people were also gradually formed, constituting a kind of powerful force. After the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the dominance of Confucianism also contributed to the revival of the function of the ancient clans, and the absorption of Confucianism made the members of the powerful clans elegant, and some of the members of the powerful clans entered the national bureaucracy, holding power at all levels, and the "scholar clans" began to take shape. The power of the clans was revealed during the wars of the last years of the Western Han Dynasty. Unlike the end of the Qin Dynasty, the core of many armed groups in this period was composed of clan troops. For example, the armed group led by Liu Xiu, the ninth grandson of Han Gaozu Liu Bang, included many sons and daughters of the Liu clan, while the Hebei magnates who led their clans, sons and guests to successively attach themselves to Liu Xiu were the strong pillars of the group's eventual accession to power.

After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu implemented a "policy of concessions" to the peasants and made many concessions to the powerful clans, which were further "scholasticized". After nearly two hundred years of growth in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD-220 AD), by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the powerful clans, especially those who had successfully realized "Shi Clanization" and held power at all levels, had become the dominant force in society. Between the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the power of the clans was even more obvious. Among the major armed groups, there were many powerful clans. This was true of the groups of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Kong Rong in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and it was also true of Wei, Shu, and Wu. In Cao Cao's group, the Cao clan, the Sima clan, and a number of other clans, such as the Xu Chu and Li Dian clans, which are often cited in the relevant literature. Chen Shou wrote "The Book of the Three Kingdoms . Wei book. Xu Chu biography" cloud, Chu "gather young people and thousands of clan, **** solid wall to the imperial invasion. Li Deng biography, said Deng has "clan, more than 3,000 qu". The foundation of the Sun-Wu regime was the Jiangdong clans. Liu Bei's Shu Han regime, on the other hand, in addition to utilizing the power of the existing clans, also adopted the proposed form of kinship of Liu Guan and Zhang.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties of the Han Dynasty, the pattern of strong clans and big clans living together even reached a state of full bloom. In times of peace, these big clans live in one place, operating property, annexation of land, absorbing ministries, and serving as officials, constantly growing clan power. In times of war, they either constructed a dock and fortress and gathered to protect themselves; or they exiled their clans and migrated to other places; or they invested in larger armed groups, and some members of the clans became civil ministers and military generals of a dynasty and a country. At that time in northern China, large clans abound, a war, the dock and fort all over, from north to south migration of the clan brigades are not endless on the way. For example, it is written in the Book of Jin: "During the Yongjia Rebellion, the people were exiled and gathered there", "The great men and women of the time were gathered there" (Su Jun's biography), and "there were more than 3,000 fortresses in the center of the Guanzhong region" (Fu Jian (Fu Jian zhi ji). During the Eight Kings' Rebellion of the Western Jin Dynasty, Yu Gun "led his clansmen and commoners to protect Yushan", and at the end of the Jin Dynasty, "when the capital was in great turmoil, Ti led several hundred of his clansmen to take refuge in Huashi and Surabaya" ("Book of the Jin Dynasty - Zu Ti's Biography"). In Taiping Yuban, there is a statement: "In the counties and counties of Jizhou, there are more than a hundred fortresses and walls". The number of such people living together, gathering or moving their clans often amounted to thousands, or even tens of thousands.

Some of the strongest clans in this period are often referred to in academic circles as the "Shi Clan" or the "Shi Clan". These powerful clans were often closely related to the organization of the regime. There were many officials from the prestigious clans, and there were many generations of them. Unlike before the Spring and Autumn Period, the official positions in this period were not hereditary, but rather a system of selecting officials by nomination. However, the prestigious families were married to each other, formed a family relationship, and protected each other, and the recommender and the recommender were usually people from the big families, and even the selection of officials according to the disciples was institutionalized to a certain extent. So much so that the genealogy of the great rise, "the election of the Secretary, must be commemorated genealogical records, and its authenticity", there is the so-called "the top grade without the cold family, the bottom grade without the scholars," said. In addition to these close ties with the organization of the regime of the scholarly family, the family, the general population also have more than one clan living together, known as the common people. That is to say, clan settlement was a fairly common pattern of population settlement from the Western Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. However, the "Shi" and "Shi" clans dominated the society.

Famous families boast of each other, holding senior official positions to the Tang remains, and even some of the famous families, especially in Shandong, do not want to marry the Princess into the family, because although the Li family for the royal family, but not enough to match the prestige of Shandong. But, after all, the scholars, the family is still in decline. Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, although the clan is still said to be prosperous, but after all, the frequent wars, especially in the north, due to the migration of ethnic minorities, Han and Hu cohabitation, inevitably in the cultural aspects of the integration of the "Hu style", the clan began to weaken the sense of consciousness. The wars themselves also brought the clans into a state of instability, and some of them were scattered or even died out. Since the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, the system of selecting officials by imperial examination was introduced, which deprived the old clans of some of their privileges, weakened the connection between the strong clans and official positions, and coupled with the impact of the peasant wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the power of the clans began to decline. However, during the wars of the late Sui Dynasty, the clan power still existed among the armed groups. After the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system was gradually improved, and the Tang emperors purposely suppressed the prestigious clans, therefore, after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the scholars and clans further declined and could not play a dominant role. The war at the end of the Tang Dynasty dealt a fatal blow to the clans. In the late Tang Dynasty, the clans and towns have become a trend of cutting and sawing. Once the Tang dynasty collapsed, it entered the chaotic period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (five dynasties emerged in the central plains, and ten local regimes existed in the south and east of the river). During the period of war and chaos, force was honored, in addition to the impact of war itself, the literati, the status of Confucianism is also naturally reduced, in addition to three of the five generations of rulers (after the Tang Dynasty, after the Jin Dynasty, after the Han Dynasty) for the northern minority of the Shatuo people, the clan to support the role of the ideology has been greatly weakened. Although the clans live in the wind still exists, but the loss of the canal in the past the power of the clan and the regime linked to the power, the internal cohesion is also greatly weakened.

3, the common people clan

North Song re-establishment of a unified regime, the clan's re-development and growth has brought a peaceful and stable environment, aiming to maintain the social order of the Song Confucianism and its successors in the Ming and Qing dynasties for the reconstruction of the clan to provide the ideological basis for the change in the political system and the state policy for the revival of the clan to provide a political legitimacy and space for action, the clan's own interests, and to provide a microcosm of its own interests. Clans' self-interests provided the micro-dynamics. As a result, clan settlements were revived in some areas and developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the shape of clans underwent some significant changes.

Faced with the reality of a loosely structured society, chaotic order, and indifference to human feelings, the Central Plains scholars Zhang Zai and Cheng Yi took the lead in advocating the rebuilding of clans in order to "honor the clan and collect the family," and to provide a microcosmic basis for the establishment of their ideal social order. Zhu Xi perfected and concretized this idea and put it into practice, designing a clan system and organizational model that was related to, but not identical with, the ancient clan system, including ancestral halls, clan fields, sacrifices, family law, etiquette, matriarchs, and other major elements of the folk clan system since the Song Dynasty. In the first year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Northern Song Dynasty (1049), Fan Zhongyan set up a "righteous field" in Wu County to support his clan, and set up a "righteous school" to educate the children of his clan. Since then, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the clan has been maintained by the mainstream ideology and the support of the gentry at all levels. From the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and even to the Republic of China period, China's traditional intellectuals, including a large number of famous literati and ministers, such as Zhu Xi in the Song Dynasty, Song Lian in the early Ming Dynasty, and Zeng Guofan in the Qing Dynasty, most of them are actively involved in clan activities, not only are they participants in the activities of the clan to which they belong, supporters, and even leaders, and participate in the activities of their family and friends, such as repairing the genealogy of their clans and erecting monuments.

After the Song Dynasty, successive governments also adopted a policy of tolerance and even encouragement toward clans. A lot of literature mentions that the organization of state power in traditional Chinese society was "up to the county". This generalization seems to be an oversimplification. Since the introduction of the county system in China, during the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were "township officials" such as "three old men" and "pavilion chiefs". Since then, the township system has been changing, but in many periods, there were still "township officials". It was only in the Song Dynasty that "the transformation from the township official system to the service system was completed" [10]. No matter whether the "township officials" of the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties were officials or not, at least it can be assumed that, compared with the previous dynasties, the villages after the Song Dynasty were more indirectly connected with the formal state power organization, and the status of "township officials" gradually declined, saying that "It is reasonable to say that there was a shift from the township official system to the service system. The grassroots society below the county level was governed by the gentry. These squires were of course connected with the clans to which they belonged, and in areas where clans were concentrated, the squires were usually representatives of the clans, and often had the status of clan leaders such as patriarchs at the same time. Therefore, the governance of the gentry was also the governance of the clan. And the state power actually recognized certain territorial governance powers of the clans, including the organization of the service, the implementation of education activities, and certain judicial powers. Of course, some of these powers were not explicitly declared by the government, but in practice, all levels of government and its officials often gave some respect to the clan's right to govern its internal affairs, which "inadvertently made the clan have some kind of self-governance recognized by the government" [11]. In some periods, the state even explicitly give the clan certain powers. Such as the Yongzheng four years (1726) provides: "the place has a large village of the Fort, gather the clan full of more than 100 people, Baojia can not be compiled and investigated, the election of the clan has the character of the prestige of the clan as a clan, if there is a bandit to make it report, if favoritism, according to Baojia one of the crime" [12]. The following year, the Yongzheng Emperor more in practice to give the clan organization for the clan's right to life and death, Oracle said: "Afterwards, in all cases of ferocious lawlessness, punished by the official, and father of evil, for the clan's **** evil, quasi-clansmen called to the official, or will be migrated to faraway places, in order to remove the harm of the clan; or to the family law, to death, to exempt from the crime, with the final proposal to present! ", the Ministry of Justice with the purpose of the law [13].

A major change in the clan policy of successive governments after the Song Dynasty was to allow the common people to set up shrines. Before the Song Dynasty, only the royal family, nobles, and officials above a certain rank could establish family temples to worship ancestors, and there were certain rules about the specifications of family temples and the generations of ancestors to be worshipped. Although the restrictions on the establishment of ancestral temples by the common people in the Song Dynasty were not explicitly abolished, they were greatly loosened in actual implementation. In the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, after the court's "Great Rites" debate, the state formally abolished the restrictions on the construction of ancestral halls and the generations of ancestors, so that the common people were able to set up ancestral halls and temples and worship their ancestors. This change in policy provided political legitimacy for the establishment of clan temples, one of the key pillars of the commoner clan form since the Song Dynasty, and played an important role in the development of clans. In addition, the government often protected clan***owned property such as clan fields, righteous fields, and ancestral halls, and provided various kinds of ideological support to clans, such as giving spiritual encouragement to clans whose members had performed significant acts of "loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness," such as granting plaques and building pagodas. The improvement of the imperial examination system undoubtedly also indirectly promoted the development of clans. Of course, when clan activities interfered with state administration and constituted a threat to the organization of the regime, the state would adopt a policy of suppressing clans. In particular, "for those clan temples established in the form of clan association or genealogy across geographical areas," whose activities "transcend the administrative structure of the state" and go beyond "the framework delineated by the state," the state will take repressive measures against the clans. The state would take measures to curb the activities of the clans that had transgressed the "framework set by the state". "But by and large, the regionalized clans were in line with the state in terms of bearing the burdens of service, indoctrination and maintenance of local order" [14].

Changes in the social environment, political systems and policies, and ideologies altered the constraints under which the people pursued their own interests. First, the imperial examination system provided the general public with opportunities for upward mobility through the career path. But for this opportunity to become a reality, it needed to be supported by the economic and social connections of the candidates. The small families of the common people obviously could not afford to support their sons and daughters who were out of the labor force for long periods of time, had no income, and were required to have a considerable amount of spending money to prepare for the examination. In addition, to succeed in the imperial examinations, they needed to be provided with adequate books, hire better teachers or enter better academies (juku), spar with higher-level classmates, and even cheat in the imperial examinations. And these could not be obtained in exchange for wealth alone or were too costly simply by means of bribes. Therefore, those who applied for the examination needed to join the clan as a family, and the clan provided them with financial support and expanded the available social relations. On the other hand, if someone in the clan achieved a high rank and entered the civil service, it could bring honor to the whole clan, enhance its reputation and social status, and provide economic support and political protection for the clan. Moreover, the "benefits" of these clans, such as honor and political protection, did not diminish strictly with the size of the clan. Therefore, those who are in a position to do so are willing to join clans to support their sons and daughters in applying for the examination. Secondly, even if they do not consider applying for the election, by joining together to form a clan, and by revising the genealogy to retell, publicize, or falsify the history of the clan, it is also conducive to improving the social status of the clan, especially for those who have historically been regarded as "untouchables" or "barbarians". This is especially true for people who were historically considered "untouchables" and "barbarians". In this regard, David Koh, Liu Zhiwei, Xiao Fengxia, Ye Xianen and others have done in-depth research [15]. Once again, after the Song Dynasty, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the commodity economy has developed greatly, the flow of land rights increased, and social mobility increased. Under the system of equal division of property by many children, if there is no other source of income, a rich family can easily become poor in two or three generations due to the division of family property. The association of clans as clans not only provided economic mutual assistance, but also provided a kind of insurance for clan members by setting up clan fields, righteous fields, and ancestral estates whose transfer of property rights was strictly restricted, so as to avoid the flow of property to other clans. Secondly, clans can gather people, money and materials to provide various public **** products for the whole clan, such as building bridges and roads. It can also unite with the same clan to organize various kinds of agricultural land reclamation and industrial and commercial undertakings that need to exceed the scale of the small family organization, so as to increase the economic income of the whole clan. Such as the Ming and Qing dynasties in Guangdong Shatian reclamation [16]. The business activities of merchant gangs around the world also made ordinary use of the clan's organizational and gathering power. Finally, in the clan-ridden territories, conflicts and clashes often occurred between clans, and such conflicts sometimes triggered inter-clan armed fights, which were sometimes no less tragic than wars between enemy nations and foreign clans. The association of clans can be used to fight against other clans and to protect and even expand the interests of the people of their own clans. This is because in such fights, clans with a large number of members often have the upper hand. Of course, a strong clan could also defend itself to a certain extent against the aggression from local officials.