This paper discusses the characteristics and historical influence of patriarchal clan system in Qing Dynasty.

Family is the basic unit of people's production and life. The family in Qing Dynasty has its own characteristics, which also has an influence on the changes of social history.

First, the immediate family is the main body in the family structure, and the extended family does not occupy the mainstream position.

The nuclear family is mainly bred in the immediate family, and it takes a long time to separate from it. Generally speaking, after the second generation gets married, it is possible to separate after a period of economic independence. Unlike modern families, children who can make a living can start their own families as soon as they get married. In the Qing dynasty, the separation between nuclear family and immediate family was also very incomplete. Sometimes the nuclear family exists under the immediate family and joint family: they have some common property. The relationship between father and son is more important than the relationship between husband and wife in the family, which is mainly not reflected in the nuclear family, but more obvious in the immediate family and joint family. The importance of lineal family in family structure can be seen from the connection and difference between lineal family and nuclear family. Direct and nuclear families are small and medium-sized families, and joint households are large families. The latter are large in number and also occupy an important position in the family structure of Qing Dynasty. But when people talk about ancient families, they call them feudal big families, thinking that big families are the main body of families. Judging from the situation in Qing dynasty, this is obviously a misunderstanding, which is caused by attaching too much importance to Lian Jia and his family. Joint family and his family members are complex and numerous. They pay more attention to blood relationship and patriarchal clan system, and pay more attention to family ethics and five-clothing system. They are models of feudal families and can be regarded as representatives of feudal families in nature. However, they are far from being able to compete with immediate family members and nuclear families in number. It is unrealistic to simply regard them as synonymous with feudal families. The misunderstanding that feudal family is a big family needs to be eliminated, and the status of immediate family members should be paid attention to.

Secondly, the patriarchal system has formed a hierarchical structure of the family and a society in which men are superior to women.

In the Qing Dynasty, parents had the right to dispose of family property, the fate of their wives, their children's education, occupation, marriage and social interaction, and the family's external relations. Therefore, they were the masters of the family, and their wives and children were in a dominant position, resulting in different levels in the family, that is, parents-male members-women. This family hierarchy is the epitome of the whole social hierarchy, and it is also a part of it, that is, there is a hierarchy from family to family and then to society, and family is its starting point. The low status of women in the family reflects that the Qing Dynasty was a society in which men were superior to women.

Thirdly, the agricultural family in Qing Dynasty had the function of stabilizing the feudal social system.

In the Qing Dynasty, most families engaged in agricultural management, and their functions were mainly embodied in organizing agricultural production, followed by raising children and supporting the elderly. The realization of its production function made the Qing Dynasty a small-scale peasant economic society with one household and made the small-scale peasant family a social foundation. The small-scale peasant economy was the most stable in feudal times, and the family played a role in stabilizing the social and economic structure, organizational structure and social order in Qing Dynasty. Therefore, although the Qing society was on the eve of modern production, there was no breakthrough development formed by internal factors, which caused the lag of the whole social progress.