What is the structure and function of the family?

In ancient China society, the so-called family was an exponential family, that is, a family composed of several small families, which was essentially a family.

Because of the different population and size, the family size is also different. A small family is usually it runs in the family, that is, three generations live together, which is the most common family structure. A big family is four generations under one roof, five generations under one roof, and even more generations under one roof. Such a large family is highly praised by public opinion and is called "easy residence" or "easy door". After the song and yuan dynasties, the atmosphere of righteous residence became more prosperous. The premise of the existence of this huge family is that it occupies a large amount of land and labor and can get strong support from the government. For ordinary small farmers, this is simply impossible. Therefore, compared with small families, the number of such large families is very small.

In ancient times, the family was patriarchal, and the kinship attached importance to the paternal line and despised the matriarchal line. Mother's relatives are called "cousins" to distinguish them from "original clans". Even son-in-law and married daughter are regarded as people with foreign surnames and do not enjoy the rights of family members. Along the paternal line, according to the differentiation order of relatives, it can include nine generations from Gaozu to Xuansun, which is the so-called "nine families". As far as clothing system is concerned, it includes five levels of clothing system, from cutting wood to making hemp. This is the basic structure of the ancient family.

As the basic unit of society, the family bears many important functions.

First, it is the function of material production. Organizing material production and developing family economy is an important task for families. On the one hand, we should engage in agricultural activities, on the other hand, we should also develop household sideline products and handicrafts. Due to the different amount of land owned by each family, the economic strength and production methods between families are not much different. For yeoman families with limited land, "men plow and women weave" is the most basic way of division of labor. For a huge family that has lived together for generations, agricultural production, household sideline and handicrafts are generally rented and hired, and family members are mainly engaged in management affairs.

Secondly, the function of bearing offspring. In the paternal family, the absence of offspring means the demise of the family, which means the complete disillusionment of Fulu through the eternal expectation of carrying on the family line. Therefore, in ancient China, everyone, regardless of family, had to perform the function of bearing children, and under the guidance of Confucianism, this function was pushed to the extreme. "There are three kinds of unfilial, and no empress is the greatest", and "no empress" is regarded as the most serious manifestation of unfilial. Affected by this, "many children are blessed" and "everything is enough with children" have become the deepest concept in China people's hearts.

Third, undertake the function of providing for the aged. In ancient China, the family was the place to provide for the aged. China culture attaches great importance to the order of generations in ethical relations, which promotes the formation of a profound concept of respecting the elderly in society. Children should not only meet the material needs of the elderly, but also meet the spiritual needs of the elderly, so that the elderly can get real spiritual happiness and satisfaction from the warm family life and the harmonious atmosphere of their children and grandchildren.

China's family structure determines the diversification of family functions. For the country, the higher the material production level of the family, the more social surplus it provides, and the more it can promote the social division of labor and social development; The more population resources a family has, the more secure the country's military resources, and the greater the power of national defense and repression; The more perfect the family pension function, the less the social burden, and the more conducive to stability and development.