The influence of patriarchal clan system on family in Ming and Qing Dynasties

The patriarchal clan system in Ming and Qing Dynasties was rooted in low productivity, underdeveloped social division of labor, relatively small group size and relatively simple structure. Parents become the masters of family life, so all major events and small feelings in the family are decided by parents, and other family members must obey one parent, that is, "there are thousands of people in the family, and one person is the master." In the family, there are no formal rules, and parents rely entirely on experience, habits and customs for management and control. Parents are naturally "lifelong" and have no supervision. If parents make mistakes, the whole family will suffer. If parents don't realize their mistakes all their lives, then the whole family will never want to correct them until their parents "die".

This kind of family or family organization and management has been extended to the political field. Feudal emperors often regarded the country as a private thing, and their method of governing the country was nothing more than the expansion and extension of the rule of "there are thousands of people in the family, and one person is the master". Especially in China, for thousands of years, the patriarchal clan system has been used to replace the country's "home world".