INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF SOCIOLOGY UNDER AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION THE ANCESTORS SHADOW Editor:Dr.Karl Mannheim Chinese Culture and Personality 的 FRANCIS L.K.HSU LONDON HAROLD ROUTLEDGE KEGAN PAUL LIMITED BROADWAY HOUSE,68-74 CARTER LANE,E.C.4 024472
FIRST PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND 1949 at the of A.L owever,the nd is ot to be 6, of its grant, any of the or views To Ralbb Linton PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND耳UMPH具IBS LOND0N·BRADFORD
PREFACE IN I have attempted to do three things.In the first place,I have given a description of a small semi-rural community in southwest China,and have analyzed its culture with particular reference to its patterns of family and religious life.I have explored the role played by this culture in the personality formation of the individuals who make up the community.Finally,after describing the several per- sonality configurations that are found here,I have indicated their applicability to Chinese soceyaswhole,both past and present. Pending further studies of the unity of Chinese culture, which I am convinced that work in the future will reveal,I can only record my conviction that the essential social structure of the community I have studied is typical of China as a whole. This is not entirely hypothetical,however,since there is evi- dence,with which I will not burden the reader,to indicate that this unity is at least as valid a supposition as is the conception that Chinese culture is marked by diversity.1 The field materials which form the basis of this book were collected between July,1941,and June,1942,and again be- tween July and September,1943,while I was serving on the faculty of the National Yunnan University,Kunming.Field work in those days was exceedingly difficult.The inflation neces- sitated a constant stretching of means to meet constantly in- creasing expenses.When I arrived at West Town,prices were roughly fifteen times their 1937 level.At the end of my sec- ond trip they were more than two hundred times as high.Again
viⅲ PREFACE PREFACE ix the area,though never overrun by the enemy,was nonetheless checking the statements of one informant against those of an- affected by the war.Conscription,which most families,ignorant other.But I was,nevertheless,though regarded sympathetically, of its purpose,attempted to escape,was enforced during the always the outsider,despite the fact that as far as physical ap- entire period of my stay.Under these circumstances,it is under- pearance is concerned I seemed no different from those who standable how any outsider,especially one who constantly went made up the community. about asking questions,was an object of suspicion.My second I am indebted to numerous persons without whose aid this visit,furthermore,was made after the fall of Burma,which book would not have been completed,and to others who helped brought the war closer to West Town than before and caused me make of it a better book than it otherwise would have been. tensions to rise correspondingly higher. To Dr.Hsiao-tung Fei,a colleague of mine at the National Yun- The financial problem posed by the inflation was largely met nan University,I owe its title.I had many stimulating discus- by the generous aid of the Economic Council of Yunnan Prov- sions of its materials with Mr.Kuo-heng Shih and Professor ince under the direction of Mr.Yun-t'ai Miao and the late Tung-tsu Chu,also colleagues of mine in the same institution Dr.Pei-chi Yuan.The difficulty of obtaining rapport and con- Mr.Shih was born and brought up in a rural section of Hupei, fidence was partially met by the circumstance that I held a and the comparisons we were able to make between my findings temporary position as a teacher in the missionary college which and the customs of his home community were most illuminat- took refuge in this area.This made it evident to most West ing.I am grateful to Dr.Ralph Linton for friendly interest and Towners that even if I was not free from prejudice against local for his valuable criticism of the manuscript,while his recom- religious practices I was at least not a secret agent of the gov- mendation had much to do with bringing the work to publica- ernment attempting to extract information which would lead tion.Dr.Talcot Parsons,Dr.Clyde Cluckhohn,and Dr.Robert to the discovery of more conscripts. Redfield read the manuscript in its first draft form,and I have Inflation actually was not entirely an evil from the point of benefited greatly from their carefully drawn suggestions and view of my research,since it lowered the standard of living of criticisms.To the Viking Fund I am indebted for a fellowship scholars to the level of the laborer and the small trader,if not under which much of the manuscript was completed and for below their level.Therefore much of the attitude of awe with agrant which made its publication possible.To Dr.Paul Fejos, which the scholar was regarded disappeared,and with it the Director of Research of the Viking Fund,I am indebted for his feeling of inferiority traditionally felt toward the intellectual. personal encouragement and his understanding of the difficul- In fact,it was often the scholar who became,deservedly enough, ties inherent in the situation of a newcomer in this country.To an object of sympathy.I thus enjoyed during my field trips Dr.K.A.Wittfogel I am indebted for our many discussions on many opportunities to enter into intimate relationships with the structure and functioning of Chinese society.Major Paul T. persons who probably would not have otherwise given me their Hensen,of Syracuse,N.Y.,and my brother,Mr.K.K.Hsu,of confidence. Tientsin,were most kind in extending financial aid while I was Despite this,I make no claim that I was always treated as one in the field and while I was working on the manuscript,and of the group by West Towners.I employed the usual anthropo- Dean G.Watts Cunningham,of the Graduate School of Cornell logical techniques of observing,listening,participating in feasts, University,made available a research grant which financed the ceremonies,rituals,and family gatherings wherever I could and analysis of the "District Histories."Messrs.Jowitt Chao and Chi-
PREFACE hwei Wu,now pursuing graduate studies at Cornell University, helped greatly in the difficult task of extracting the necessary information from the "District Histories."I am also indebted to Mr.Jim Lee for the decorative drawings at the beginning of CONTENTS each chapter,to Mr.Chen Wu for the ideas which formed the basis of several of the drawings,to Mrs.Tung-tsu Chu for the Chinese characters in the various diagrams,to Miss Laurel Wagner for the diagrams themselves,and to Miss Ida Lynn and I.INTRODUCTION Miss Eugenia Porter for their skilled work in editing the manu- A Point of Methodology 2 script and producing the book.Finally,I acknowledge my in- The Field debtedness tomy wife,Vera Hsu,for the great help she has been YIN CHAI AND YANG CHAI:WORLDLY AND OTHER- to me at all times. WORLDLY RESIDENCES F.L.K.H. Graveyards Family Shrines and Clan Temples Nortbwestern University 52 Evanston,Illinois III.LIFE AND WORK UNDER THE ANCESTRAL ROOF 56 Relationship in the Family Home Livelihood Activities IV. CONTINUING THE INCENSE SMOKE 7 Preferred and Disfavored Types of Mating 9 Betrothals and Weddings 85 Matrilocal Marriage Remarriage and Concubinage v. PROPAGATION OF THE ANCESTRAL LINE The Big-Family Ideal 88 Division under the Same Roof The Clan and Its Solidarity I22 VI.HOW ANCESTORS LIVE 3 The World of Spirits Man's Relation with Spiritual Worlds 44 Death and Funerals I Death Away from Home 63