啦 CONTENTS COMMUNION WITH ANCESTORS I66 Pilgrimage to Graveyards 178 Ancestor Festivals 182 Communal Worship 19I PLANS AND DIAGRAMS VIII.INTRODUCTION TO THE ANCESTRAL WAYS 198 Birth and Care of Infants 199 Educational Objectives 205 WEST TOWN 7 Methods of Education 213 A WEST TOWN GATEWAY 31 School and Scholarship 233 PLAQUE SHOWING LAUDATORY INSCRIPTION IX.THE ANCESTORS'SHADOW 236 C HOUSE 3 Safety Valves 243 Y HOUSE 35 In the Penumbra 249 CH HOUSE 心 X.CULTURE AND PERSONALITY 256 THE HOUSE OF A POOR FAMILY 42 Authority and Competition 257 Y FAMILY GRAVEYARD The Basic Personality Configuration 260 44 A MORE RECENT GRAVEYARD OF Y FAMILY Status Personality Configuration 267 5 Summary 276 TOMBSTONE OF W.F.CH'S GRANDFATHER A CLAN TEMPLE XI.WIDER CHINA 279 TERMS OF ADDRESS ON FATHER'S SIDE 6 APPENDICES TERMS OF ADDRESS ON MOTHER'S SIDE I.The Distribution of Living Quarters in Three TERMS OF REFERENCE ON FATHER'S SIDE 62 Households 292 Cases of Concubinage 298 TERMS OF REFERENCE ON MOTHER'S SIDE 63 I.Size and Distribution of Households 300 MATRIMONIAL RELATIONSHIPS OF C FAMILY 82 Iv.A Study of Family Prominence 30r MA'TRIMONIAL RELATIONSHIPS OF THREE FAMILIES 84 ORTHODOX MARRIAGE INDEX I0I MATRILOCAL MARRIAGE I02 ZOU MEI MARRIAGE 1o3 C FAMILY 292 C HOUSE,SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF LIVING QUARTERS 293
xiv PLANS AND DIAGRAMS Y FAMILY 294 Y HOUSE,SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF LIVING QUARTERS 295 CH FAMILY 296 CH HOUSE,SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF LIVING QUARTERS 297 UNDER THE ANCESTORS'SHADOW
Chabter I INTRODUCTION WHEN I was about fourteen years old,I overheard a con- versation between my father and my oldest brother,who was twenty years my senio.They were talking about the rise and fall of some families with whom they were acquainted and about the cir- cumstances involved.My oldest brother concluded with the following observa- tion:"Wealth is treasure of the nation. Every family can keep it only for a pe- riod of time.It must be kept circu lating."I do not recall my father's reac- tion,but since then I have been aware of the rise and fall of families,not only within my limited world of acquaint- ances but also in other communities about which I knew anything at all. It is interesting that Dr.Martin Yang,writing about the North China village in which he was brought up,of which he has in- timate knowledge,made the following observation:
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 5 No family in our village has been able to hold the same amount of land for nent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (A.D.1644-1912).Through as long as th or fou enerations.Usually a family works hard and lives the first of these works,which includes more than twelve thou- sandnsIhave compared the"native placesof all who pos- family holdings and it becomes well-to-do.Those of the third generation sess the same clan names.If two individuals of the same clan name merely enjoy themselves,spending much but earning little.No new land shared the same "native place"and were born from fifteen to is bought a gradually it becomes necessary to begin to sell.In the fourth sixty years apart,I assume that they were related in kinship generation more land is sold until ultim tely the family sinks into poverty.This cycle takes even less than hundred yearsto and might be father and son or grandfather and grandson.The a5a” result of the survey was to find a surprisingly small number of individuals who came within the specifications.5 want,they realize the necessity of hard work and self-denial to repair the The second work gives the biographies of about seven hundred family fortune.By this time the original big family is gone and in its individuals within a single dynasty and much detailed data about several small,poor fa nilies.Some of these begin to buy and.Thus theme their immediate origin,life,and work.My examination of these data shows that intellectual and especially political prominence As far as the ratio between resources and population is con- rarely endured continnously for more than two generations in cerned,under given conditions of technology,such an observa- any given family,particularly along the direct lineal line.There tion falls short of plausibility and even verges on naivete.For are even few cases in which father and son were both eminent overpopulation is an obvious fact in China.Even where all cul- enough to be included as two separate entries. tivated land is equally distributed among the farmers,the holding Arthur W.Hummel,ed.,vols,Washington,D.C.4 mdoe families to pros- heennetionan,inrctstigationco d ctodbyK.LWyictfoscl,alhedinagauthoe per.Yet when one considers all families as being under the same d and the bro conclu unfavorable conditions,he will have less difficulty in confirming 、thef6女oCeo the above observation concerning family vicissitudes. c)we might be der the guidanc our riend and temporary Furthermore,fluctuations in family fortunes do not pertain only to the peasants.They are also evident among illustrious of households of the Empire.Some of these households rose to promi- and Ch (-906) nence in a few generations.Most of them degenerated very rap- idly and fell to commonplace levels in a few generations.Many of them rose and fell within two generations may ftom th In search of some documentary support,I examined the con- tents ofsome books,among them Native Places and Dates of of China's socio-ecor Birth and Death of Noted Men in Various Dynasties 3 and Emi- Taken superficially,Dr.Witt- that familie vealed two things If we represent an individu Chn Lau Nic Li Pei hghai, or even A-A-A-A
6 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 7 It may,of course,be objected that these two works only lies closely.I found that the behavior exhibited by members of recorded the individuals who reached considerable heights and fail the rising families and those of the falling families were sharply to touch upon others who were in humbler stations.This objec- contrasted.The climbers tended to be careful,rational,frugal tion is met by a study of the biographies in district histories,the industrious,and sincere.Those who were declining tended to be details of which are given in Appendix IV. vain,impulsive,extravagant,carefree,and arrogant.Then I con- Bearing the limitations of such records in mind,one cannot sidered the rise and fall of dynasties and examined some literature but be struck by the facts which they do reveal,particularly in a which attempted to explain this so-called cycle of Chinese his- culture in which,up to very recent times,the only important goal tory.The author of the famous historical novel Tbe Romance of of life for the majority of those who were gifted and motivated Tbree Kingdoms began his great work with this fatalistic ob- toward success was to attain a high place in the bureaucracy. servation:"The conditions under heaven are such that,after a When we realize that political prominence did not depend upon long disunity,there will be unity;after a long unity,there will be the man-land ratio,but very strongly upon influence,especially disunity.”8 family influence,the facts revealed by these records become even Historians who employ the methods of the social sciences ad- more striking.As a proverb has it,"If one man has found the vance,in general,two schools of thought on the subject.One is path of savation,even his chickens and dogs enter heaven with led by Dr.K.A.Wittfegel,who sees the Chinese society as con- him."7 sisting of three sections:(a)the state,or the ruling aristocracy, Thus,we have a contradictory situation.On the one hand,the (b)bureaucracy,and those who maintain a symbiotic life with inherent tendency of the mechanism of social and political climb- it,and (c)the masses,or the peasants.The explanation is that,as ing should cause prominent families to continue their prominence time goes on,the second section of society tends to fatten at the indefinitely,particularly along the lineal line.On the other hand, expense of the others,thus leading to a general crisis and the fall these prominent families tend actually to decline within compar- of the dynasty.In Dr.Wittfogel's own words: atively short periods of time. Why do families rise and fall?I looked at some of these fami- type and accumulation of private possession of land in the hands of officials,"gentry,"and great merchants,reduction of land or (II)A-O-A,or A-O-O-A or even A-0-O-O and O-O-O-A.Sometimes the indi- enfeebling of the state,agrarian crisis,internal crisis,external crisis -invasions-state crisis.Although this vicious ineprntedere noof the e period n A-A ically smoothed over by the fall and rise of"dynasties,"it could never be really overcome. was about as frequ The other school of thought,based upon the comparatively con q￥ of the degree or more obvious fact of overpopulation,is older and therefore more 8This passage has been translated differ necicalho7maykeinhat,5oaewiadhddboRged砂oo mpires wa ars without Shanghai,9,.The difference in meaning between thi may may prove Econ