Chinese Family Kinship and Ancestor Worship

Home , Ancestor, Shang (surname), Zhang (surname 章)

Bridgewater Review

Volume 39 Issue 1 Article 8

4-2020

Xiaoying Jing Shanghai Normal University, China

Bin Zhang Shanghai Normal University, China

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Part of the East Asian Languages and Societies Commons

Recommended Citation Jing, Xiaoying and Zhang, Bin (2020). Chinese Family Kinship and Ancestor Worship. Bridgewater Review, 39(1), 24-27. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol39/iss1/8

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. the people with the same surname Chinese Family Kinship and made a family, hence the incredibly Ancestor Worship huge family size at that time. Historically, the Chinese family shifted Xiaoying Jing and Bin Zhang from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal society, from big to small, based on n Yunnan Province, the southwest of China, there the development of economy and tech- exists a matriarchal society on the beautiful shore nology. During the dwindling process, the matriarchal system declined, and Iof Lake Lugu. They are Mosuo people who belong then a patriarchal system arose to be to Naxi nationality. Mosuo girls are quite passionate the main family law and was dominant for 3,500 years, with ancestor worship and active, as a result of the fact that they oversee established as a national belief. Some everything in their families and society. In addition Chinese characters will help make sense to this, the beautiful natural scenery of Lake Lugu of the development. and the humid local climate help shape Mosuo girls’ I. Big Family Kinship and charming beauty. Mosuo people practice the walking Ancestor Worship marriage custom. The lovers there do not get married The Chinese character, Family, is found in oracle bone inscriptions, or establish a family. Every night, an adult man is which can be dated as far as 3,600 years invited to his woman’s home, and returns to his own ago in the Shang Dynasty (17th-11th home the next morning. Children are raised by the Century BCE). This pictograph is made up of a house and pig in word forma- woman’s brothers. Upon breaking up, the man does tion, meaning a place with a house and not come for a night visit or the woman puts the man’s a pig (see Figure 1). In ancient times, pigs were obtained from domestication shoes at the door of her bedroom. No resentment, no and reproduction of boars. And house jealousy. Nobody else (including parents) has a right indicates that people left cave dwell- to interfere with their night visit or breakup. ing or nesting in trees. They started to build houses and tame wild animals. This is a rare living sample of a matri- his mother but knew nothing about So, the oracle bone inscription, Family, archal society in China. Dated back his father. Hence all children born to indicates that the Shang Dynasty trans- in the history, the matriarchal society a certain woman were given the same formed from a primitive society into a was a period when a child only knew surname to avoid intermarrying. All civilized one.

Lake Lugu, Yunnan Province, China (Photo Credit: Lingyi Wu) Lake Lugu, Yunnan Province, China (Photo Credit: Wei Wang)

24 Bridgewater Review idiom in China passed on for thousands of years: “The spirit in heaven.” Here, “spirit” refers to souls of ancestors. Also, the ancestral hall or temple was where family files were stored. They 甲骨文金文小篆楷体 recorded names of all the descendants after the founding of the ancestors, the Figure 1: Four fonts of the Chinese character, Family, from the left to the right: oracle bone merits and honors worthy of circulation inscription, bronze inscription, small seal style, regular script. (www.guoxuedashi.com/zixing/ and singing. The patriarch and other 3511.html) elders discussed and determined what This Chinese character experienced tablets of dead ancestors would be should be officially recorded about each variations in connotation and deno- placed there following a strict rule after the funeral. As a Chinese idiom tation in history. Before 595 BCE, concerning generation. That is, the goes: “Definitive conclusion on the Chinese family meant villages where tablet or portrait of a primal forefather coffin lid.” people of the same surname lived. Each sat north facing south, and in front of Ancestral hall or temple also performed village might range from hundreds of him were tablets of his descendants, trial and punishment. On contradic- people to tens of thousands of people, among whom the eldest son was on tions and disputes in the family, the which was a family clan in nature, but the right and the second son on the patriarch gathered the elders to conduct went beyond the size of a family clan as left. During worship ceremonies, the referred to in modern times. As is mentioned above, Chinese family started from a matriarchal society. Later A peasant’s goal of happiness was in the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese family turned over to a patriarchal a harmonious extended family society where surnames turned into the symbol of male bloodline. Owing with four generations. It meant to low-level agricultural productivity, villagers had to rely on collective labor many blessings and a long life and distribution to survive. Among span, and that the family was the super family, ancestor worship and respect for elders were developed as wealthy enough to support a the basic ethic to maintain the collective social order of the same surname. large population. Generation and age marked the rank- ings, generation higher than age. So, it might happen that a 30-year-old had patriarch guided all the living descend- a public trial before deciding what to call a 20-year-old man uncle, for the ants to worship ancestors, following the punishment to be imposed. The pun- latter was accidentally one generation above rule. ishment might be making an apology, higher. Nowadays, this rule generally whipping, or material compensation, makes way for the spirit of equality Each religious ritual preaches soul. from dozens of eggs to a head of cattle. and freedom. There are festivals when Chinese people hold the ritual, such as the The most serious punishment was a As a result of ancestor worship, in Ching Ming Festival, the Winter death sentence. Another terrible pun- the ancient society, the middle word Solstice, etc. It’s believed that the souls ishment was to deprive the offender’s of Chinese people’s names was indica- of dead ancestors are still looking after name and expel him from family ori- tive of their generation. This habit younger generations, and the ritual gin, making him a nobody. If one fled continued until the middle of the can bring about blessing from the after a major crime, the tablets of all twentieth century. souls. Confucius (551 - 479 BCE) said, his ancestors were to be removed from Every family with the same surname “Worship as they are.” That is, you the ancestral hall, meaning that this had an ancestral hall, or a temple for must pay homage to the ancestors as if branch had never existed in this family. a noble family. Both were places to they still exist. In addition, there is an Hence an idiom like this: “Humiliation worship ancestors. Wooden memorial drowning ancestors.”

April 2020 25 leader of each big family led family members to work on the territory. Harvest in the middle land of each territory became the tax in the form of material paid to the dynasty as requested. The farming taxation system at that time was called the square-fields system. The area in each square was 100 mu, i.e., 16.5 acres. After the issue of the decree, the tax area of each mu was equivalent to 0.165 acres. Why did the Lu State greatly decrease the tax unit? Thanks to the production of iron agricultural tools since the Spring and Autumn period (770 - 476 BCE ), and Interior scene of Jinci ancestral hall, the earliest extant imperial garden in China (Photo Credit: the use of domesticated cattle with Jiexin Shen) iron ploughs to cultivate land, farm- Ancestral hall or temple also enjoyed The unique identification of the source ing efficiency was greatly improved. the authority of granting new members of life makes Chinese people naturally Therefore, the labor force on the origi- to the family, like granting a bride as a see themselves as a link in the blood nal square fields was excessive. People new member of the family. of ancestors and shoulder the mission turned to cultivate wasteland outside of carrying on the blood link. There square fields, no taxes to be paid. Therefore, ancestral hall or temple was fore, Chinese people have strong the center of the unity of a big family. Consequently, private land cultiva- consciousness of glorifying their ances- The management of social and family tion became increasingly prosperous, tors, which makes their motivation affairs in this way was called the patri- and square fields went deserted. The of achieving success in life and career. archal system. The patriarchal law was dynasty’s tax revenues became poor. For example, they pay special attention the rule laid down by the ancestors. In The Lu State initiated the recognition to education and academic achieve- the patriarchal system, all the manage- of the legitimacy of private land and ments. As you know, Tiger Mother and ment, rewards and punishments were issued new tax policy. Because private Wolf Father have become well-known made by following the patriarchal law. lands were irregular and small, the tax- words in this millennium. ing was calculated based on mu which The patriarchal system lasted 3,500 was a much smaller unit. years in China. It experienced gradual II. From a Big to Small decline until the end of the nineteenth Family: The Square-fields The new policy acknowledged the legitimacy of private land cultivation century, except for a few remote areas, System and Mu basically passing into history. It had a and private land ownership. Private In 594 BCE, a decree was issued saying profound impact on Chinese people’s land led to the collapse of the feudal that from then on, Lu State would levy religious beliefs, ethical norms, and era, according to traditional Chinese taxes based on mu, and abandon the social customs. historiography. It also led to the disinte- previous taxation based on the square- gration of the collective labor system of For example, in terms of the origin fields system. It was an earth-shaking the original big family as well. Produc of life, the Western Christian world event in Chinese history. tion units reduced to households and believes that life comes from God’s Before this, China was in a feudal era. even individuals. creation. Chinese people believe that All the land belonged to the emperor, life comes from ancestors. And the Family size and connotation changed. and the nobles were awarded ter- ancestors’ ancestor—the creator of the The original big family was named a ritories respectively by the emperor. world—came from Heaven. Therefore, clan and the households rose to the new Each territory was divided into lots of through ancestor worship, the Chinese concept of family. The new family was square fields by ditches and roads, that established the belief in the immortal small compared with the original one. is, pieces of Sudoku-shaped land. The soul and Heaven as well.

26 Bridgewater Review Specifically, it was extended family From the seventh century BCE to the developed than inland cities. Since the with several generations. end of the nineteenth century, Chinese 1980s, it has been an emerging trend for agriculture had been maintained in people in inland China, college gradu- Many of the ethical rules of the original small families as a basic production ates and peasants as well, to travel to big family no longer applied. The and survival unit, characterized as a southeast coastal cities and work there. ethical order within a small fam- small-scale peasant economy. The ily experienced reconstruction. Its The 100-year modernization process connotation of filial piety expanded core was affectionate father and filial in China witnessed continuous dis- accordingly, not only to breed future children. New criteria of other ethics integration of traditional small-scale generations, but also to support elderly were in urgent need, for instance, eth- peasant economic families. Nowadays, parents. Furthermore, they must sup- ics between husband and wife, among urban families are basically nuclear port parents with a smile and obey brothers, among friends, between mon- families because of the 40 years’ birth parents’ words. Otherwise, they would arch and ministers. Living in the era control policy. be condemned as unfilial. of crucial change, Confucius had been Looking back at the history of the working hard to establish a new ethical In the era of a small-scale peasant Chinese family, it is obvious that when- norm and social order. economy, male farming and female ever a major leap in production and weaving were the basic division of technology occurs, the size of family shrinks further. It can be predicted that in the era of AI, many people would … the Chinese family shifted rather live with robots, instead of get- ting married or falling in love. At that from a matriarchal society to a time, the family might be a house plus patriarchal society, from big to a robot, instead of a house plus a pig. small, based on the development of economy and technology.

III. Small Family Kinship labor within the family. Farming and and Filial Piety studying family were the ideal state of the agricultural society. In ancient Xiaoying Jing is Associate Professor in the Let’s take a look at the pictograph, Filial China, studying was a path to change Foreign Languages College at Shanghai Piety (see Figure 2). There is a child their fate and glorify ancestors through Normal University and was a Visiting under an adult. It was engraved on the imperial examination system. bronze ware during the Shang Dynasty. Scholar at BSU, 2018-2019. The original meaning of this word was A peasant’s goal of happiness was a that with your child born, you added a harmonious extended family with link in the transmission of your ances- four generations. It meant many bless- tors’ blood and accomplished the mis- ings and a long life span, and that the sion of filial piety to ancestors. family was wealthy enough to support a large population. The small-scale peasant economy gradually collapsed, with the rise of modern industry, modern com- merce, and modern cities by the end of the nineteenth century. Globally, Bin Zhang is Lecturer in the Foreign modernization has developed along Languages College at Shanghai Normal coasts, because modern trade relies on University and was a Visiting Scholar at Figure 2: Chinese character, Filial Piety, in BSU, 2018-2019. bronze inscription. (www.guoxuedashi.com/ marine transportation. Therefore, in zidian/5B5D.html) China, southeast coastal cities are more

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