Family is the cell of the society, and archons of past dynasties all paid great attention to the stability of families, which affected the stability of the society and the regime of the archon as well.
In the Past
The Chinese family as it is described in the Story of the Stone (hong lou meng, Qing dyansty) is the result of a long historical development: The basic rules of patrilineal descent and surname exogamy, the practice of venerating and sacrificing to ancestors, and the moral value of filial piety were all well-established by the end of the Zhou period (11th century - 256BC).
The Chinese for "family" is Jia, which generally means the basic family group, those who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, living and managing their finances together. In a Jia, the males are all agnatic kin (i.e., blood relations). Sons live in their father's house with their wives, who have been brought in from outside the family. As soon as daughters come of age, they are married out, that is, they join another Jia. They are members of their parents' Jia only as long as they are unmarried. During the wedding ritual, daughters officially sever their ties to their father's patriline, and are pledged to serve their new family, including its ancestors. Males are permanent members of the family they were born into; females, however, are expected to eventually leave their natal family. Women, therefore, are only assured a place in a patriline -- that of their husband, not their father -- when they give birth to a son.
The Jia shares living space and finances. One male, the patriarch (the oldest competent male) has ultimate authority in all family matters. In the ideal Jia, three, four, or five generations live under one roof. Sons obediently follow their father's direction in choosing a career and a mate, and every member of the Jia works together for a single objective: sustaining and increasing the Jia's wealth and status. Such a large, multi-generational Jia can grow to be very complex.
For women and children, especially in the large, wealthy, sheltered elite families, the Jia was essentially both the center and the limit of the world. The wealth, reputation, and status of the Jia, however, rested largely on the success or failure of men operating outside the Jia.
1.Elements that Characterize the Traditional Chinese Family:
Patrilineal descent (family name, property, status passes from father to sons to grandsons);
Sacrifice to and veneration of ancestors (eldest living male cares for ancestral tablets and is responsible for ancestral rituals);
Legally recognized concubinage (under the law, a man could have more than one wife);
Large families with several married brothers living together;
Need for a male heir to continue ancestor sacrifice;
Organization of kinsmen on the basis of a common patrilineal descent ("lineage").
2. The Traditional Family Worked as a Corporate Firm
Family land was owned collectively by the family, not by an individual. The patriarch managed it for the family;
Marriages were arranged to further the interests of the family as a whole (role of sons and daughters in the preservation of the family);
Property was divided equally among brothers at their father's passing (although the eldest often received an additional share since he was obligated to maintain the ancestral shrine).
Ancestor's Hall
Ancestor's Hall (or Zong Ci) is the place to worship clan ancestors, also called ancestral halls. It is the combined core of clan power and religious authority.
In ancient times, ancestral halls are a place exclusively for the Son of Heaven (tian zi, or emperors). It was called Tai Miao, or the Imperial Ancestral Temple, which is now the highest class of Temple, with existing representative Beijing Tai Miao, Palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), ancestral halls became common throughout the country, such as Zu Miao in Foshan, Guangdong Province. The construction and decoration styles similar to that of Zu Miao are very common in areas south of the Five Ridges, Guangdong, Fujian and Taiwan.
Modern Chinese Family
According to latest statistics, China has 340 million families, with 3.63 people per household on average. In general, a Chinese family is composed of a couple and their children, but big families with three or more generations can also be found in China. With the pursuit of personal freedom, the trend of forming small families with only directly related members is now prevalent.
In the past, each Chinese family had a "head", who had absolute authority at home, and had the final say in family affairs. But now in most Chinese families, the husband and wife, or a couple with other family members, work out together the household plans, and decide family affairs through consultation.
Moreover, family members share the housework, making the division of labor at home more reasonable; and the husband and wife support each other's work.
Chinese people have the tradition of respecting the old and loving the young. Though many young couples do not live with their parents, they maintain close contact with them. Grown-up children have the duty to support and help their parents. The Chinese people attach great importance to relations between family members and relatives, and cherish their parents, children, brothers and sister, uncles, aunts and other relatives.
Family planning has been pushed forward as one of the basic state policies in China. The basic requirements of family planning are late marriages and late childbearing, so as to have fewer but healthier babies, especially one child per couple. But a flexible family planning policy is adopted for rural people and ethnic minorities: in rural areas, couples may have a second baby in exceptional cases, but must wait several years after the birth of the first child; in areas inhabited by minority peoples, each ethnic group may work out different regulations in accordance with its wish, population, natural resources, economy, culture and customs -- in general a couple may have a second baby, or a third child in some places. As for ethnic minorities with extremely small populations, a couple may have as many children as they want.
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