Remaking lineage: "Revival" of lineage in Yang Village, Fujian.
详细信息
文摘
The present study aims to find out how social order is restructured in the post-Mao rural China by ethnographically examining the revival of lineage in Yang Village, Fujian province.;Following 40 years' practice of socialism in China, lineage came to life again in the eighties in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. This has taken place at a time when there appears to be no soil for such a revival. To seek an account for the paradox, the present study regards lineage as a practice. That is, lineage is defined more as a practice in everyday life than a simplistic and naturalistic descent group and cultural invention.;In this thesis discussion centers on three phases that the practice of lineage has undergone. The first phase is marked by the mixed lineage production of Confucianism and Buddhism from the Song dynasty through Ming to Qing dynasty, as revealed by the change of the Gongde temple into the ancestral hall in Yang Village. During this phase, there was a process of lineage development which the state, literati and villagers took part in together. The second phase starts from the late Qing dynasty to the Land Reform period in 1950-1951. This phase is characterized by a decline and disappearance of lineage as a result of the change in social and cultural meanings rather than due to the loss of properties and land of lineage. The third phase manifests itself in the revival of lineage in the eighties after 40 years' practice of socialism. This revival occurred at a symbolic level characterized by a lack of pure patriarchal ties and land for lineage, leading to a tendency of corporation.;The practice of lineage in Yang Village shows that the emergence or disappearance of lineage and ancestral halls are not solely attributable to the evolution of the descent group nor to the function of such elements as land, property and genealogy. Rather, it bears closely on the symbolic and cultural practice and creation of the state. Organizational lineage is only the secondary product of the symbolic practice.;The present study also discusses the relationship between lineage and Chinese society from the perspective of the paradigm crisis in the study of the Chinese society, since lineage plays an important role in three paradigm crises, namely, the state/local society binary crisis, revolution and modernization crisis and Confucian culture crisis. Re-evaluating lineage and the limitations of the three paradigms enable us to go to the root of the crises: the state and the discourse of some intellectuals create an image associated with China and reify it then, which may deviate from original development of society.