History | 9:30
Self-made people with unknown names, once successful, always have to find a celebrity ancestor for the family, which has been common throughout the ages and seems to have become the standard for successful people.
For example, Liu Bang was originally the chief of the Surabaya Pavilion in Pei County, which is roughly equivalent to the official position of the current head of the village police office, and the family has been a farmer for generations, which can be said to be an out-and-out dick. However, when Liu Bang ascended the throne and became emperor, he immediately set out to find a celebrity ancestor for himself to comfort the public, and finally found Liu Lei, a descendant of Emperor Yao.
Zhu Yuanzhang also did it, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang were similar in origin, even lower than Liu Bang, after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the ministers also found an ancestor for Zhu Yuanzhang: the Southern Song Dynasty theorist Zhu Xi. However, the era in which Zhu Xi lived was too close to Zhu Yuanzhang, and the citation of the scriptures was still impossible to beat with eight rods, and finally he could only give up.
Zhu Yuanzhang failed to recognize Zhu Xi as his ancestor, but because he was the most famous among the Zhu surnames, and after many developments of the Zhu surname in later generations, he recognized Zhu Yuanzhang as his ancestor, hundreds of years have passed, and who knows whether it is true or not? This practice of honoring celebrities' ancestors is quite common in traditional Chinese culture, and almost all celebrities will do this after they have achieved fame.
So why do successful people have to rely on celebrity ancestors? This is not a whim, but a great use, summed up there are 3 points of consideration, the old ancestors realized the truth, many ordinary people did not understand.
First of all, the ancestors of the celebrities are of the correct blood for the family. Although Chinese distinguished by culture, they actually attach great importance to blood, especially in ancient times, and the reason why our ancestral hall culture flourished was because the ancestral hall represented blood. Since ancient times, even if you have achieved fame, if you are not born well, you will still be looked down upon by people and think that you are an upstart.
And those who were born well and whose ancestors had the blessing of celebrities, even if they were temporarily lost, they also belonged to the declining nobility, and their status was superior. For example, Liu Bei's family fell into the business of weaving mats and selling shoes (selling straw mat straw shoes), and his life was very difficult, but because he claimed to be Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, all the haojie had to respectfully call him Uncle Liu Huang. Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, is said to have more than 120 sons, and it is not easy to say whether Liu Bei is the King of Zhongshan Jing or not.
Therefore, blood is very important in ancient times, symbolizing identity, those who have achieved fame, in order to show their origins, it is not surprising that people with the same name are ancestors, and modern successful people do this, which is also the truth. As for whether it is really that celebrity, no one can guarantee it, after all, many of them have been hundreds of years, thousands of years.
Second, the ancestors of celebrities can unite the family. Earlier we said that The culture of Chinese ancestral halls is flourishing, so why did the old ancestors build ancestral halls? The first is the bloodline inheritance, and the second and most important thing is that the ancestral hall can unite the family. The ancestors enshrined in the ancestral shrine are like spiritual totems, the roots of the family, which can firmly twist the family into a rope.
And if the ancestors are celebrities, it can not only unite the family, but also make the family members feel proud and shape the family honor, which is a great promotion for the development and inheritance of the family's career, after all, the power of example is infinite.
Finally, the ancestors of celebrities were meant to inflate their stature. This is the most important consideration, such as Du Yuesheng, one of the "three tycoons of Shanghai Beach" in the Republic of China period. As we all know, Du Yuesheng was a fruit seller before his career, and later became famous and became one of the three tycoons on the beach. Du Yuesheng's original name was Du Yuesheng, and after his origins, the master of traditional Chinese studies, Zhang Taiyan, changed his name to Du Yong, and the name style immediately went up.
Du Yuesheng not only changed his name, of course, but also had to find a celebrity ancestor for himself, so a group of literati went through the subset of the history of the scriptures, looking for Du Yuesheng who could relate to each other in history, and finally it was zhang Taiyan who was looking for the ancestors who were the most suitable in comparison, so du Yuesheng, who had been a small, became a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, after Du Yan, the Du family overhauled the family tree ancestral hall and recognized the ancestors.
Inflating one's stature is the most important consideration for successful people's celebrity ancestors. China has a long history and frequent wars, even if there is a genealogical record, and the ancestors are celebrities, no one can guarantee that the ancestors recorded in the genealogy are completely correct, and it is not excluded that they were also developed by a certain generation.