From the Sui Dynasty, when the imperial examination began to be popular, to the Tang Dynasty, the deep reason was that the rulers wanted to get rid of the control of the clan gate valves by recruiting a large number of civilians.
The result is obvious, after hundreds of years and dozens of emperors' efforts, in the end, it is not as thorough as Zhu Wen's quick knife on the edge of the Yellow River. Since then, the door valve clan that has been formally formed from Wei and Jin has finally come to an end.
However, as a form of expression of vested interest groups in feudal society, the door valve will not easily die. Especially in the Song Dynasty, it appeared in a different guise. And after the full fermentation of Confucian culture in the Song Dynasty, a new cultural mask was brought.
1. Family tree
The family tree is familiar to us, which is the best evidence of a family history and personal heritage. But you may not realize that in fact, before the Song Dynasty, civilian families generally did not have a family tree, because there was almost no need to set up.
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Emperor Xiandi of Han found Uncle Liu through the royal genealogy, because there are more people with the surname Liu in the world, and a set of materials is needed to prove the identity of the members of the royal family, so that they can enjoy royal privileges and fulfill their corresponding obligations.
The same theory exists in the clan gate valves, which they use called spectroscopy. Its role is similar to that of the royal family tree, and it is the basis for the selection of officials by the sons of the family and the intermarriage between the major clans. There has long been a popular story about this.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, there was a prime minister named Xue Yuanchao, who had three major regrets in his life, one of which was that he did not marry the "daughter of the five surnames". The so-called "five surnames" is "five surnames and seven sects", which is the door valve of the family during the Tang Dynasty.
It can be seen that these door valves play a closed game and do not easily intermarry with foreign names, so the content of the spectrum is needed as the basis for pure blood. In contrast, the commoner class at that time had no practical significance if the family also made a genealogy.
Some people will say: make a family tree to trace the roots, in order to worship the ancestors.
That was even more unnecessary, because before the Song Dynasty, ordinary people could not enjoy the aristocratic sacrifice system. The Book of Rites has a clear stipulation: Etiquette is not inferior to the people! At that time, folk sacrifices had no fixed rules, which gave rise to many superstitions and vices.
It was not until Sima Guang and Zhu Xi and others integrated Confucian etiquette and folk customs and wrote several "training materials" that folk sacrifices had rules to follow.
The genealogy revolution really took place during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song. At that time, the prime minister Han Qi took the initiative to repair the family tree for his family, which opened a new chapter. After that, Ouyang Xiu and Su Xun followed the trend and were completely promoted.
However, compared with the Ouyang family and the Su family, Han Qi's family tree is not "elaborate".
First of all, after the Middle Tang Dynasty, wars and chaos occurred frequently, and few large families were able to perfect and preserve family information to the Northern Song Dynasty. Han Qi directly traced his family's ancestors back eight generations, and the reference material is a mystery. You must know that the Han family does not belong to the "five surnames and seven sects".
Secondly, due to Han Qi's social status at that time, many scholars took the initiative to polish their family trees, which made the authenticity even more a mystery.
Last but not least. Han Qi was orphaned when he was four years old, raised by his brothers, and his birth mother was still a mane, which was an unavoidable pain in feudal society.
Therefore, the cultivation of the family tree is more for the purpose of honoring the ancestors and establishing their own glorious image to stimulate the sense of identity and pride of future generations.
However, later the Northern Song Dynasty family began to learn to repair the family tree, not all out of Han Qi's position, but also for some social reasons.
For example, at that time, the people of the Song Dynasty liked small families, and even if their parents were alive, the brothers had to live separately. One generation, two generations is better to say, if the number of families in the third or fourth generation is increasing, how to recognize their own family?
The family tree plays a role at this time, and family members with slightly more distant bloodlines can also find contact. However, this is generally the action of the big family, and the small door will not bother with that matter.
2. Economy
The destruction of the juntian system deprived the government of absolute control over the country's land, resulting in a growing problem of land annexation. From the perspective of the people, there are no absolute landlords and tenants at this time, and everyone can rely on land sales to complete the identity conversion at any time, although this conversion is somewhat difficult.
Rich people may become extremely poor overnight, and the family business needs to be managed carefully to maintain. In order to ensure that wealth can be maintained for a long time, the Song Dynasty began to form the concept of "family property", that is, the common property of the family.
At that time, the family property was not a factory or a company, but the most basic land. The land of the clan is divided into three types, namely the cemetery field, the yitian and the yixuetian.
The cemetery is well understood, that is, the burial of dead family members, but not limited to this, there is also a large area of cultivation. However, the harvest produced in the cemetery should be used for family sacrifices.
Yoshida is relief. The rich within the clan donated righteous land to help the poor within the clan. This practice is liked by many people, one is conducive to the development of their own family, and the other is conducive to showing their prestige and status within the family.
Yi Xuetian is the material basis for providing education, so as to ensure that the family continues to appear as officials, or become the "scholar" class of personnel, so that the family can continue in the elite class.
In addition to the "economic system" described above, the scholars and doctors of the Song Dynasty also devoted themselves to protecting this system.
For example, if you want to sell land and sell land, then your neighbors have the right of first refusal. Because most of the neighbors are family members, this ensures the circulation of the property within the family without leakage.
If the cemetery is sold, it is considered filial piety. Under the pressure of strong public opinion, it is impossible to sell the cemetery land if it is not necessary. Really to the point of buying and selling, the cemetery should also be sold to relatives within the family's five clothes first.
There were real cases in the Song Dynasty. After the Huang family in Jiangxi was destroyed, he was forced to sell his own cemetery, and the buyer was still his relatives. However, the sale was sued by the Huang family's family relatives.
In the end, the transaction was ruled illegal by the county grandfather.
Third, finally
Compared with before the Song Dynasty, the gate valve clan after the Song Dynasty was more hidden and more low-key. In order to maintain their own interests, the Great Confucians of the Song Dynasty infiltrated from multiple angles such as culture, rule of law, and folklore, making everything seem logical.
In particular, the imperial examination has given a large number of students from civilian origins the opportunity to enter the upper echelons of society, breaking the normal monopoly of the previous door valve, and making some people think that the door valve clan has completely disappeared.
In fact, the cake is so big, how can the person who gets the cake first be willing to give it to others?
Author: Our special guest author Kan Dashan
References: Genealogy Cultural Knowledge and Editing Techniques, Biography of Han Qi, Song Dynasty Scholars' Studies, Marriage and Poetry Creation