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文|Neil
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introduction
In many costume dramas, we can see the figure of the clan ancestral hall, and every time there is a New Year or an important day of the clan, the ancestral hall will be particularly lively. It can be said that the ancestral hall is a symbol of the concept of the clan building, these buildings are often built extremely atmospheric, quite a wealthy style, until now, many ancestral halls still exist, recording the charm of Chinese history.
From the perspective of distribution, most of the clan ancestral halls are in the south, and the number of ancestral halls in the north can be described as less pitiful than in the south.
Why is this happening? Is there really no clan concept in the north? Obviously, this is not the case, the economic center of China has shifted from the north to the south, and there must be a clan concept in the north, what have those northern ancestral halls experienced?
(Chengdu Wuhou Temple)
1. The ancestral hall burned by the flames of war
Since Qin Shi Huang became the first emperor of China, the wars between the nomads in the Central Plains and the north have never stopped. The areas where wars were started were often in the north because of the terrain. At that time, the northern nomads could be said to be fierce and full of martial virtues, and they only had tribal concepts, and there was no so-called clan concept.
As the economic center of most dynasties in ancient China, it is absolutely impossible to say that there were no clans. Take the Three Kingdoms era as an example, the four major northern families Cui Clan, Lu Clan, Taiyuan Wang Clan, and Rongyang Zheng Clan are all wealthy clans that can directly affect the fate of a country in terms of economy and politics.
(Beijing Wencheng Ancestral Hall)
These clans must have built many ancestral halls at that time to meet the needs of clan sacrifices and hold some activities within the clan. However, in the high-frequency northern wars in ancient times, after the northern people broke the city, they would make a move, that is, to slaughter the city.
The scene of the slaughter of the city is very cruel, burning, killing and looting is the basic operation. Although these ancestral halls are beautifully designed and quite atmospheric, they are not worth mentioning in the eyes of the northern peoples. It is not impossible that after the contents of the ancestral hall were looted, they were burned directly.
(Stills from the ancient massacre)
The main reason for this is that for the northern peoples, the siege is often a protracted battle, and after the siege is successful, the army leader needs to try his best to give his soldiers some benefits and meet their psychological needs. This kind of revenge from a psychological point of view became the key to the massacre of the city, which led to the ruins of a city.
Southern China was very secure in ancient times, covered by lakes and mountains, and the main enemies of the Central Plains regime were northern nomads. With such geographical advantages, the ancestral halls established by the southern clans were less susceptible to the impact of war.
Especially in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, how much northern territory these soft bone emperors lost, just a Jingkang disaster, led to the destruction of a large number of ancestral buildings, which is really a pity. In the internal wars, such as the "Eight Kings Rebellion" caused by the southward migration of the Jin dynasty and the Anshi Rebellion, a large number of people and clans lost their original homes.
(Nanyang Medical Shrine)
2. Ethnic integration and the southward migration of northern clans
The history of China can be regarded as a history of war, and there are too many things that can be changed by war. Today's mainland has completed the integration of northern and southern cultures, and has also completed the integration of national cultures. The invaders in the north have become a family under the influence of Chinese culture and long-term exchanges.
The great integration of nationalities is the result of the war. In addition to ethnic integration, clan migration is also one of the great effects of the war. From the perspective of war, a force can die, but clans, especially wealthy clans, can often survive.
(Huai'an Han Han Hou Temple)
In a civil war, the forces are dead, and the new ones still need the help of the clans, both economically and politically. However, this was not the case in the war with the northern nomads. The leadership of the clan is often very intelligent, and they are often able to learn some news earlier.
Especially in the Song Dynasty, even the emperor had to give up the north on his own, so if the clan stayed in the territory obtained by the northern nomads, could they have a good life? Therefore, the war led to the southward migration of the northern clans, and the ancestral halls established after the southward migration must have been in the southern region.
(Xiangfan Migong Ancestral Hall)
The great integration of ethnic groups mentioned before, now in the north of the mainland, many friends are actually descendants of the ancient northern nomads, and there is no so-called clan concept in thought, and for their ancestors in ancient times, building ancestral halls is a meaningless thing.
In addition to wars, clan migration from the north also took place in political activities, such as during the Tang Dynasty, when the economy began to shift to the south. The resources of the south are constantly being explored, and this is also due to the northern clans. Under the leadership of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty at that time, those clans who first went to the south for development became the first to eat crabs.
Therefore, the integration of ethnic groups and the migration of northern clans caused by the war are also the reasons why the number of ancestral halls in the north is small today, and the ancestral halls in the south are "everywhere".
(Xinzhou Yang Clan Ancestral Hall)
Third, the terrain advantage is far more than that
It can only be said that from the perspective of the construction of ancestral halls and the stability of the clan concept, the advantages of the terrain in the south are far more than that.
In ancient times, the southern lakes and rivers were intertwined, the mountains were surrounded by separate environments, coupled with the reason for the inconvenient transportation in ancient times, it was easy for a clan in a region to unlock the achievement of "retreat and lock the clan", of course, the retreat here was not rigorous, after all, the exchanges between clans and clans, clans and royal families still existed.
(Hunan Miluo Qu Yuan Temple)
But because of such a relatively closed environment, many members of the clan may have never been free from the influence of the clan in their lives, but spent their lives according to the arrangement of the clan leaders. At birth, it is decided what kind of education to receive, what kind of work to do for the clan, which cousin in the clan to marry, and which cousin in the clan to marry.
During the Tang Dynasty, the five surnamed Qiwang clans in the north did not take the Tang Dynasty emperor seriously, believing that he was not qualified to marry a woman with five surnames. The concept of this kind of clan bloodline is already extremely strong in the north, let alone in the south, where the geographical environment is more "surrounding".
(Xi'an Du Gong Ancestral Hall)
After the establishment of New China, because of some radical moves to break the "four olds", a large number of beautifully designed ancestral halls in China with a historical appearance were destroyed. In the author's opinion, this may be the need for political trial and error in ideology in the process of national development, but it is indeed a pity.
Among these ancestral halls, many have witnessed ancient events, many important decisions of the scholars appeared in the ancestral hall, and the last journey of many celebrities was completed in the ancestral hall. Nowadays, we want to preserve the precious historical buildings of the mainland, and these ancestral halls are important witnesses of our fellowship with the ancients, and we are all children who grew up on the shoulders of our ancestors.
(Chaozhou Korean Ancestral Hall)
Resources:
LIU Shaojun. "The Problem of Massacre in Ancient Chinese Wars." Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences of Nanyang Normal University 28.1 (2008).
Gao Shikuo.Three historical changes that prompted the southward relocation of the ancient economic and cultural center of the mainland[J].Journal of Hangzhou Normal University:Social Sciences, 1987(2):1.)