Since 2019, Ma Chenbing's historical research works have been almost "one per year", and in 2023, he will publish "Lu Bu in the People: A Cultural History of China's Adopted Sons (Pre-Qin-Northern Dynasties)" (Beijing Joint Publishing House) and "Circling Changes: Chronicles of the Southern Dynasties" (Xinxing Press), whose academic "production speed" is amazing. And when we learn about his identity as a "folk" researcher, we will be even more impressed: he did not work for any university or historical research institute within any system, but set out from Chaoshan as a free man to Hangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Wuhan, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, Shanghai and other places. He has a professional and profound knowledge of history and literature, and is also proficient in calligraphy and painting, but his historical research does not occupy national resources and is not funded by various project funds.
Entering the field of historiography with such an identity and research attitude, the eruption after the "accumulation" is certainly sharp, but what is more impactful is the field and perspective he has chosen. According to the author's own postscript, "The main academic value of this book is that it is the first time in the field of historiography that patriarchy and quasi-kinship are mutually reinforcing, and have become a supporting governance tool for the rise and fall of the autocratic state in ancient China." Secondly, it is to sort out the historical materials of the adopted son according to the timeline, and with the help of the perspective or theoretical tool of the proposed parent-adopted son, systematically sort out many historical issues, events and characters, so as to make them clearer and get a more reasonable and powerful interpretation and evaluation. In short, it is to observe and understand Chinese history through the fiction of blood relatives such as "adopted sons".
To this day, the term "adopted son" has many derogatory connotations among the people, and it is often secretive, but in the real political and business relations since modern times, the identity of the adopted son is still ubiquitous. This is actually the political legacy and deep memory left by the patriarchal system with blood relations as the bond, and contemporary generations still believe that the inheritance of non-blood relations is improper, and non-relatives and concubines occupy a secondary position in the family ethical relationship. However, returning to the functions of the family and the family, Fei Xiaotong believes in "Rural China" that the family "includes the function of childbearing, but is not limited to the function of childbearing", which means that on the one hand, "the family can be used to bear the functions of politics, economy, religion and so on", and on the other hand, "in order to run these many undertakings, the structure of the family cannot be limited to the small combination of parents and children, and must be expanded". Therefore, the fictitious consanguinity associated with the expansion of the family is considered to be a reasonable and legitimate existence. Ma Chenbing shifted his focus from folk life to the ruling forces of society, noting that when blood relatives are absent or blood relatives alone cannot achieve the functions and ideals of the family or individual, "quasi-relatives" will become a necessary supplement and be incorporated into the power system by feudal rulers, so as to play a role in dynastic continuation and social governance. "As a wall-breaking agent for social classes and a special mechanism for the integration and allocation of resources, kinship is indispensable for any era or large-scale social organization. In his view, the long life of China's feudal autocracy can be understood from this perspective, and it is precisely by relying on "patriarchal law as the scripture and relatives as the weft" that the historical picture of "rising and falling, and endlessly" has been created.
From this point of view, Ma Chenbing made a shocking discovery after carefully examining the life experiences of historical figures, many people with prominent identities, resounding names, and who have changed the direction of history have the identity of "adopted sons". For example, Qin Anguojun's concubine Zi Chu was a hostage in Zhao State, and Lü Buwei operated to make Zi Chu the adopted son of An Guojun's wife, Mrs. Huayang, and gave Zi Chu a Handan Yanji who was already pregnant with her own child. Later, Zichu ascended the throne as king, Lü Buwei sat on the position of prime minister, and the child born to Handan Yanji unified China in the future, "for Qin Shi Huang", and his "adopted son" ID card is conclusive. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of eunuchs was great, and these infertile people also longed to have a family like normal people and be able to pass on their achievements, and adopting Yizi Gan'er became the only way. The adopted son of Cao Teng, who served in the middle of the year, was named Cao Song, and the "social resources and political experience" accumulated by Cao Song and his adoptive father were inherited by Cao Song's son, "The real terminator of the Eastern Han Dynasty was the adoptive grandson of the three generations of eunuchs - the official eunuchs." Lü Bu, who appears in the title of the book and is represented by the "adopted son", is more familiar to the public, Dong Zhuo annexed Ding Yuan's department, "and raised him to make Lü Bu his son", and Mink Chan, who made him a beautiful woman, is Wang Yun's adopted daughter. The author focuses on the Northern Wei Dynasty, and there are many similar examples. In order to avoid the harem from interfering in politics, the Northern Wei Dynasty implemented the system of "setting up a son to kill the mother", and the prince had to be raised by a nursing mother, "completely projecting his feelings for his mother onto the 'nanny'", and every emperor was the "adopted son" of the nursing mother.
Historiography has long noticed the impact of the special social phenomenon of pseudo-consanguinity, but this book extends the scope of investigation of pseudo-kinship, and systematically sorts out the various forms and variants of the quasi-parenting of adopted sons from explicit to hidden, including the conceptual form of "Son of Heaven" and "Dragon Species", the adoption of righteous sons and daughters, sons-in-law and relatives, marriage and righteousness, family soldiers, protégés, bureaucratic officials, impersonation and stealing genealogy, giving names, etc., as well as the competition for the identity of heirs within the clan with concubines and confusing Zhaomu, and even "motherhood", Special and incomplete forms of quasi-kinship such as kinship relief cover almost all the same kind of relationships in history that are not blood relatives but have similar ethical functions. Ma Chenbing's analysis leads us to believe that these are not isolated cases, but universal social phenomena with profound historical motives, and thus see another face of history. On the basis of a large number of historical materials, the author glimpses the mystery of the "adopted son" phenomenon: the patriarchal system is centered on family blood, and the quasi-kinship relationship is not only the destruction and dissolution of the vertical relationship of the former, but also a powerful supplement and replacement, and this "opposite inheritance" has formed a stable structure, but the driving force behind it is still the inheritance and expression mechanism of political power.
Ma Chenbing's research vision is broad and his methods are flexible, and he is not confined to the path of so-called "pure" academics, but is good at discovering problems from the "nerve endings" of history. For example, at the beginning of this book, there is a question: How did Li Shimin call Emperor Yang of Sui? After rigorous research, the author came up with the answer: Because Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian was the brother-in-law of Tang Emperor Li Yuan, and Li Yuan was three years older than Emperor Yang Guang of Sui, Li Yuan was Yang Guang's cousin, so naturally Li Shimin should be called Yang Guang's cousin. This historical fact is too life-like to make both the question and the answer interesting. From this, the author further asked: Has Li Shimin ever met his cousin? The answer is "hard to say." In addition to the official history, he also attracted the "wild history" for comparison: in the historical romance novel "The Complete Biography of the Tang Dynasty", which was written in the Ming Dynasty, Li Shimin not only recognized Emperor Yang of Sui as his godfather, but also entered the palace to kowtow to him; coincidentally, the apocryphal character in the novel, Yang Lin, the backer king, adopted twelve righteous children and then forcibly accepted the good Han Qin Shubao, making up enough for the "Thirteen Taibao" to achieve hegemony. Of course, "wild history" is unreliable, but Ma Chenbing believes that "most of the historical novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties are processed on the basis of folklore, and there are more or less shadows of historical facts in the legends, which are completely groundless, and they will inevitably be passed on not far away", so "the case of the adopted son in the romance novel, including all kinds of scenes and plots, as long as the same protagonist is not confined to the same protagonist, it is not difficult to find the basic corresponding prototype in the official history", this view raises the issue of "adopted son" to the field of cultural history and intellectual history.
Ma Chenbing said that his writing is "based on the integration of literature and history, and actively tries to innovate in style and style", and this book is also a clear example. Essay-like and colloquial narratives such as "The Great Doxxing of the Ancient Adopted Son", "The Creation of Qin Shi Huang", and "The Bottle of Happiness: An Entertainment Adopted Son" are refreshing. Placing the boring academic discourse in a narrative full of human touch, the author's ideas are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through historical images that have been aestheticized, thereby enhancing the reader's reading experience and thus enhancing the understanding of the viewpoint - no matter in terms of style, research perspective and methodology, "Lu Bu in the People: A Cultural History of China's Adopted Sons (Pre-Qin to the Northern Dynasties)" and other works of Ma Chenbing have the atmosphere of opening up a new academic style.
(The author is a writer, literary critic, and senior visiting scholar of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)