Text/Shi Xuanyuan Source: Wenhui Reading Weekly
Chinese Genealogy General Theory
In the ocean of genealogy, he collects, browses and reads as many treatises, papers, and treatises on genealogy as possible throughout the ages. Taking the papers as an example, the data show that from 1850 to 2008, there were more than 2,100 papers on genealogies, genealogies, genealogies, and genealogies. Mr. Wang considers himself a latecomer to genealogical research, so he attaches special importance to these treatises, papers, and expositions, analyzes and compares them, and removes the crude and refined, and the false and the true.
Mr. Wang sank into the ocean of genealogy and tasted the sweetness. He believes that in order to complete the task of discussing the history of national genealogy, it is far from enough to sink down, but also to draw nourishment from the genealogical research results of predecessors and forerunners, form their own systematic views, and develop from scattered papers to the writing of academic monographs, which means the sublimation and leap of their own genealogical research. Therefore, we must not only be good at sinking, but more importantly, we must have the courage to surface and grasp the development law of the history of the Chinese national genealogy from a macroscopic perspective. In this way, we can write a history of Chinese genealogy that surpasses its predecessors, has made breakthroughs, and has made innovations.
In those years, he "did not hear anything out of the window with both ears, and devoted himself to reading the book of music", and his mood was particularly happy, often to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep. He said: "Sometimes when I find an important piece of information, it is like asking Hanako to suddenly pick up a gold brick, and I am extremely excited, I am extremely excited. ”
Ten years to sharpen a sword. In early 2010, Genealogy came out. In the study of genealogy, the book is a pioneering academic work, and its characteristics are: First, it grasps the four key issues in the development and evolution of Chinese genealogy, namely, the genealogy style, content, function and editing method as the focus of the discussion, and uses this as a clue to reveal the trajectory of Chinese genealogy for 5,000 years. Second, the whole book adopts a criss-crossing discourse method. That is, on the one hand, from the vertical perspective, the development and evolution of the Chinese national genealogy are discussed, including the definition of family tree, the origin of the family tree, the birth, the prosperity, the transformation, the perfection, the popularization and the new revision of the family tree; on the other hand, from the horizontal perspective, the style, content and number of the family trees, surnames, souls, images, functions and other related topics are discussed. The third is to examine the genealogy of a period in the specific historical and social environment of that time, that is, to be analyzed in connection with the politics, economy, culture, education, folklore and mainstream consciousness of the society at that time. Fourth, using comprehensive research methods such as history, economics, sociology, demography, folklore, ethnology, and genetics, we will explore the development law of Chinese genealogical history in a multidisciplinary and multi-perspective manner.
Kung Fu does not live up to the hard work. Under the leadership of Mr. Wang, colleagues worked together, and the ten-volume "General Catalogue of Chinese Genealogy" edited by him won the 2nd China Publishing Government Award Book Award, the 11th Shanghai Book Award and the 10th Outstanding Book Award of Philosophy and Social Sciences in 2010; the genealogy was republished the following year after publication, and was selected into the 3rd National "Three Hundred" Original Publishing Project (Humanities and Social Sciences). Mr. Wang said that this is the best encouragement and encouragement for him to engage in genealogical data collation and research for more than ten years.
General Theory of Chinese Ancestral Halls
"General Theory" ancestral hall culture
In the agrarian society, the most important thing for a family is to repair the genealogy and build the ancestral hall, the family tree is a historical book that records the lineage and deeds of the clan, and is the text carrier of the family's historical memory; the ancestral hall is the house building of the family to worship the ancestors or the ancestors and gods, and is the physical carrier of the family's historical memory. In the family tree, the rich ancestral hall information is an important part of the family tree; in the ancestral hall, it is one of the important functions of the ancestral hall to discuss the cultivation of the genealogy, the tibetan genealogy and the examination of the genealogy. Therefore, the family tree and the ancestral hall are the two pillars of the Chinese peasant society and the family cohesion of the clan.
After Mr. Wang took out the manuscript of the "Family Tree", he immediately devoted himself to the writing of the book "Ancestral Hall". The other author of the book, Mr. Wang Cheng, is a "rising star" in the study of genealogy, who has been engaged in editing and publishing in the world book publishing company for a long time, and has devoted himself to the study of genealogy and literature and history in his spare time, and has published many papers. He assisted Mr. Wang Heming in collecting and sorting out the information of the ancestral hall, and did a lot of work in taking photos of the ancestral hall.
Mr. Wang Heming is a person with a heart, because there are a large number of ancestral hall materials in the genealogical data. His eyes had long been aimed at these ancestral hall materials, and he had made a special arrangement. The ancestral hall materials he collected and copied were piled up to be of equal height, especially the "Catalogue Volume" in the "Compilation of Chinese Genealogical Materials" that he was responsible for compiling, with one million words, of which 400,000 words were ancestral hall materials. After three years of hard work, "Ancestral Hall" came out again.
The "Ancestral Hall" and the "Family Tree" are roughly the same style, and the main body is divided into warp and weft. From the vertical aspect, the warp section discusses the development clues of Chinese ancestral halls, namely the origin of ancestral halls, the birth of the Zhou Dynasty, the tombs of the Han Dynasty, the family temples of the Tang Dynasty, the family ancestral halls of the Song Dynasty, the ancestral halls of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the contemporary ancestral halls; the weft edition discusses the types of Chinese ancestral halls, ancestral hall architecture, ancestral hall sacrifice etiquette, ancestral hall sacrifice fields, ancestral hall management, ancestral hall culture, and ancestral hall functions from the horizontal aspect.
Chinese ancestral halls have a long history, although in the past thirty years, the country has achieved fruitful results in research and published a number of books, but most of them are introductory knowledge books, or tourism works, and there is still no weighty academic treatise. Mr. Wang's "Ancestral Hall" fills the gap in this regard. In particular, the book proposes for the first time that the development of chinese ancestral halls in the past five thousand years is divided into seven stages: the origin of ancestral halls, the birth of the Zhou Dynasty, the tombs of the Han Dynasty, the family temples of the Tang Dynasty, the family ancestral halls of the Song Dynasty, the ancestral halls of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the contemporary ancestral halls. Among them, the expositions on the history of ancestral halls, the definition of ancestral halls, ancestral hall sacrifices, ancestral hall culture, and ancestral hall values have all developed, made breakthroughs and innovated on the basis of the research of predecessors.
At the recent launch ceremony of the new book "Ancestral Hall", many colleagues pointed out that "Ancestral Hall", like "Family Tree", is a work with detailed information, complete system, clear views and excellent analysis. It is of academic pioneering significance for further developing the cultural resources of Chinese ancestral halls and inheriting the traditional Chinese history and culture. In particular, the book makes a relatively full discussion on the cultural relics value, indoctrination value, root-seeking value, tourism value, cultural and entertainment value of contemporary ancestral halls, which is of great practical significance. In recent decades, in various parts of China's urban and rural areas, especially on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, there has been an upsurge in repairing family trees and building ancestral halls, and the publication of this book not only allows people to understand the historical trajectory of the development of China's ancestral halls and understand the value of ancestral halls from the viewpoint of historical materialism, but also provides a reliable and informative information basis for enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation and for Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan compatriots and overseas Chinese compatriots to come to the mainland to seek their roots and ancestors.
Mr. Wang has now entered the age of ancient rarity, but he is still tireless, diligent and swimming in the ocean of family trees. Last year, he cooperated with Wang Cheng to publish the "Atlas of the Genealogical History of China", which integrates scholarship, knowledge, and popularity, with rich pictures and texts, and is in-depth and simple. Now, he is working with his colleagues to compile a large-scale cultural project: "General Genealogy of Ethnic Minorities in China", and we look forward to her early appearance.
A General Theory of the Genealogy of Ethnic Minorities in China