Family and Chinese Culture

Family was and continued central to Chinese society; however, it faced change through the Northern and Southern Dynasties period through a combination of influencing factors including the rise and fall of diverse states. Throughout the period, different political entities, new status definitions and emerging religious beliefs modified or maintained the family as an important social unit. Changes differed amongst social classes and geographical location. While families remained a powerful social unit, the period established possible precedents for societal realignments.
During the N & S Dynasties period families increased power often at the state’s hands. Cao Cao, aware of the established system of recommendations, invented a new Nine Rank method (Lewis, II, 38). He clearly stated the basis of such a method, “as long as a man is talented, he should be recommended”; it rejected family ties as a basis of power (Lewis, II, 39). Despite the attempt to avert family power, under the Sima, the system changed allowing familial ties to dictate candidates (Lewis, II, 42). With the establishment of military and agricultural state established colonies, the state attempted to garner its own base of power (Lewis, II, 55). However, the newly founded Jin, trying to acquire support granted the agricultural colonies to the families (Lewis, II, 57). These concessions demonstrate the power family units already played; the grants only increased their influence as a document notes, “honored and powerful households were able to mobilize hundreds of workers” (Lewis, II, 57). The colonies mainly affected the lower class recruiting them for service. In time these positions opened opportunities for these commoners as military service became hereditary. Xie An and Huan Wen both emerged from this service and gained great political power.
Another state policy increasing familial power occurred in the South where the state left irrigation and land cultivation to estate holders. Their involvement helped them develop technologies which granted greater wealth and power (Lewis, II, 13). Under different government systems great families augmented their power bases in unique ways. In the North with its lack of established political order, families developed armies giving them leverage (Lewis, II, 33). Southern China, a lush and agriculturally rich land, saw families amass estates and enter the court’s social elite (Lewis, II, 53). In the North, families formed a strong kinship link as a writer puts, “the northern lands emphasize sharing a surname, and call all such people ‘blood kin’” (Lewis, II, 130). Southern families while establishing huge estates tended to subdivide property. A memorial reveals families dividing possessions and turning cold shoulders to family members (Lewis, II, 131).The differences raises the question: could these be linked to political circumstances or did other societal structures encourage these dissimilarities?
Rising from the hereditary nature of the military colonies and the Nine Rank system came the practice of listing genealogies. These became essential to gain political office and those members who contributed nothing to an increase in rank were dropped from the chronology (Lewis, II, 134). Such a practice perhaps indicates a rising fissure point which defined kin on political grounds instead of filial piety. The Cui demonstrates the change. A Cui leader emphasized serving family before state, yet upon integrating into the Northern Wei court loyalty began disintegrating (Lewis, II, 133). With the Northern Wei’s split, Cui members sided with political leaders (Lewis, II, 133). Lewis notes northern and southern families increasingly adopted similar values; if so, they began placing importance upon political or social gain (Lewis, II, 134). Thus, while the Nine Rank method subverted to familial advantage, the rise of hereditary rank and genealogies turned the attention on political alliances versus kinship links. The state might yet work to divide family allegiances.
Another aspect defining social organization during the period is the emergence of a new social elitism that redefined status. Beginning with the “pure critique” movement, families developed a new self-definition which focused on literary and intellectual accomplishments (Lewis, II, 30-31). Lewis argues this led to a militarily weak south. Another aspect these new pursuits brought was individualism. Liu Fang contrasting the northern and southern people states, “families of the south are refined, so they value the exceptional individual” (Lewis, II, 134). The emphasis on cultivation and accomplishment created a breach between merit based on family line and inborn talent. Zhong Rong wrote Rankings of Poetry where he categorized poets based on aptitude not family ties, indicating the rise of a new value system based on the individual’s own qualities (Lewis, II, 235). Developments in poetry increasingly encouraged self expression. Cao Zhi’s “Mulberry on the Bank” is a reflection of his own feelings (Lewis, II, 228). Thus, the individual and his feelings are brought to the forefront. Writer Yan Zhitui, critiques anyone who without study wages war, revealing the basis of evaluation and the value placed on self-cultivation (Lewis, II, 68). With an individualistic focus, the communal nature of the family unit begins to break apart. The disunion of Southern family organization may reflect a focus on the characteristics of individuals rather than family ties or land of birth.
As Chinese families faced changes in the political and social spheres, they also embraced new religions. Daoism and Buddhism emerged strong integrating into the state and society. The Northern Wei, under different rulers, espoused either religion at a certain time (Lewis, II, 207). Buddhism’s influence from the state to the common level is clear from the carvings at Yangang and Longmen where inscriptions from each social class are found (Lewis, II, 209). Southern courts embraced the religion wholeheartedly with emperors participating in the religious rituals (Lewis, II, 206). The state’s involvement encouraged the spread and adoption of Buddhism. The Northern Wei instituted a chief monk and created samgha households where prisoners worked at Buddhist monasteries (Lewis, II, 207). Emperor Wu of Liang, in hosting large scale religious events reinforced the new faith (Lewis, II, 206). Buddhism began to exude and exert a significant influence upon the court. The Eastern Jin and other southern dominions exempted monks from bowing to the emperor (Lewis, II, 206). Such a development highlights a new power over the government. While the state supported Buddhism, it did not create or institute it as the First Emperor of the Qin with his feng and shen rituals. Being a separate entity, it possessed the possibility of turning against the state or society. Its rising power is revealed in the tale where the local population, observing an image “cry” interpreted the event as a sign of an impending disaster; so powerful was the belief that the government ordered the locals not to gaze upon the image. Here, belief wielded the authority to threaten the established social order and government. Texts, attached to sutras found in Dunhuang, hold prayers revealing the peoples’ desires and hopes they wish fulfilled through the act. One individual prays for his family and that, “the state may be preserved from pestilence” (Entry 3). Here the Army Superintendant expects acceptance and a response to his prayers in which he includes the state. The religion was granting individuals a voice for personal wishes through prayer, a powerful tool which could eventually be wielded against the state. Just as individualism appeared through literary works, so it entered through Buddhism. The Sect of the Three Stages emphasized the Buddha nature in all, opening the door to transcend class status and value each individual on a different basis (Lewis, II, 214). Buddhism offered to all the promise of an afterlife as it seen in the Army Superintendent’s wish for his parents to reach the “Pure Land” (Dunhuang Texts, Entry 3). With the concept of an afterlife it maintained the link between ancestors and live family members. As Buddhism infiltrated Chinese society, it became a fundamental part of funerary practices and rituals since monks needed to facilitate (Lewis, II, 189). While the state played a part in spurring the rise of Daoism and especially Buddhism, the religion maintained autonomous. Being a separate entity, it could be manipulated either by the state or influential families or it could exert its own authority on the two. It opened the door to commoners and infiltrated familial funerary practices and beliefs about ancestors. While tying family to ancestors it granted individual worth on the basis of individual potential. Thus Buddhism readjusted social organization to include commoners and insert an entity which families could maneuver over the state.
To conclude, while family continued as an important social unit during the N & S dynasties the period brought developments which could fracture the unity. State initiatives or lack of it allowed families to augment their clout. Those efforts meaning to avoid family power became structures toward the opposite goal. The rising interest in self-cultivation introduced a sense of individualism. This same idea is visible through Buddhism and the use of genealogies for political gain. Each established precedents for valuing people on individual talent or worth which could fracture the cohesion and interdependence of family lines. Additionally, society may begin to subdivide alliances on “acculturation”, religion or political party leading to a fracturing of the basic social cell. If self-cultivation, identification with a religious belief or political loyalty became categories for group formation and establishment, the culture could reorganize in relation to memberships rather than family ties. If these fissure points developed, the society’s life cell would be threatened and could define family choices after Sui abolished the Nine Rank System (Lewis, II, 250).

References
Lewis, Mark. China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University, 2009.
Dunhuang Texts. Handout in “Chinese History to 600 A.D.” Lecture, Western Washington
University, Bellingham WA, July 2009.