CHINA BETWEEN EMPIRES (History of Imperial China) by Mark Edward LEWIS

Author:Mark Edward LEWIS
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-06-14T08:33:00+00:00

WHILE the fundamental structures of family organization did not change during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, several major new elements appeared. The basic unit at all levels of society remained the individual nuclear family living as a household and dividing property among all the sons, although larger lineages might have hundreds or thousands of households living in close proximity. As in the Eastern Han, some wealthy households consisted of three generations, but this pattern was not common.' However, new practices permitted those households to link up with related families and to redefine their own structure.

Lineage cemeteries and new festivals allowed families to join more distant kin and thereby seek cooperation or assistance. New forms of writing, or extended use of old forms, altered how larger kin groups conceived of their own membership. The rise of institutional religions provided a path for women to leave the household and take on a more active, public role, including the role of author. Finally, the Buddhist religion changed the relation of the living to the dead by providing rituals that could secure a better rebirth or afterlife. Some changes also placed a new emphasis on the relation of mothers and sons, modifying the exclusive father-son tie that defined the earlier lineage structure.

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