Studies of Tujia Ancient Social System and Culture — Clan System Culture (Part 2)
Section 2: The Social Functions of the Clan. Over the long course of Tujia history, the clan, bound by blood ties and integrated with territorial ties, permeated every aspect of political, economic, and cultural life at the rural grassroots level, profoundly influencing traditional Tujia society. Clan organizations characterized by "honoring ancestors and uniting the clan" undertook ancestral sacrifices...
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Section 2 The Social Functions of the Clan
In the long historical process of the Tujia people, the clan, with blood relations as its bond and through combination with geographical ties, penetrated into every aspect of the political, economic, and cultural life of rural grassroots society, exerting a profound influence on traditional Tujia society. Clan organizations characterized by "revering the ancestors and gathering the clan" undertook important social functions such as ancestor worship, mutual aid among clan members, and internal clan autonomy.
I. Ancestor Worship
Sacrifice is an important ritual activity of the clan. Through the form of sacrificing to ancestors, the concept of shared blood descent from a common ancestor is strengthened, and an invisible bond can be formed to strengthen mutual ties within the family and clan, consolidate the hierarchy of superior and inferior, noble and humble, built on blood relations, and maintain family and clan unity. In many clan rules, exclusion from sacrifice was regarded as a form of punishment for clan members, in effect equivalent to expelling them from the clan; therefore, participating in the sacrificial activities of the clan organization was in fact also regarded as a way for clan members to obtain membership in the clan organization. Therefore, we believe that sacrifice was in essence an important means of enhancing the sense of identity and cohesion within the clan through ritual activities, and it had the significance of a cultural belief activity.
The forms of ancestor worship were none other than three: ancestral hall sacrifice, tomb sacrifice, and household sacrifice. "Ancestral hall sacrifice is a joint sacrifice of the whole clan, held either twice a year or once a year. If held twice, then in spring it was on the first month of the new year, or the second month of spring, or Qingming. In autumn and winter it was on the second month of autumn, the Double Ninth Festival, or the first day of the tenth month and the winter solstice. Each followed its own customs, and the customs were not uniform. If held once, it was either in spring or autumn, or in the first month of winter or at the winter solstice, also not uniform. The ceremony all used sheep, pigs, and various delicacies and performed the three-offering rite, presided over by the family head or one who held rank. After the sacrifice there was a banquet, or the sacrificial meat was distributed, which was the remnant of the ancient practice of sending sacrificial meat and seating according to age. Tomb sacrifice was held several times a year: in spring on Qingming and Hanshi, called the Qingming gathering. For the newly deceased, it was mostly before the earth god festival; in winter from the first day of the tenth month through the winter solstice, called sending winter clothing. In Dangyang, people swept yellow leaves on the ren day; besides this, sacrifices were also made on the first day of the new year and New Year's Eve, commonly called paying respects to the ancestors. But all regarded Qingming as the most important, all preparing wine and food and bringing drums and music to the tomb site, and after the libation they drank together. Household sacrifice regarded the Zhongyuan Festival and the birthdays and death anniversaries of parents as most important, when offerings of food had to be prepared and paper bundles burned, called the year's soup and rice. As for the offerings on the first and fifteenth of the month, the presentation of new produce, and the sacrifices at the seasonal festivals of the four seasons, the rites were all comparatively simple. This is the general outline of the common practices of ancestor sacrifice in the various counties." Among these three forms, the ancestral hall sacrifice and tomb sacrifice, jointly offered by the whole clan, were the most solemn, and their effect in harmonizing the clan and gathering its members was also the most notable.
In the Tujia areas, each clan organization had clear regulations on ancestor worship. For example, the "Wu Family Rules and Regulations" in the Genealogy of the Wu Clan of Jianshi Lineage had special provisions on sacrificial activities: "Sacrifices are divided into two each year, spring and autumn. The spring sacrifice is set for the eighteenth day of the second month, and the autumn sacrifice for the eighteenth day of the eighth month. However, under special circumstances, the date may be postponed by a public decision of the family council. All members of the clan, old and young, male and female, must assemble, but those over seventy years of age and those under ten years of age may be exempt from this requirement. The sacrifice shall forever be fixed as the kneeling and bowing rite. In the sacrifice, the eldest and most honored among the three branches shall preside over the central niche, the next eldest and next most honored shall separately preside over the zhao and mu niches, and the remaining assistant sacrificants shall all be distributed according to the three branches. The ceremonial details of the sacrifice shall be separately determined."
Ancestor worship in Tujia areas can be divided into three forms: shrine sacrifice, tomb sacrifice, and household sacrifice. Shrine sacrifice is a spring and autumn ritual held when clan members gather in the ancestral hall during the two solar terms of Qingming and Dongzhi. Some clans only perform sacrifices on the Double Ninth Festival, called autumn sacrifice, also known as annual sacrifice. Before the sacrifice, generally several people of honest and generous character are selected from the clan to take turns planning the sacrificial ceremony and preparing sacrificial vessels. Two days before the Double Ninth Festival each year, they must select and buy sheep and pigs, prepare sacrificial utensils, and set up two people before the ancestral tablets to supervise the ceremony; the chief sacrificer, assistant sacrificers, and officiants must all fast and bathe, and stay overnight in the ancestral hall in advance in order to become familiar with the sacrificial rites. When the sacrifice begins, "the old and young, the noble and humble, all gather from far and near, and respectfully and solemnly perform according to family rites," and "all chief sacrificers and participants should conduct the affair with sincerity and reverence, as if facing the ancestors." In the process of holding sacrificial ceremonies, each clan stipulated a complete set of formatted ritual procedures. Generally speaking, when each clan held the two great spring and autumn sacrifices in the ancestral hall, they not only had to prepare abundant sacrificial dishes, but also had to read a formal sacrificial text; the content of the sacrificial text mostly praised the ancestors' merits and virtues, explained the clan's origins, and called on clan members to bring glory to their ancestors. After reading the sacrificial text, most clans "especially had to proclaim family instructions and family rules in the hall, so that the worthy became worthier and the foolish gradually became enlightened. This may be one way to alert the ear and warn the heart, and to turn toward good and away from evil." Finally, clan members "partook of the ancestral wine and sweet liquor" in the ancestral hall; after eating, the sacrificial ceremony ended.
Tomb sacrifice generally took place each year on Qingming or Dahan. On the sacrificial day, clan members, led by the clan head or an elder of the clan, went to the ancestral graves to pay respects and offer sacrifice. Compared with shrine sacrifice, the ceremony of tomb sacrifice was relatively simple, and the offerings prepared were also much fewer. During tomb sacrifice, a formal sacrificial text also had to be read. For example, the tomb sacrifice text recorded in the Changyang Qin Clan Genealogy reads as follows: "For the revered relative so-and-so, who departed this dust in such-and-such a year, whose soul returned to this place, many years have passed. As the seasons flow and change, and rain and dew have moistened the earth, we look upon and sweep the grave mound, overcome with remembrance. Respectfully with pure offerings and sacrificial grain we reverently present the seasonal observances. We humbly pray that the honored spirit will accept this single drop, forever establish peace without misfortune, and bestow blessings upon descendants. May it be enjoyed!" During tomb sacrifice, generally the earth god was also worshiped along with it. The text for worshiping the earth god reads as follows: "Now so-and-so's relative so-and-so is peacefully interred in this place. On an auspicious day, I personally perform the seasonal observances; timely protection depends entirely on the god's blessing. Respectfully with pure offerings and sweet sacrificial grain, I present this devout sacrifice. We humbly pray that the honored god will come and accept, and forever bestow protective blessings. May it be enjoyed!" Household sacrifice, also called "sacrificing to the family ancestors," was a worship activity held in each household for the successive generations of ancestors of one's own clan and lineage on every New Year and festival and on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month. On the shrine in the center of the main hall of each Tujia household was placed a wooden ancestral tablet of the clan ancestors, called the "ancestor tablet." Especially at New Year and Qingming, the ancestor tablet had to be taken down and washed clean, then incense, wine, and tea were offered, and worship was conducted according to ritual. Household sacrifice, in terms of its manner of sacrifice, was a private sacrificial activity. In some Tujia areas, the "family ancestors" worshiped in household sacrifice included not only the patrilineal blood ancestors of one's own clan, but also the Tuwang. The custom of household sacrifice in which the Tuwang, who had no blood relationship, was worshiped together with the blood ancestors of one's own clan reflects the regional characteristics of Tujia clan sacrifice.
II. Mutual Aid Among Clan Members
In the clan rules of ordinary clans, there were provisions requiring clan members to help one another in production and daily life, mainly including jointly building public facilities, mutually providing labor, assisting the weak, and replenishing charitable granaries.
Living together as a clan was the basic pattern of residence in ancient China. A family generally lived in the same village, and thus there were inevitably some public facilities that required clan members to jointly undertake the tasks of construction and maintenance, such as building roads, digging wells and canals, and constructing village walls, which naturally required clan members to contribute labor. Because each household had different amounts of labor power, and some households lacked labor, generally the principle of equal apportionment was followed: those with strength contributed strength, those without strength contributed money, and those truly without strength or money were not forced, reflecting consideration for the weak.
Within the clan, mutual cooperation and mutual assistance were also advocated in order to solve temporary shortages of manpower within households. In busy farming seasons, mutual exchange and sharing of labor and animal power was the minimum requirement of the clan for its members. Providing relief to the weak within the clan was not only an indispensable part of each clan's rules, but was also encouraged by successive dynasties. This was because clan relief to the weak was undoubtedly a substitute for the state's performance of social relief functions and played a role in reducing factors of social instability. During the Han Dynasty, when urging mutual aid among villagers, Cui Shi said the following: "In the third month, on this day, winter grain may be exhausted and wheat is not yet ripe, so one should comply with the yang and spread virtue, relieve and assist the poor and needy, and strive to give to the nine branches of the clan; ... In the ninth month, inquire after the orphans, widows, elderly, and weak among the nine branches of the clan who cannot support themselves, and distribute generous aid and set aside heavy stores to save them from cold; in the tenth month ... when the five grains have been harvested and households have accumulated stores, one should comply with the seasonal ordinances and regulate funeral matters; for those in the same clan who are poor and have long been unable to bury their dead, one should gather clan members to undertake it together." Here, Cui Shi, according to the characteristics of different seasons, proposed different relief measures for impoverished clan members, and even proposed that clan members should help poor families handle funerals and jointly contribute to funerary expenses. In addition, for clan members with no one to rely on, the clan also had to provide relief and help them through their later years. Of course, most clans simply could not do this.
The charitable granary first appeared in the Sui Dynasty; it referred to granaries established in various places to guard against famine. The Book of Sui, Biography of Zhangsun Ping states: "It was memorialized that among the people, each autumn household should contribute less than one dan of millet and wheat, with differences according to wealth, stored in the lanes and alleys to prepare for bad years, and it was called a charitable granary." Although the earliest charitable granaries were established by the government, they were local in nature and used only by the local common people. Therefore, clans all supported the establishment of charitable granaries and actively helped government authorities complete the task of running them. The establishment of charitable granaries indeed played a certain role in solving the lean period for poor households, addressing severe regional famines, and helping people get through years of famine. This embodied people's ideas of storing grain against famine and mutual assistance. Because when replenishing charitable granaries, the principle of "differences according to wealth" was upheld, while when distributing from charitable granaries, use was basically equal.
Mutual aid among Tujia clan members was fully embodied in both production and daily life. Carrying out mutual aid in production and daily life was an unwritten rule of Tujia clan organizations, and its forms included "helping with labor," "exchange labor," and economic relief among branch families. For example, if a clan member's household encountered difficulties in production, the clan head would take the initiative to invite fellow clan members and others to help with farming, which was called "helping with labor." In addition, when someone in the clan married or held a funeral, fellow clan relatives and friends also had to go to "help with labor." Tujia people called marriage "red gathering"; from hiring a matchmaker to welcoming the bride, the host family would take the initiative to visit fellow clan relatives and friends and ask them to come help manage the wedding. Tujia people called holding a funeral "white gathering"; no matter whose family in the same clan had a death, everyone would take the initiative to come to the bereaved family's home, first to comfort the family of the deceased and sing mourning songs through the night while keeping vigil, and second to assist in planning and handling the funeral until it was completed. "Exchange labor" generally meant exchanging labor for labor and repaying labor with labor. The partners in "exchange labor" and the length of time were decided according to production needs. During busy farming seasons such as digging soil and hoeing grass, transplanting rice seedlings, and threshing grain, labor exchange within the clan was relatively frequent. For individual farming households with large production areas and little labor, when they could not exchange labor for labor, they could also repay with money or grain.
Within Tujia clan organizations, various associations were established to cope with natural and man-made disasters and to carry out economic relief. Tujia people called this kind of association organization "inviting a society." For example, in the hunting activity of "driving the hunt," Tujia people established the "Meishan Society" to handle accidental casualties. When Tujia people went up the mountains to hunt, they had to invite companions and gather a group, form an association, and elect an experienced and resourceful old hunter from the clan as its head to preside over mountain hunting affairs and take charge of distributing game and arranging for the injured or dead. The eighth day of the second lunar month each year was the birthday of the Earth Bodhisattva. The clan head would invite clan members, contribute money to run the association, kill pigs and chickens, gather at the clan's earth shrine, worship the earth god, and have each household raise a certain amount of money and grain to serve as public funds within the clan for relieving impoverished clan members, which was called the "Earth Society." In addition, Tujia people also organized the "Elders' Society" to help orphaned and widowed elderly people within the clan. Each household in the clan donated a certain amount of money and grain at the autumn grain harvest, which was stored in the clan ancestral hall, first for the daily livelihood of the clan's helpless elderly, and second for funeral expenses when they died.
III. Internal Clan Self-Governance
The clan was a relatively loose self-governing group formed naturally, and it played a certain role in the self-governance of grassroots society under the rule of state power. Especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, clan organizations combined with the lijia system and baojia system and gradually evolved into political organizations of rural society. In feudal society, the clan, as a link extending the state organizational system down to the family, played a very important role in maintaining social order in villages where clans lived together. The functions of the clan in maintaining social order included two aspects: first, maintaining order within the clan, and second, preventing external intrusion.
Maintaining order within the clan was mainly achieved by formulating and enforcing clan rules to prevent theft and other acts infringing on clan members' interests, so that clan members could live in a relatively stable environment. Once theft, destruction, gambling, and similar acts occurred, the clan would certainly impose severe punishment, often exceeding the scope permitted by state law. But this was protected by state law; the clan was performing the function of maintaining social order on behalf of the state.
Preventing external intrusion was in fact the self-defense function of clan organizations. Generally speaking, most neighboring clans could get along amicably, and some even intermarried for generations. However, disputes and conflicts often arose over boundaries, water rights, farmland, livestock, grazing, and other matters. At that time, the main way to resolve these contradictions and disputes was mediation between clans, with the clan heads or other principal persons of both parties sitting together to negotiate a settlement. The clan heads or other principal persons of both parties often stood on the side of their own clan's disputants, arguing for their reasoning and interests, so it was very difficult to achieve a fair resolution of contradictions and disputes; on the contrary, it often intensified them and ultimately led to confrontation between clans. Resolving clan confrontation depended on the contest of strength between the two sides, and was often settled through "armed clashes" between the two clans; therefore, "armed clashes" frequently occurred in ancient times. In order to protect the personal safety of their own people, clans on the one hand built village walls, and on the other trained clan members, turning them into "quasi-military personnel."
In traditional patriarchal society, the clan head was the maintainer and leader of the clan organization, managing and presiding over all internal clan affairs. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, as a grassroots self-governing organization commended and encouraged by the government, the major Tujia surnames in Xuan'en County basically all had the position of clan head, generally held by someone in the clan who was of high moral prestige, of substantial family means, impartial and selfless, and of outstanding achievement. Once someone was elected clan head, the authority granted to him by clan members was also extremely great. If any clan member deliberately violated clan regulations, the clan head also had the right to "impose appropriate punishment by family law within a scope not conflicting with state law."
In the Tujia areas of western Hubei, the discipline exercised by each clan head over members of his own clan was quite strict. For clan members who blasphemed elders, disrupted family rites, or despised clan authority, a private tribunal could be set up within the clan to subject them to caning, kneeling as punishment, fines, and so on; for "arrogant villains" who violated moral order, broke the law and discipline, and brought disaster upon the clan, they could be directly bound and sent to the government to be dealt with by officials; for clan members guilty of "heinous crimes," such as theft, adultery by a widow, or loss of chastity by a young woman, matters that disgraced the clan's reputation, they could be beaten to death, hanged, or drowned. The Hou Clan Genealogy of Xuan'en County describes in relative detail the powers held by the Hou clan head:
(1) If someone in the clan committed theft or robbery, they could be buried alive or thrown into a "sky pit" (a naturally formed deep pit), and a full-clan assembly had to be convened to approve and carry out the punishment, in order to warn future offenders.
(2) Those who violated family rules were punished by kneeling in the main hall and kowtowing to elders in apology; those who refused to submit were punished by beating with bamboo boards, slapping, or prolonged kneeling, sometimes for several days, until they recognized their mistake, found a guarantor to secure their release, and guaranteed never to offend again.
(3) If someone violated state law and fled, the clan head had the right to organize the whole clan to arrest and bring them to justice and hand them over to the government for punishment, so as to avoid implicating the nine kindred.
(4) If anyone in the whole clan was unfilial to their parents, the clan head had the right to send them to the government to be punished for the crime of unfiliality.
(5) If people of another clan bullied someone within the clan, the clan head would come forward to "reason things out" and resolve it.
Clans were tightly bound and linked through ties of blood kinship. In order to maintain clan blood kinship, clan members had to relieve and help one another, and as blood clan consciousness strengthened, the patriarchal concept that "those of the same surname share the same virtue, those of the same virtue share the same heart, and those of the same heart share the same purpose" penetrated and became deeply rooted in the minds of clan members, becoming an invisible force governing clan behavior. Clan armed clashes were triggered under the influence and drive of this consciousness and these concepts.
Professor Sun Qiuyun pointed out in the book Community History and Township Administration and Village Governance that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to resist natural disasters and defend against man-made calamities, people in the Tujia areas of Xuan'en County often aided one another and helped each other in emergencies, and moreover, because interactions were constrained by ethics, village regulations and agreements, and law, frictions and armed clashes between clans were not commonly seen. However, in some places, especially where powerful clans and great surnames lived together, incidents of "clan armed clashes" did indeed occur because of "defending the clan, defending the surname, and defending toughness." For example, in Shadao Langanping, the Qin and Zhu surnames at that time had extremely powerful clan forces. Among the Qin clan, Qin Sanwa was the local clan leader, known as Lord Qin San; it was said that if others passed by his gate on horseback, they had to dismount and lead the horse on foot. The Zhu clan, relying on its large population and flourishing clan, and with official backing, also dominated one area locally. But "one mountain cannot contain two tigers," and the two sides often fought over local hegemony, neither yielding to the other. Later the Zhu clan bribed a man on Tianjiabao called "Tian Paozi Rou" to kill Qin Sanwa on the road. The Qin clan was furious and gathered more than 100 Qin surname members to rush to Tianjiabao, carrying out large-scale burning, killing, and looting; dozens of households in Tianjiabao fled one after another. Because the murderer was not caught, the Qin clan members were still unwilling to let it go, so they placed the deceased's coffin in the main hall of another Tian clan member, "Tian Dazhongren," and tied "Tian Dazhongren" beneath the coffin to cushion the corpse. Another example is Aishan Village in Gaoluo Township, where the Li clan was relatively powerful at the time, and clan head Li Hucheng also served as township head of Gaoluo Township, with weapons and men. The Tian surname were descendants of the Tuwang and were "locals," numerous and powerful, and could be called a local overlord. Once, a Tian clan member named Tian Dongshan went to Li Hucheng's home to borrow a daddou (a farm tool used when harvesting rice in the fields), and got into an argument with people of the Li family; Tian Dongshan was beaten. When the Tian clan got the news, they immediately gathered a large group of people, took up "tools" (such as firearms, firewood knives, hoes, long tobacco pipes, and so on), rushed to the Li family, and began fighting with the Li family. Later Li Hucheng, out of fear, hurriedly fled on horseback. The Tian surname pursued him with all their strength, chasing him all the way to Banliao, more than forty li from Aishan, before turning back. After Li Hucheng escaped, he did not dare return to Aishan for more than a month. It can be seen that in the Tujia areas in history, clan organizations, as self-governing groups in rural social life, always tightly united clan members and possessed tremendous cohesion and centripetal force. Once conflict arose with other forces, the power and energy released by people under the drive of clan consciousness were enormous; therefore, while clan organizations maintained rural social order, they were also a potential force disrupting rural social stability.