Study of Institutional Culture in Ancient Tujia Society—Marriage System Culture (III)
1. Family Types. Old-style Tujia families can be roughly divided into two types: consanguineal and non-consanguineal. Consanguineal families are those passed down through the paternal line. Generally, they consist of parents and children forming a co-residing, co-property 'nuclear family,' but there are also 'stem families' of three generations—some with three generations under one roof, others with four...
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I. Family Types
The old-style families of the Tujia can be roughly divided into two types: consanguineous families and non-consanguineous families. A consanguineous family is one passed down through the paternal line. Generally, it consists of parents and their children forming a "nuclear family" that lives together and shares property, but there are also "stem families" composed of three generations of grandparents, parents, and children. Such families include those with three generations under one roof as well as those with four generations under one roof, also called "common-ancestor families."
There were three situations in the composition of non-consanguineous families: First, a family composed of a husband, his remarried wife, and the children of different surnames she brought with her. "When a husband dies, few wives remain chaste, so stepfathers are honored in two households, and many share the same mother. When a father dies and there are no uncles or elder brothers to raise the orphans, they follow their mother in remarriage, and there are quite a few cases of one person having two surnames." Second, a family composed of parents, a daughter, and a live-in son-in-law. Mao Junde's Treaty states: "A son-in-law who provides for them in old age also has a different surname. In the old days, when Tujia people had no son, they took the son-in-law as a son." Third, a family composed of a childless couple and an adopted son of a different surname (that is, establishing a son of a different surname as heir). "When Tujia people have no son, regardless of different surname, they establish one as a son. There are cases where the name is that of grandparent and grandchild, or father and son, but in reality there are two or three surnames." Regarding the composition of non-consanguineous families, there were corresponding legal provisions during the Tusi period: "The evil custom of confusing the lineage should be prohibited. ... Henceforth, if there are those without a son, according to law they should first establish a full brother's son or nephew, next a first cousin's, then a second cousin's, and in order establish a nephew as heir. If there is no nephew to establish, then from distant branches and among those of the same surname, establish one according to generational order, to carry on ancestral sacrifices and transmit the family property. ... Now for all families that take in a son-in-law to provide for them in old age, if they have no descendants, they should still according to law establish one person from among those of the same clan who ought to succeed, and divide the family property equally; they may not, merely because they have a son-in-law, fail to establish another and cut off their ancestral sacrifices. Violators shall be punished according to the law against confusing the lineage. The law also records that an only son may not be given out as a live-in son-in-law; violators shall be prosecuted."
The old-style families of the Tujia belonged to the typical patriarchal authoritarian family. Within the family, the head of the household held the great power to discipline family members, manage family property, organize and direct family production, and organize the supply of family life, and controlled the fate of the whole family. Therefore, the one who enjoyed the power of head of household had to be the most senior elder in the family. In a family including only two generations, parents and children, the father was the head; in a family including three generations, grandparents, parents, and children, the grandfather was the head. The patriarchal authoritarian families of the Tujia also bore a strong patriarchal-clan color, and each family was linked to lineages and clans of varying sizes. Several families of the same surname formed a lineage branch, called a "fangtou." The duty of the "fangtou" was to handle related affairs within the lineage according to regulations, such as inheritance of descendants and property, and marriage of men and women. Several "fangtou" in turn formed a clan, with one clan head and one ancestral hall. The clan head handled disputes among the various "fangtou" within the clan and between "fangtou" and families according to clan rules, and organized sacrifices to ancestors, handled inter-clan affairs, and so on.
II. Child-Rearing Rituals and Customs
Tujia families dissolved religious belief culture into child-rearing rituals and customs, forming child-rearing rituals and customs that ran through three stages: seeking a child, pregnancy, and celebrating the birth of an infant. These rituals and customs contain certain elements of traditional Tujia culture and are one of the markers of the Tujia's ethnic character and regional features.
In the Tujia ethnic minority areas, there are various taboos and customs related to seeking children, pregnancy, and childbirth. Before a married woman becomes pregnant, her parents take offerings to the Tuwang Temple on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month to pray for a child, worshiping the Tuwang and ancestral spirits to grant new life. Alternatively, during festivals, dragon dancers carry dragon lanterns and circle around the non-pregnant woman three times, and then a boy rides on the dragon and circles in front of the ancestral hall three times, known as 'Qilin Bringing a Child.' In the Tujia areas of western Hunan, there is also the custom of 'stealing melons to bring a child,' where the non-pregnant woman sleeps with a stolen melon for one night and then eats it all, deeply believing she will be blessed with a precious son. According to the 'Changle County Annals': 'Picking melons from others' gardens, if one observes a neighbor hoping for a child, this melon is wrapped in colorful red cloth and sent to their home with music and formal attire, as an auspicious sign for a boy. If a child is indeed born the following year, a grand feast must be prepared to express gratitude.' In the Tujia areas of western Hunan, it is forbidden to dig soil, build, or move furniture around a pregnant woman's house, as it is believed this would disturb the dragon's energy and might cause miscarriage or premature birth. In the Tujia ethnic areas of western Hubei, after a woman becomes pregnant, a Tulaosi (Tujia ritual specialist) is invited to perform rituals to 'secure the pregnancy,' ward off evil spirits, and pray for ancestral blessings. A sieve and mugwort grass are hung on the main hall door, commonly known as the 'Golden Bell Divine Cover,' to protect the pregnant woman's room. In the Tujia ethnic areas of western Hunan, after a baby is born, the family invites a Tulaosi or a fortune-teller to physiognomize the newborn and calculate their Bazi (Eight Characters). If the child has a 'hard fate,' they must acknowledge nominal kinship, which is called 'guoji' (adoption).
The Tujia also held birth rituals for infants. First, "washing the third morning"; second, "sending congratulatory rice." After the infant was born, the father had to carry a "good-news chicken" in his arms to the mother-in-law's home to announce the good news. If a boy was born, a rooster was used to announce the good news; if a girl was born, a hen was used. On the third day after the infant's birth, water was boiled with herbs such as perilla, mugwort leaves, and garlic skins to bathe the infant, called "washing the third morning." First the maternal grandmother washed the head with three handfuls of water, then the midwife washed the infant's whole body; at the same time, the infant's grandfather or father worshipped the household gods with incense, wax, and paper, praying for the ancestors to protect the infant's peace and smoothness. On the day the infant was one month old, a full-month banquet had to be held, also called "congratulatory rice wine." Relatives and friends who came to drink the "congratulatory rice wine" had to give congratulatory gifts, called "sending congratulatory rice." The gifts were mostly clothes, hats, socks, chickens, eggs, fish, meat, and the like. "Congratulatory rice wine," as a birth ritual, had a whole set of procedures. First, firecrackers were set off to welcome the relatives and clan members who came to offer congratulations; next, the infant was carried to the front of the main hall to bow to the ancestral gods; after the guests were seated, the infant was carried by the father from the head table to bow to each table and ask for "dafa," that is, the guests gave the infant reward money.
III. Property Inheritance
After the monogamous marriage system was established, inheritance of Tujia family property mainly occurred among male members of the family, and women were deprived of the right to inherit property. This custom of inheritance by direct male descendants was further divided into two forms, namely primogeniture and inheritance by all sons.
Primogeniture means that family property was monopolized by or preferentially distributed to the eldest son. Because the Tujia had the tradition of the eldest son supporting his parents, and were deeply influenced by the patriarchal-clan thought of the Han Chinese system of inheritance by the legitimate eldest son in the interior, the eldest son enjoyed certain privileges when dividing the family and analyzing property. Inheritance by all sons means that family property was divided equally among all sons, without the custom of priority inheritance by the youngest or eldest son, also called the equal-division system. However, a son who lived with and supported his parents could receive certain consideration when dividing the family and analyzing property. For the distribution of property in families without heirs, it was generally decided by the clan head. The usual method of disposal was: first take the family property into the ancestral hall, then "eat the extinct estate" according to different circumstances. For families with no son that took in a live-in son-in-law, the live-in son-in-law could receive a portion of the property, and the remaining portion was taken into the ancestral hall as public property of the clan members; for families that established a person of the same clan and surname as heir, the adopted son was regarded as a relative of the same clan and had the legal right to inherit the family property; for families that established a person of another clan and surname as heir, because the adopted son was not a relative of the same clan, only after holding the adoption and ancestor-worship ceremony and changing to the adoptive father's surname did he have the right to inherit the family estate.
In his article "A Preliminary Discussion of the Property Inheritance System of China's Ethnic Minorities," Mr. Liu Longchu summarized the basic principles of the property inheritance system in ethnic minority areas of traditional society. He believed that in class societies where slavery and feudalism existed, property inheritance among ethnic minorities was linked to kinship relations of the same clan as stipulated by the patriarchal-clan system, and was based on paternal blood relations; property had to be retained within the family blood-kinship organization and inherited jointly by the family members of the lineage; and property inheritance complemented the succession of the "ancestral line" (that is, the line of descent). We believe that these basic principles are equally applicable to the analysis of family property inheritance relations in traditional Tujia society.