In ancient China, the patriarchal clan system () of the Zhou cultural sphere was a primary means of group relations and power stratification prior to the

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended in 77 ...

and through the first half of the

Eastern Zhou The Eastern Zhou (256 BCE) is a period in Chinese history comprising the latter two-thirds of the Zhou dynasty. The period follows the Western Zhou era and is named due to the Zhou royal court relocating the capital eastward from Fenghao ...

dynasty. This method of social organisation underlay and prefigured the political workings of the Zhou state. The patriarchal system was based on

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

relations, with firstborn succession at its core, and played a role in maintaining the

political hierarchy and stabilizing social order. Together with the

ritual and music system The Chinese ritual and music system () is a social system that originated in the Zhou dynasty to maintain the social order. Together with the patriarchal system, it constituted the social system of the entire ancient China and had a great influ ...

it is seen as having been the foundation of Zhou society.

Overview

The Zhou people had the custom of building ancestral temples early on, and the clan temple housed a

Spirit tablet A spirit tablet, memorial tablet, or ancestral tablet is a placard that people used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor as well as to enclose it. The name of the deity or the past ancestor is usually inscribed onto the tablet. Wit ...

representing the

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

, and the number of shrines built inside depended on the hierarchical status of the patriarch. In addition to rituals, the temples were also used for major ceremonies and decisions, and had the character of a ceremonial hall. This respect for the ancestors strengthened the unity within the clan and stabilized the social structure. Complementing the clan temple system was the clan tomb system, in which nobles and state officials were buried en masse in public cemeteries during the Western Zhou and

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

. According to the three books of rites, all clansmen should be buried in the clan tomb, except for the murderous dead. The patriarch sometimes had to go to the clan tomb to report the ancestors when there was an urgent matter. The modern standard Chinese word for "surname" is . In the Western Zhou dynasty, ''

xing Xing may refer to: * an abbreviation for crossing such as Pedestrian crossing, Pedestrian Xing or Wildlife crossing, Wildlife Xing, primarily used in North America * Chinese surname (姓, ''xing'') * Xing (surname) (邢), a Chinese surname * Xing ...

'' (姓) and '' shi'' (氏) were two separate surnames, with the larger ''xing'' indicating shared aristocratic descent and ''shi'' being a branch lineage of ''xing'' based on geographic locale. The nobles were granted a

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

by their fathers when they were young, and

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

when they were adults. The courtesy name is taken at the Capping Ceremony or Maturity Ceremony; sometimes at marriage for women. For men, there are three characters in the full courtesy name of the individual aristocrat. The first character indicates the birth order that generation from eldest to youngest: 伯、仲、叔、季, occasionally 孟. The second character is arbitrary, and may echo names from previous generations or be consistent across all sons of the same father. The last character is a word for "father". This is similar to

cadency In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way to distinguish Coat of arms, arms displayed by Lineal descendant, descendants of the holder of a coat of arms when those family members have not been granted arms in their own right. Cadency is necessa ...

in Western heraldry. Similar to the clan society, the nobles of the Zhou dynasty forbade same-surname marriage.

References

{{Reflist Family history Ancient institutions in East Asia Ancient Chinese institutions Chinese clans

Overview

See also

References