The Function of Ancestral Hall in the Modernization Process

Abstract

As the product of Confucianism, ancestral hall has a long history and is one of the representatives of Chinese traditional culture, also a typical traditional building in southern China, especially in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. In Max Weber's view, the clan culture organized around the ancestral hall seemed to contain all the irrational elements, and thus became one of the biggest obstacles to the generation of Chinese modernity. However, the actual situation today tells us that the ancestral hall has not disappeared in the process of China's modernization. It has become a landmark building in southeastern China and has played an active role in reconciling the negative impact of modernization on the urban. Based on combing the historical origin of the ancestral hall culture and the evolution process especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, this article reflects on Weber's theoretical assumptions about Chinese society and religion. On this basis, this article attempts to point out that ancestral hall and clan culture are not completely contrary to the development of capitalism. Eastern society represented by Southeast China has formed its own economic ethics on the basis of clan ethics, which may be different from the economic form of modern western industrial capitalism promoted by Protestant ethics.