The Lineage System of Fenghuang Village

Abstract

After Maurice Freedman's studies on lineage organization in China's Han communities, many related studies emerged. Their origins can be traced back to studies on Fenghuang village. Daniel Harrison Kulp first described the lineage groups of Fenghuang village in his book. He said that lineage is patrilineal, with members sharing the same surname and practicing exogamy; and that a lineage is composed of many subgroups, such as sex groups, economic groups, and ancestral groups. But his views concerning lineage are still ambiguous and he confuses lineage with sib. According to James L. Watson, the basic differences between lineage and sib are: (1) lineage has definitive descent relationships and its direct ancestors are known; the descent relationship of sib is not clear, and its ancestors are often mythological figures; (2) only those born within a lineage can become lineage members; a sib only accepts group members and a group joins a sib by its own choice. According to this distinguishing rule, Fenghuang village obviously is a lineage organization and not a sib. Kulp's description of its organization is incomplete due to his ambiguous concept of lineage. Thus we reanalyzed the lineage organization of Fenghuang village and tried to describe its lineage organization more completely. During the survey, five indicators were used to determine whether a lineage exists: (1) common blood relationship; (2) residence within specific areas; (3) common properties, such as an ancestral hall, a field leased to others, with the rental collected for relief of the needy among ones own lineage, and fields for supporting schools; (4) ancestral worship rituals; and (5) notion of lineage.