Source:

01-13-2006 16:57

Huizhou, in southeast China, was an area renowned for maintaining some of the country’s most archaic customs. Huizhou people were deeply attached to their own home areas and family clans were tightly knit. Ancestral temples were the focal point of important family events and family genealogies were the most treasured possessions. Trade was the main occupation in Huizhou and learning was highly valued. Many of the most successful clans engaged in business as a family while family members in local government smoothed their way. Local commodity monopolies, especially in salt, made such families incredibly wealthy.

Ancestral temples can be found throughout China but in Huizhou they became a prime social focus. Any action that brought honour to the clan was recognized before the ancestors in the temple. Serious wrongdoings were also publicly criticized in front of the ancestors. Successful businessmen would spend the greatest part of their profits on the temple and other clan buildings, leaving little to expand the business. Family ties were also recorded in genealogical tables. The written genealogy was one of the clan’s most precious possessions.

Huizhou is considered the exemplar of Confucian ideals in practice. Family ties and responsibility to the clan are at the heart of Confucian thought. Even wider social relationships were thought of as extensions of the central family unit. Clan life was centred on the ancestral temple. The spirits of the ancestors were thought to stay on in the temple and still be concerned with the clan after death. Classes would be given in the presence of the ancestors and excellence in the Imperial examinations would be recognized in the temple. The ancestral temple encouraged new generations to add to their clan’s fortune and reputation.

 

Editor:Wang Ping