The Changes And Interpretations Of House Division In The Rural North

The house division practices has a long time . After several thousand years of time, the house division practices have endogenous system as a deeply rooted culture of the hearts of people. House division refers to a process or state in which sons'families break away from their father's family. Especially the sons'family and the fathers'split independent accounting units respectively. The authority of the father which restrains house division and sons'desire and ability for independence which promotes house division are in conflict with each other and result in house division.This article through the on-the-spot investigation, the author find that the house division practices of now is different from the house division practices of before. This paper analyzed the new changes from several aspects. The changes mainly include: 1) the time for house division is advanced and house division changes from once division to serial division; 2) parents'attitude towards advancing house division becomes positive; 3) the simplification of the ceremony and content on the house division;4) one-son family division appears. the trend of practices of putting off house division and of reunion after house division also appear;5) more and more women to participate in the house division. The author analyses reasons which cause the authority of the father which restrains house division and sons'desire and ability for independence which promotes house division from several perspective. The reasons include:1)the change of land system weakens the economic base of the authority of the father;2) the wake up of the women's consciousness leads to more and more women take participate in the house division;3) the house property which is transferred in advance is strengthened sons'desire for independence and ability to be independent and weakened the control ability of authority of the father;4)the different ability in getting wealth between the two generations increase sons'financial contribution to family;5) the practices of house division shortly after young couple's marriage begins to be prevalent weaken the pressure of public opinion.The house division refers two generations. It will inevitably have an impact on two generations. The paper will have an interpretation on this impact.