Between Family And Locality: A Research Of The Feng’s Family In Siming During The Song-Ming Periods

Integrated with kinship, family was a more close-knit organization rather than other social organizations in late imperial Chinese society. Correspondingly, family was the important component in the social structure. Families with dominance of local politics, economy and culture can be regarded as elite class. These families played key roles in local society. The Feng’s family was exactly such one in the Siming district from the Song to the Ming dynasties.The Feng’s family’s importance continued over nearly five centuries. In the Song dynasty, the family earned its reputation by Feng Ji. Not until the Ming dynasty did Feng Fang give rise to the decline of his family. Throughout this period, there were many politicians, academicians and loyalists in the family. At the same time, the Feng’s family was well known for book collecting. As a typical gentry family, the vicissitude of the Feng’s family was closely connected with social transformation, political changes and academic progress that occurred from the Song dynasty to the Ming dynasty. The Feng’s family also had important influence on Siming’s local society and culture. For example, Feng’s private collections were inherited by the well-known Tianyi Pavilion. By examining the case of Feng’s family, this article aimss at reflecting how family changed along with the historical vicissitude, and how the relationship between family and locality could affect each other.This paper consists of three parts to unfold the rise and decline of this Feng family. The first part analyzes Feng Ji’s key role in facilitating the blooming of the family. His political activities and academic communication made the family spring up. It will also reveal how Feng Ji’s achievement benefited from the social network of the region. The second part provides general information of the family’s continuation and revival between the South Song dynasty to the Ming dynasty. It was important that the Feng’s family in the Ming dynasty continue the family by modifying family genealogy and migration to maintain family’s legitimacy. The geographical identity also merged into the history of the family and reconstruct the memory of family. The last part looks into the decline of the Feng’s family in the Ming dynasty by examining Feng Fang’s experience. How political choice and geographical identity could impact the rise and fall of the Feng’s family will be discussed as well.