Migration And Transmutation: A Study Of The Xin Family In Western Yunnan During The Middle Ages

Xin clan transplanted his family to Longxi in the beginning of Han Dynasty, and became more stronger through military exploit in the the middle and later periods.The power of Xin clan declined because of political relations after the reign of Wang Mang. During the Wei-Jin period, Xin clan rised again and transformed into a literary gentry instead of a military one. In the period of Sixteen Kingdoms, Xin clan began to thrive again, and differed with the silence of Dong Han dynasty, people of Xin clan were active in the several government institutions. After the Emperor Tai Wu in Bei Wei conquered Liangzhou, Xin Shaoxian's family belongs to Xin clan were moved to Jinyang, and then they started to be centralization and bureaucratization. Xin Shaoxian's family was transformed to a pure literary gentry from a both civil and military local gentry. Meanwhile, the local Xin clan also developed continually, to the end of Bei Wei, local Xin clan became an Important part of the Guanlong Group depending on the clan force in the Guanlong region.The appearance of Jungwang conception is the result of ancient people were attached to their native land and unwilling to leave it but had to migrate and change. Xin clan moved to Longxi in the beginning of Xi Han, after about 400 years development, they began to enter the regime continually, the migration and change emerged accordingly. With the addition of war in the Weijin period, Xin clan constantly move out of native location, which would cause the clan far away from home which means to the loss of locality. To the clans of ancient time, the loss of locality equaled to losing physical and human support from home and became to the pure bureaucrat, that's the reason why Xin clan could keep the power in Longxi in Han dynasty but became fading after inhabitation of Changan and Luoyang in Beiwei period.It can be seen that war could push the process of power structure evolution by the official condition of Xin clan in Northern dynasty. If the upstart caused by military exploit get support of clan force, it will boost the whole clan's development. Military exploit depends on the comprehensive strength of the clan, such as their marriage selection, the family culture and so on. Xin clan's marriage relationship with the Hu clan of Anding and the Li clan of Longxi was helpful to Xin clan's risen in the end of Beiwei period. At the part of culture, Xin clan's family culture became mature gradually in the field of ChunQiu theory, ritual theory and historiography.Xin clan made their fortune from a military landlord, and they abandoned the military power gradually, finally they became a literary gentry. Meanwhile, Xin clan would join in the military activities in the special period. So, we can conclude that Xin clan is a family that based on culture and supplementary military force. From Han to Northern dynasty, Xin clan had finished the transformation of military landlord to literary gentry gradually.