Research On Marriage Networks And Succession Relationships Of The Suzhou Shen Family In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

The Shen family in Suzhou settled here as the Song Dynasty moved south.Before Shen Shixing,the Shen family had little status in Suzhou.After he won the imperial examination,the Shen clan became a representative of the imperial families in the area of Suzhou and even Jiangnan.The Shen family also became one of the four famous families in Suzhou during the Qing Dynasty.The article investigates the development of the Shen family through the perspectives of the Shen family’s branches and lineages,imperial examinations and official ranks,and free estates,marriage networks,and succession relationships.The expansion of the family branches and the extension of the lineages are the most intuitive representations of family size in the genealogy records.Taking Shen Shixing as the demarcation point,the development of the Shen family was divided into two stages,before and after Shen Shixing.In addition,Shen Shixing wrote the Shen family genealogy,according to the principle of closeness and distinction,where he divided the Shen Guanbao branch into three branches,Chushi branch,Baoyu branch and Wending branch.With the continuous development of the Shen family,the first two gradually attached to the latter.Getting official position through imperial examination and setting free estates are two wings that sustain the development of the Shen family.Through the imperial examination,the Shen family became one of the imperial families.The article introduces the imperial examinations and official ranks of Shen Shixing,his children and grandchildren,as well as the Shen clan after the Qing Dynasty.It can be seen that both the grades of imperial examinations and the ranks of officials in the Qing Dynasty were far worse than those in the Ming Dynasty.In addition,the Shen family also set up free estates,and formulated sound management regulations,including the clear definition of free estates’ positions,incomes,and expenses,so as to ensure the normal operation of free estates,and realize the purpose of supporting the people and maintaining the economic foundation.While making use of the two wings to enhance their own development,the Shenfamily had also further enhanced the influence and discourse power of the family through a multiplicity of interwoven marriage networks.The intermarriages of generations not only help to further consolidate the political interests and economic status of the two families,but also benefit their children and grandchildren to participate in the imperial examinations and obtain fames.Therefore,this kind of marriage is particularly favored by the ancients,and it will lead to lot of intermarriages between cousins.Various kinds of intermarriages had provided powerful support for strengthening the Shen family’s marriage networks.From a geographical point of view,the Shen family not only married the family in the Suzhou area,but also extended the marriage circle to other regions in Jiangsu and Zhejiang,such as Nanjing,Jiaxing and Huzhou,thus forming an inter-regional marriage network.By sorting out the origins and official ranks of Shen’s in-laws,it can be seen that the Shen family chose the object of marriage,combining both the political and the geographical factors.In addition,the marital status and the development of the family branches within the Shen family complemented each other:Wending branch had the highest number of men with merit,so the ratios of fathers-in-law with merit of the Shen’s sons,and husbands with merit of the Shen’s daughters were higher than the other two branches.This is also an important factor in the development of Wending branch better than the latter two.Population status is an important indicator of a family’s level of development.The study on the population size of the Shen family helps to understand the scale of the Shen family.The total population of the Shen family had gone through a process from less to more.And at the 17th generation,the total population reached its peak.Through the statistics of the age of marriage and the average age of life for men in each branch,combined with the imperial examination grades,official ranks and marriages,it can be seen that the Shen family had gradually declined after entering the Qing Dynasty.Although nearly a thousand people were recorded in the "Sheng Shi Shi Pu",this does not mean that every branch and every family of the Shen clan had a son who inherited the blood relationship and portal of the family.The result of the lack of descendants cannot be underestimated,and successors can well avoid the family branch termination.By combing the Shen Shi family’s six forms of succession,as well as the special phenomenon that the only child inherited two fathers,the principle and characteristics of the Shen family are further summarized.In addition,through the consolidation of the phenomenon that the only son inherited two fathers,it is found that this phenomenon was mainly concentrated in the 17th generation to the 19th.This also shows that the population of the Shen family had been reduced to a certain degree and that the Shen family’s decline gradually.By getting official position through imperial examination and setting free estates,the Shen family expanded the family’s own power and established a wide social circle and geographical circle through the marriage networks.In addition,the Shen family also adopted a variety of succession forms to ensure the continuity of the population and the extension of the lineage.All these provide a solid foundation for the Shen family to become one of the four most famous families in the Qing Dynasty.The strategies for the survival and development are not limited to the Shen family,but also apply to other prominent families.