The Research Of Common Law Of The Kong Family Mansion During Ming & Qing Dynasty

From the Ming to the middle period of Qing,the ancient Chinese society was in a period of great prosperity.Because the governor needed the Confucius and Confucianism to govern,the emperor of each dynasty gave the descendant of Confucius much awards,granted them more land,and gave the Duke Yansheng much promotion.The Duke Yansheng as the direct line of descent,lived in the Kong Family Mansion which is Mansion of Duke Yansheng,east of the Confucian temple,to worship the Confucius.‘To exist with the nation,and be honored forever;To live as long as the universe,and always be noble',is the golden couplets hung beside the outdoor of the mansion,which reflected the history of this nobility.The Kong Family Mansion and the Kong Family became a special class in the society.During two thousand years,The Duke Yansheng lived in the Mansion,mastered the clan of Kong and the public affairs of QuFu.The family tree of Kong was well-organized and rigorous,the family was all over the country and had a clear origination.Their family tree provided us with many typical examples and historical data for the research of Chinese ancient patriarchal system,property system.This article mainly focuses on the formation and development of the Kong Family Mansion,the consist of incomes of the Mansion's property during Ming and Qing dynasty,the management of property and operation system,the expense of the Mansion and the Common Law of inheritance.It describes the acquirement,earnings,possession,use and etc.of property during Ming and Qing dynasty in detail.The property of Kong Mansion included land and some other incomings,the land was divided into land for worship ceremony,land for the school and land they bought for themselves.The land for worship ceremony was given by the country,for the worship of Confucius;the land they bought for themselves was the same as the normal land.Besides,the Kong Family Mansion had other incomes like it had its own market,bank and sale incomes of selling official positions.Accordingly,it had a complete organization and management system to manage their family business.Under the control of the Duke Yansheng,there were three headquarters and six departments,as the administration for the whole family.The department of Guangou was the highest financial administration,had its own system tomanage the farmers.The Kong Family Mansion spent a lot as they own great fortune at the same time,their main business—worship ceremony took a lot of money and labors,except from this,the daily expense,ceremony and meeting took a lot.Finally,this article talked about the inheritance of Duke Yansheng by its direct line of descent,and the fortune division of Duke Yansheng's family,and there were three additional ways to describe the Common Law of inheritance of Kong Family Mansion.The inheritance of Kong Family Mansion was different from the normal noble,and it was cause by its special class.