Research On The Ren Family Of Xiaoli In Yixing During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

The Ming and Qing dynasties formed an institutional form characterized by ancestral halls,genealogy,clan fields,clan studies,and clan chiefs' family law.Southern Jiangsu has a prosperous economy,developed culture,and a concentration of prominent families.It is one of the regions with the most developed family system and one of the regions where family functions are fully utilized.Yixing is located at the junction of Jiangsu,Zhejiang and Anhui,with superior geographical environment and simple folk customs.During the Song and Yuan dynasties,many clans moved here to escape the war.These families attached great importance to the construction of culture and education,promoted the prosperity of imperial examinations in Yixing,and gave birth to the famous "Yangxian " literary group in the early Qing Dynasty.At the same time,they married each other and became the center of the local social structure.The Ren's clan of Yixing Xiaoli is one of them.The Ren'clan moved to Xiaoli,Yixing from Yanshi,Henan during the Jianyan period of the Song Dynasty.Later,it developed into a large clan famous in southern Jiangsu.Not only did it have a large number of imperial examination talents,but also many literati and elegant scholars.It is a typical cultural family with a certain degree of representative.This article takes the Ren's clan as the research object and uses historical materials such as genealogy,official history,local chronicles,and anthologies to investigate the development process of the Ren'clan and its family management system,analyze the reasons for its prosperity,and then understand the prominent families and local society in Yixing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.This article is mainly divided into four parts: The first part summarizes the migration and development of the Ren's clan by combing the family lineage table.After the Ren's clan moved to Yixing in the Jianyan period of the Song Dynasty,to the Yongle and Hongxi periods in the early Ming Dynasty,the family became more and more prosperous and divided into four branches,then into many smaller clans.In the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods of the Qing Dynasty,the Ren's clan developed to its peak.Among the many branches,Nanmen Branch has the best development as a major branch.The second part studies the management system of the Ren's clan.The Ren's clan built the grand ancestral hall named "Yiben",which was in charge of family affairs.In the family management,the Ren's clan showed the characteristics of strict hierarchy.One is that the objects of sacrifice are strictly classified according to the hierarchy;the other is that in daily life,the families must strictly follow the hierarchy,and cannot overstep.The third part explores the imperial examination and official status of the Ren's clan.As a cultural family,the Ren's clan achieved excellent results in imperial examinations.However,in the late Qing Dynasty,the phenomenon of tribute and prison donation within the clan also gradually increased.The imperial examinations and donations made many members of the Ren's clan official positions,and many people with outstanding political achievements emerged.The fourth part examines the marriage network of the Ren's clan.Marriage is an important way to consolidate family power.Ren's marriage partners are mainly concentrated in Yixing.Among them,the three clans of Yixing Fuxi Xu's clan,Baimangtan Xu's clan,and Fengyi Chu's clan have been intermarried for generations.The Ren's clan has relatively high requirements for the marriage partner,and most of the women they marry are from famous clans.Therefore,there are many women with both ability and political integrity in the Ren's clan.They play an important role in the inheritance and development of the Ren's clan.