Expanding Possibilities 357
“large surname aggregates” and “small surname aggregates” were
putatively taken to be “large lineages” and “small lineages”. Often, small
lineages with different surnames found it expedient to form alliances,
or pseudo-lineages. In 1727, the Governor of Fujian, Gao Qizhuo,
memorialized the Qing Court:
My observation is that in the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou prefectures
in Fujian larger surname aggregates tended to bully smaller
surname aggregates. To defend themselves, the smaller aggregates
often take up arms. It is indeed a most evil practice in that they
confront and kill each other.... At the moment, a mob in Tong’an
consisting of a strong group of the Bao lineage and a weak group of
the Qi lineage have gathered bearing arms and are causing deadly
violence.^27The following year Gao gave more information about the formation of the
two surname groups through a merger:
In Tong’an, the large surname groups of Li, Chen, Su, Zhuang
and Ke have allied themselves to form the Bao surname-group.
Other small surname-groups have merged to adopt the common
surname of Qi.^28It is interesting to note what the two Chinese characters “Bao” and “Qi”
imply and reveal. The former has the meaning of “all-embracing” and
the latter “unison”. The fact that the high-ranking ofβicials did not show
disapproval of the practice of forming pseudo-lineages in their memorials
is amazing, given that it contravened the Confucian principle of how a
lineage should be properly organized.
In 1729, the prevailing practice of forming βictitious surname groups
and the inherent social violence involved were elaborated upon by Liu
Shishu, Inspector of Local Practices and Customs of Fujian:
Initially, the larger surname groups bullied the weaker surname
groups. Hence the latter merged to form a new group adopting the
surname Qi. Recently, there have been similar cases such as those
of the Tongs, the Hais and the Wans.... The Shi surname group
of Jinjiang, to which Shi Shilun and Shi Shibiao belong, is a large
lineage. Its members have been notorious for their involvement- Gong zhong dang Yongzheng chao zouzhe 宮中檔雍正朝奏摺 [Secret Palace
Memorials of the Yongzheng Reign], Vol. 9 (Taipei: National Palace Museum,
1978), p. 311. - Ibid., p. 571.