284 Part IV: East Asian Civilization
successful marshaling of economic resources, especially control of land, which
enabled corporate lineages to grow large and survive over time.
The advantages of being a member of the He lineage are obvious. Members
received regular income from lineage holdings; expenses of births, weddings,
funerals, and education and examination costs were subsidized by the ancestral
trusts (see box 7.3). The lineage maintained armed guards and a defense corps
to patrol the sands and protect lineage property and members. They set up
schools, hospitals, and orphanages. The lineage was a quasi-government that
dominated the official government of the region, with many of its members
serving on both sides. The security, prosperity, and prestige benefited everyone.The Family in the Twentieth Century
The second half of the twentieth century was a rare historical moment of
rapid-fire and sweeping interventions in the lives of a billion people. Prior to the
1949 Communist revolution, forms of kinship we call “traditional” were in
place; these forms survived in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Following the revolu-
tion, drastic reforms were initiated in the name of socialism under the moral
inspiration of Mao Zedong, going much further than comparable movements in
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In stages, private property was elimi-
nated; the market was suppressed; all land and labor were collectivized; bureau-Box 7.3 He Lineage Worships Its AncestorsAccording to the recollections of some older people, about 15 days after the Qing-
ming festival every year, lineage members would visit the graves in Guangzhou. After
lineage heads decided on a date, they sent people to Guangzhou to hire a fleet of col-
orful boats (known as the boats from Zidong, a village in Nanhal county) in which the
literati types would sail to Guangzhou. The rest of the entourage would go in large fer-
ries. Together they formed an elegant fleet, escorted by four armed boats equipped
by the He lineage itself. They sailed to Guangzhou in this grand fashion and moored
at a berth they had built for themselves. In the evening, they stayed at the four acade-
mies, the four martial arts schools, and the Chang’an Inn, all of which belonged to the
He lineage; some people would stay at the homes of relatives or friends. They would
also have bribed the city guards to open the Small Northern Gate in the city wall ear-
lier than usual at the fifth watch (just before dawn) the next day. Almost all the sedan-
chair bearers in the city flocked on the occasion to provide service and were paid by
the lineage managers. The entire group paraded through the Small Northern Gate to
the Grave of the Sisters-in-Law to perform the grave rites. On the third day, they
repeated the ceremonies at the graves of He Renjian and others. According to a 1911
record, the lineage spent more than 6,000 taels of silver for the grave visits that year.
These extravagant public displays became important rallying points for the collective
identity of the lineage as well as for demonstrating to others its power and influence.
Source: Liu Zhiwei 1995:39.