The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China
As a venerable institution of ancestor veneration, ancestral halls remained buildings reserved for the gentry class before the Ming dynasty, and became vehicles for transmitting a form of elitism within a privileged circle. Hence, owning ancestral halls was also deemed a manifestation of political a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2022.2153059 |
| _version_ | 1797794266073792512 |
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| author | Yeqian Zhang |
| author_facet | Yeqian Zhang |
| author_sort | Yeqian Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As a venerable institution of ancestor veneration, ancestral halls remained buildings reserved for the gentry class before the Ming dynasty, and became vehicles for transmitting a form of elitism within a privileged circle. Hence, owning ancestral halls was also deemed a manifestation of political and social status. However, among the commoner class in the Huizhou region in the Ming, numerous localized kinship organizations emerged: lineages. People were gathering strength in the communal living maintained by generations, but at the same time, they also generated a demand for common ancestor veneration to maintain lineage relationship stability. By the mid-Ming, with the surge of ancestral hall construction by lineages, the exclusive privilege of the elites for ancestral halls was broken. In Huizhou, a unique sacrificial culture with the ancestral halls as the carrier appeared. In the subsequent period of rapid economic growth, an influential new group emerged within the lineages: merchants whose increasing involvement in constructive activities allowed the ancestral hall construction to bloom, reflecting the rising status of merchants in this period. This paper focuses on such a Huizhou kinship organization, the Huang lineage, and describes the history of their ancestral hall construction in detail. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:59:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0e8cf79687b24a0abc645c8c66a54b5d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1347-2852 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:59:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-0e8cf79687b24a0abc645c8c66a54b5d2023-06-27T14:52:25ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering1347-28522023-07-012242006201910.1080/13467581.2022.21530592153059The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing ChinaYeqian Zhang0Nanjing Forestry UniversityAs a venerable institution of ancestor veneration, ancestral halls remained buildings reserved for the gentry class before the Ming dynasty, and became vehicles for transmitting a form of elitism within a privileged circle. Hence, owning ancestral halls was also deemed a manifestation of political and social status. However, among the commoner class in the Huizhou region in the Ming, numerous localized kinship organizations emerged: lineages. People were gathering strength in the communal living maintained by generations, but at the same time, they also generated a demand for common ancestor veneration to maintain lineage relationship stability. By the mid-Ming, with the surge of ancestral hall construction by lineages, the exclusive privilege of the elites for ancestral halls was broken. In Huizhou, a unique sacrificial culture with the ancestral halls as the carrier appeared. In the subsequent period of rapid economic growth, an influential new group emerged within the lineages: merchants whose increasing involvement in constructive activities allowed the ancestral hall construction to bloom, reflecting the rising status of merchants in this period. This paper focuses on such a Huizhou kinship organization, the Huang lineage, and describes the history of their ancestral hall construction in detail.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2022.2153059huizhou lineageancestral hallconfucianismfamilismmercantile society |
| spellingShingle | Yeqian Zhang The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering huizhou lineage ancestral hall confucianism familism mercantile society |
| title | The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China |
| title_full | The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China |
| title_fullStr | The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China |
| title_full_unstemmed | The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China |
| title_short | The ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a Huizhou lineage in Ming–Qing China |
| title_sort | ancestral hall and ancestor veneration narrative of a huizhou lineage in ming qing china |
| topic | huizhou lineage ancestral hall confucianism familism mercantile society |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2022.2153059 |
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