中国古代宗族制发展趋势述论

On Trends of Ancient Chinese Clan System

宗族,指有血缘关系的人聚族而居,并有组织地参加祭祀活动的一个社会共同体。一般情况下,族长管理祭祀活动,作为祭祀场所的祠堂发挥着核心作用。随着中国古代封建社会的发展,族权与中央王权势力的此消彼长,特别是族长所代表的阶级利益、阶层利益的转变,使宗族制度在不同历史时期呈现出不同的特质。

Clan refers to people who live together and are organized to participate in the festival. As usual, the patriarch related by blood. It is also a social community management festival, as the ancestral places of worship, plays a central role. With the shift in the development of ancient Chinese feudal society, family rights and the central monarchy forces, especially the class interests represented by the patriarch, change spectrum of interests, so that the clan system in different historical periods showed different characteristics.