明清时期中国家庭的“合家”研究

A Study of “Family Integration” in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

传统时期中国家庭的再生产方式包括“分家”与“合家”两种形式,学界过去只强调分家,忽略了与分家并存的合家问题,制约了人们对于中国家庭制度的全面认识。现有家庭研究,片面强调家庭变动中“分”的作用力,而相对忽视“合”的作用力,并且将合家视为一种静态的、无形的文化现象。传统文献和新史料均反映,“合家”是中国家庭再生产的重要方式。“合家”以父系亲属关系为主线,形成三种结构、六种基本类型。“合家”有多种原因,在减少贫富分化、抵御灾荒、保障孤寡老幼、实现经济合作、维系家庭情感、促进社会稳定等方面发挥了重要作用。“合家”是宗族之外或宗族不发达地区,家庭自身经过调适实现社会救济和保障的方式,国家也通过儒家意识形态宣扬、社会教化加以提倡。这对于重新认识与理解中国家庭和社会的长期变迁具有重大意义。

In the traditional period, the reproduction of a Chinese family typically follows two paths: family separation and family integration. In the past, the academic circles paid exclusive attention to family separation to the negligence of family integration, and the result is the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the Chinese family system. Existing researches are focused on the“separating”force in family change, with the“integrating”force largely ignored or at best viewed as a static, intangible cultural phenomenon. In fact, both traditional documents and newly found historical materials have shown that“family integration”is an important way of family reproduction in China.“Family integration”takes paternal kinship as the main pedigree, forming three structures and six basic types. Family integration, which may have a variety of causes, plays an important role in reducing the gap between the rich and the poor, resisting disasters and famines, protecting the widows, the elderly and the infant, realizing economic cooperation, maintaining family bonds, and promoting social stability. In the places where there is no clan, families have to adapt themselves by way of integration to achieve social relief and security. Meanwhile, the state has also encouraged family integration through the promotion of Confucian ideology and social indoctrination.