China to 1800 – S10: Family Virtues

Southeast Fly the Peacocks

The Peacock Flies Southeast

Original title: An Old Poem Written for Jiao Zhongqing’s Wife (古詩為焦仲卿妻作)
Earliest long narrative gushi (古詩) in Chinese literature; regarded as one of the two best yuefu (樂府) poems.
Liu Lanzhi (劉蘭芝) and Jiao Zhongqing (焦仲卿) are married, but Jiao’s mother disapproves of Liu and forces them to divorce.
After returning home, Liu is compelled by her brother to marry another man.
Liu and Jiao both commit suicide before Liu’s second wedding.

Time: From Western to Eastern Han

Date	Event
202 BCE	Liu Bang founded the Han
9-23 CE	Wang Mang took the throne and founded the New Dynasty
25	Liu Xiu founded the Eastern Han
184 CE	Yellow Turban Daoist uprising
220 CE	End of Eastern Han; beginning of Three Kingdoms period

Key Questions

Clay figurine of seated woman with hands clasped

What is filial piety? How is it central to political power?
Where were the women? Gender and power in Han
How did Confucianism become official orthodoxy?

Salt and Iron Debate

Two teams: The Lord Grand Secretary and the Confucian literati
Key question: What kind of society and economy do you want, and how would you achieve it?

Summary of Salt and Iron Debate

Grand Secretary:

Farmers to settle under-populated land near the borders to ease grain logistics for military garrisons.
Large landowners were encouraged to expand their estates and utilize their servants and tenants for farming through private investment.
Increased Taxes on Merchants and Artisans: Property taxes on merchants and artisans were doubled from 3% to 6%.
State Control of Industries: salt and iron as state monopolies, with the state engaged in wholesale trade to balance markets and capture some profits.

Confucian Literati:

Reduced Cash Economy: Taxes were collected in goods rather than money.
Less Commercial Activity: Returning state-owned industries like mining and smelting to private ownership and merchants.
Equal Wealth Distribution: A smaller wealth gap between large landowners and small farmers.
Self-Sufficient Villages: An agrarian society with a simpler, less commercial economy.

At the Frontier: A Temporary Respite

Date	Event
134 BCE	Emperor Wu starts military action against the Xiongnu.
115-60 BCE	Han gains control over the former Xiongnu sphere in eastern Central Asia (modern Xinjiang).
57 BCE	A succession crisis splits the Xiongnu empire. Multiple kings claim the title of chanyu. One king later submits to Han.
48 CE	A civil war led to permanent split between the southern Xiongnu, who dwelt in and submitted to the Han, and the northern Xiongnu beyond the Han.

Fascination with the West

Growing interest in rare and exotic goods from distant regions.
A ruler’s power shown by his ability to attract foreign items and the people who brought them.
This fascination spread from the elite to common people during the Eastern Han: high prices for Central Asian carpets and horses in the capital.
Many cultural items came from abroad, facial powder for makeup, the pipa musical instrument, and new food varieties.
By the end of the Han dynasty: Buddhism began to enter China from Central Asia and the southeast.

From Mass Mobilization to Professional Army

The Han dynasty moved away from the Qin model of universal military service and direct rule over the peasant population.
Mass mobilization of peasants was effective until 154 B.C. but became unnecessary after internal conflicts ceased.
The focus shifted to conflicts with the nomadic Xiongnu, for which infantry was impractical and hard to supply.
The Han began to levy taxes to fund a professional standing army rather than relying on trained peasant soldiers.

Foundations of Han Economy: Farmers

Western Han maintained a system of small, freeholding peasants.
Writers from the Qin and Han dynasties agreed that the government should focus on agriculture and protect peasants.
Agriculture was the main source of wealth; uncontrolled manufacturing and commerce could take peasants away from farming.

New Elites in Han: The Great Families

Landlordism reduced the number of registered peasants and weakened the state’s power.
After Emperor Wu’s reign, the government stopped enforcing taxes on declared property to avoid conflict with powerful families.

A Typical Family in Han

A typical household in Han China consisted of a nuclear family of four to six people.
Evidence shows that families with three or more generations were rare.
Powerful local lineages often split into many nuclear households, forming alliances and marriage ties with other prominent families.

Family as Foundation of Political Power

Wu family shrine from Han dynasty depecting Emperor Yao

Great families of landlords and merchants bought peasant land but did not create large estates like those in Rome or medieval times.
Instead of expanding their estates, they practiced partible inheritance, dividing land among their sons.
These smaller farms were worked by family members or tenant sharecroppers.
The goal of these families was to build networks of kin, clients, and neighbors to secure loyalty.

Village Society as Extension of Family

Villages typically consisted of many households, often sharing a surname if dominated by a powerful lineage.
Effect: the village becomes an extension of the dominant family’s household, recognized by the state, which appointed influential locals as “fathers and elders” to facilitate communication between the state and the village.

Reciprocal obligations and Grassroots governance

Detail from a large group portrait, 1796-1820

Intermarriage among leading lineages was a common way to increase power.
Village society was based on reciprocal obligations: wealthier members were morally pressured to share their resources with poorer neighbors, creating social status and emotional ties.
This pattern of wealth distribution and social bonding persisted into late imperial and republican China: richer families sponsored community events to bolster their status and support from neighbors.

Big Empire, Small State

The Han government had three main divisions: tax collection, the army, and government officials.
Central authorities oversaw about 100 commanderies, which were divided into 1,500 counties.
Local authorities managed population registration, tax collection, maintaining waterways, and dispensing justice.
A total of 130,000 officials governed the 60 million subjects of the Han dynasty.

From Social Stratification to State Decline

There were large income disparities between landowners who received land grants and those who worked it.
Over time, the gap widened as powerful families acquired even larger estates.
In 7 BCE, a proposal aimed to limit estate sizes to 3,000 acres and restrict slave numbers to 200, but it was opposed by large landowners and never implemented.

Wang Mang’s Interregnum

A Confucian-trained bureaucrat, Wang Mang usurped the Han throne to establish the Xin dynasty (9-23 CE) with the intent of restoring Zhou dynasty ideals.
Wang aimed for a wealthy, expansionist state while aligning with Confucian scholars’ desires to reduce military expansion and control private wealth.
After declaring himself emperor in AD 9, he implemented reforms attempting to nationalize land, stabilize prices, and monopolize industries, aiming to curb the power of nobility and large families.

Restoring Han

Illustration of Wang Mang’s Deeds from the Han Dynasty, Painted Copy of the “Imperial Edict on the Conduct of Imperial Relatives” from the Ming Xuande Period. This work was created during the reign of Ming Xuanzong to admonish imperial relatives to uphold their duties as subjects. It was commissioned for Yang Rong to compile historical materials related to imperial relatives from the official histories of past dynasties for illustration. (Image provided by: Yuan Ziwu/FOTOE)

Wang Mang’s regime crumbled due to the loss of support from landworkers.
Massive flood of the Yellow River in 11 CE, which displaced many peasants and led to uprisings, notably the Red Eyebrows rebellion.
Following his downfall, the Han Dynasty was restored by Liu Xiu and his forces in AD 23, leading to the establishment of the Eastern Han.

Feudal Foundation of Later Han

The Later Han dynasty, with its new capital in Luoyang, relied on the cooperation of powerful families who had supported its return to power.
It took no actions against those who had amassed large estates and often placed their sons in government positions through recommendations.

Beheading in the Sutra Hall

In 9 AD, the Han Dynasty fell to Wang Mang.
Wu Han, a general serving Wang Mang, marries Wang’s daughter. However, he later learns that Wang Mang killed his father.
Faced with the choice of avenging his father’s death or remaining loyal to his wife, what should Wu Han do?

Beheading in the Sutra Hall: Excerpt

Beheading in the Sutra Hall: A Tale of Divided Loyalties

To spare Wu Han from making a difficult decision, his wife takes her own life.
In her grief, Wu Han’s mother also kills herself upon learning of her son’s turmoil.
Wu Han gathers his mother’s bones and aligns with Han prince Liu Xiu to defeat Wang Mang and restore the Han dynasty.

Beheading in the Sutra Hall: Love, Duty, and Devotion

What kind of hero is Wu Han? Three key ethical values:

Filial piety
Spousal Devotion
Political loyalty

Rise of Landlordism in Eastern Han

Eastern Han was established by a coalition of large landowners.
New landlords gained wealth and status through state service, and they maintained access to government positions through control of recommendations from eminent local families to the central court.
With the decline of the nobility, commoner families practiced partible inheritance, dividing property among sons, while the ruling house continued the practice of primogeniture.

Filial Piety in the Age of Family Transformation

The emphasis on filial piety was not merely a revival of old traditions but a product of societal changes during the Han period.

Han-dynasty Xiaotang Mountain Shrine in Shandong 孝堂山郭氏墓石祠

Landlord families often managed estates, marketed their products, engaged in money lending, and educated their sons in classical texts to secure government positions.
The state shifted from relying on peasant service to securing loyalty from powerful families.
The state became a protector and provider of profitable appointments.

Changing Family in Early China

Spring and autumn period

The dissolution of extended families began with the destruction of the Zhou nobility during the Warring States period.
The goal was to increase the number of taxable households and adult male service.

Qin and Western Han

Qin implemented tax policies that promoted the division of households, leading to the establishment of the nuclear family as the fundamental social unit.
Early Han rulers maintained this policy, solidifying the nuclear family as the primary unit of residence and labor in Western Han society.

Eastern Han

Influence of classicist theory and the cult of filial piety led the government to recognize the ideal of multiple generations living together.
In practice, this ideal resulted in brothers living near each other rather than in the same household, often with shared lineage burial sites.
Result: A more integrated residential pattern while still maintaining the nuclear family as the basic household unit.

Discussion: Classics on Filial Piety

What is filial piety? What was expected of rulers, officials, and ordinary people?
“The proper relation between father and son is a part of nature and forms the principles which regulate the conduct of rulers and ministers.” How?
Was filial piety simply about reverence for the old and obeying authority?
Why was Confucianism elevated by the Han court?

Filiality on Display: Wu Liang and His Family Shrine

Wu Liang (78-151): A man from rural Shandong scholar who refused to engage with a corrupt government.
His family dedicated all their resources to constructing a shrine for him.
Tomb vs. Shrine: The tomb was intended as a resting place for Wu Liang’s soul, while the shrine functioned as a public venue for family gatherings to remember the deceased several times a year.

About Wu Liang Shrine

Used pictorial carving of historical events to teach youth about their heritage and the glory of the Han Empire.
The carvings include significant figures and events, such as Fuxi and Nüwa (mythical ancestors), legendary rulers, and stories reflecting virtues and the Han Empire’s history.
The carvings exhibit a coherent pictorial program reflecting the Eastern Han belief in a universe divided into three realms: Heaven, the realm of immortality, and the human world.

Family Shrines and Han Memory Culture

Confucian scholars criticized the luxurious ornaments from royal tombs as wasteful in the first century B.C.
During the Eastern Han period: from wooden burial structures to underground brick chambers, filled mainly with ceramic replicas of the deceased’s living environment.
Later, changed focus from burial items to the tomb’s interior, allowing for the creation of murals expressing Confucian values and social norms.

Moral Lessons from Wu Liang Shrine

Souls of the deceased need to be honored and remembered by the living; neglect would lead to their fading away.
The lineage chief’s power was derived from the strength of their ancestors.
The memory and preservation of ancestors were critical for kinship structures: Tracing ancestry allowed families to connect with many households and gain support in times of need.

Rise of Great Families: At whose Expense?

Rise of “Great Families”

The Eastern Han period saw a gradual concentration of land and population among larger landowners, exacerbating the plight of the peasantry.
Upper social strata comprised descendants of kings, dukes, and high officials.

Decline of peasantry

The increasing power of great families and the declining conditions of the peasantry were interconnected
Loss of 8–9 million people from AD 2 to AD 140.
The threat posed by landless peasants was highlighted by previous rebellions, demonstrating their vulnerability due to minimal resources.

Decline of state power

Many farmers, unable to recover from debts, resorted to selling their children, land, and ultimately themselves to wealthy “Great Families”, leading to a decline in the peasant class as taxpayers.
These families established deep roots in local societies and became competitors to the state, often exploiting weaker neighbors.
As the empire’s expansion waned, elites exploited local resources to sustain their households.

Women in Han China

Discuss: Women’s Virtues and Vices

The Mother of Mencius

What did the mother of Mencius do?
What makes her acts exemplary?

Letter from Feng Yan to his Brother-in-law

What was wrong with his household? Who was to blame?
What should be the ideal relationship between men and women?

Ban Zhao’s Admonitions for Women

What were the two principal virtues for women?
What rituals were expected of women, and why?

Ban Zhao (ca. 45—120 C.E.)

One of the most famous women writers in Chinese history.
Author of Lessons for Women, widely read by Chinese girls and influenced literature until the twentieth century.
Ban Zhao’s twin brother, who became a notable historian and author of History of Later Han.
After Ban Gu’s death in 92 C.E., Emperor Ming commissioned Ban Zhao to complete her brother’s unfinished historical work, highlighting her exceptional literary talent and the family’s literary legacy.

Puzzle of Ban Zhao

Why does such a brilliant woman advise women to mediocracy?
How much does Ban Zhao’s ethics of female reflect reality?

Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women

Ban Zhao’s guidance restricts women’s ability to express themselves or challenge family members.
At the same time, Ban Zhao advocates for women’s education, encouraging them to copy her instructions, indicating literacy.
Ban Zhao’s promotion of female subservience was intended to maintain family cohesion and wellness.
While women are to support their families, men should also contribute to a harmonious marriage without one being abusive.

Puzzles about Han Women

How much do Confucian texts tell us how women actually lived?
Which women? What about non-elite women?
Was Confucianism an ideological tool for the patriarchy? Why did even some women support it?