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C. MARTIN WILBUR
(Chapter 2) GOVERNMENT BY THE CLAN
In some sections of China, government of the village is in every sense completely clan government. This is especially true in South China, where Phenix village, studied by Kulp, is a typical example. Even in North China, where the multiple-clan form of village is extensive, government is based to a large extent upon the clan system and makes great use of the machinery of clan administration. Government by the clan, moreover, is the earlier and the less advanced form. Therefore it will not be amiss to consider the organization of clan government first, and then advance, in the next two chapters, to a study of the multiple-clan village.
I
The whole life of the single-clan village is marked by a definite familistic outlook. Kulp's definition of familism indicates just how all inclusive and how powerful a factor this psychological trait is.
Familism is a social system wherein all behavior, all standards, ideals, attitudes and values arise from, center in, or aim at the welfare of those bound together by the blood nexus fundamentally. The family is therein the basis of reference, the criterion for all judgments. Whatever is good for the family, however that good is conceived, is approved and developed; whatever is inimical to the interests of the family, however they are formulated, is taboo and prohibited.1
The village clan is the largest unit in which this familistic outlook has complete dominance. And although within this unit there is a strong clan consciousness, or esprit de corps, which binds the individual members very closely and leads to a highly developed particularism, at the same time there are several sorts of groupings within the clan. To a certain extent these have a disruptive effect upon the unity of the whole. The true picture of clan life is not seen until these smaller units are visualized.
1 Kulp, Phenix Village, p. XXIX. In writing this chapter the author has drawn heavily upon Kulp's study, for that work is specifically an investigation into clan life in China, and is by all odds the best work upon the subject in any Western language. But it would have been impossible to give credit in footnotes for every idea drawn from this source. The writer therefore takes this opportunity to express his indebtedness.