CHINESE DESCENT SYSTEM
119
there appears to be a good chance that each resulting branch is sturdy enough to survive: even after a man marries, he may die before he has produced a son (and the frequency with which young widows have left their dead husbands' homes to remarry indicates that this was not at all uncommon: the position of a widow without a son was well-nigh impossible), or his own sons may die in infancy. That the failure of branches to develop, even after they had been provided with a suitable soil of bricks and mortar, was common, is borne out by the frequency with which two (or more) married men of the same generation appear on one domestic ancestral tablet; when a man dies after his marriage but before he has had a son and the family is divided, his name is installed on the tablet of a surviving brother, who thus gains possession of two houses. If this man produces two sons, then he may kwoh-kai one of them to his dead brother, and establish him, on his marriage, in that house;18 but in the very probable event of his own producing a single son, he is under no obligation to provide his dead brother with an heir. (If however the widow chooses to remain, and adopts a son for her dead husband, she and her adopted son have all the rights that they would normally have had.).
The institution of kwoh-kai is designed to provide an heir in cases where a man is son-less after a division has taken place; but with single sons even more common than no sons at all, this may not occur until several generations have elapsed since the division. Ideally, it should be a means whereby a son can be transferred from an over-supplied branch to one in need of an heir, and it no doubt commonly functions this way in large localised descent groups: in small groups, however, such as the people of Aijmer's two villages, it may be extremely difficult for a sonless man to find a kinsman able and willing to part with one of his sons.19 In this situation a man may indeed die son-less: only when the obligation to support a parent in old age is safely removed, a man from another branch may obtain the consent of senior kin, and any potential rivals for the inheritance, to transfer himself to the dead man's line. This will only happen, however, if the deceased has left more property than the kwoh-kai son has received, or can hope to receive, from his own father. My informants in Sheung Tsuen were very clear that unless a son-less man's property was worth having, none would be willing to
CHINESE DESCENT SYSTEM
119
there appears to be a good chance that each resulting branch is sturdy enough to survive: even after a man marries, he may die before he has produced a son (and the frequency with which young widows have left their dead husbands' homes to remarry indicates that this was not at all uncommon: the position of a widow without a son was well-nigh impossible), or his own sons may die in infancy. That the failure of branches to develop, cven after they had been provided with a suitable soil of bricks and mortar, was common, is borne out by the frequency with which two (or more) married men of the same generation appear on one domestic ancestral tablet; when a man dies after his marriage but before he has had a son and the family is divided, his name is installed on the tablet of a surviving brother, who thus gains possession of two houses. If this man produces two sons, then he may kwoh-kai one of them to his dead brother, and establish him, on his marriage, in that house;18 but in the very probable event of his own producing a single son, he is under no obligation to provide his dead brother with an heir. (If however the widow chooses to remain, and adopts a son for her dead husband, she and her adopted son have all the rights that they would normally have had.).
The institution of kwoh-kai is designed to provide an heir in cases where a man is son-less after a division has taken place; but with single sons even more common than no sons at all, this may not occur until several generations have elapsed since the division. Ideally, it should be a means whereby a son can be transferred from an over-supplied branch to one in need of an heir, and it no doubt commonly functions this way in large localis- ed descent groups: in small groups, however, such as the people of Aijmer's two villages, it may be extremely difficult for a sonless man to find a kinsman able and willing to part with one of his sons.19 In this situation a man may indeed die son-less : only when the obligation to support a parent in old age is safely removed, a man from another branch may obtain the consent of senior kin, and any potential rivals for the inheritance, to transfer himself to the dead man's line. This will only happen, however, if the deceased has left more property than the kwoh-kai son has received, or can hope to receive, from his own father. My informants in Sheung Tsuen were very clear that unless a son-less man's property was worth having, none would be willing to
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