VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933
I
117
The distinctive feature of the family in China is its cohesiveness. One finds in it a unity of energy, of time and of space that has almost no parallel in any Western institution or in Western society. In fact, it is difficult for Occidentals, long trained in a theory of individualism, adequately to conceive of the strength of the family tie in China. Individualism induces in our society a centrifugal force rather than the centripetal pull characteristic to Chinese life. The intensity of this family cohesiveness must be emphasized because it explains many aspects of the Chinese family which bear directly upon the question of village government in China.
Unity of energy is forcibly indicated by a consideration of the economic organization of the family in the face of a terrific struggle for existence which is characteristic of rural life in many parts of China. One might suppose that so intense a battle for a bare subsistence would tend to make every individual fend for himself. Except in the most extreme circumstances this is the opposite of the case. The entire productive energy of the individual is expended for the family unit, and all family resources are pooled for the common benefit. Even those individuals who reluctantly migrate for the dual purpose of adding to the family income and reducing the number of mouths to be fed from the family land, do so for the sake of the family good, and are as much members of it still as those remaining at home. Even the sale of female children, which undoubtedly still occurs during severe famines, can be partly explained as a sacrifice for the good of the whole group.
Another example of unity of energy is the well-known fact of the complete backing which a promising young scholar might have expected from his family under the old examination system. There was a thoroughly utilitarian motive in this support, for the scholar, once he made good, was expected to bring both honors and material gain to his family. The organization of many crafts on a purely monopolistic family basis, where the whole economic fortune of
1 The enormous increase in population during the Ch'ing dynasty, with the attendant disastrous famines in almost all parts of China, has proved to be a force strong enough to exert a loosening effect upon the cohesiveness of the family system. This tendency has been, however, not toward the entire destruction of the traditional family system, but toward decreasing the size of the family unit. Cf. Buck, J. Lossing; Chinese Farm Economy, p. 335.
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933
I
117
The distinctive feature of the family in China is its cohesiveness. One finds in it a unity of energy, of time and of space that has almost no parallel in any Western institution or in Western society. In fact, it is difficult for Occidentals, long trained in a theory of individualism, adequately to conceive of the strength of the family tie in China. Individualism induces in our society a centrifugal force rather than the centripetal pull characteristic to Chinese life. The intensity of this family cohesiveness must be emphasized be- cause it explains many aspects of the Chinese family which bear directly upon the question of village government in China.
Unity of energy is forcibly indicated by a consideration of the economic organization of the family in the face of a terrific struggle for existence which is characteristic of rural life in many parts of China . One might suppose that so intense a battle for a bare sub- sistence would tend to make every individual fend for himself. Except in the most extreme circumstances this is the opposite of the case. The entire productive energy of the individual is expend- ed for the family unit, and all family resources are pooled for the common benefit. Even those individuals who reluctantly migrate for the dual purpose of adding to the family income and reducing the number of mouths to be fed from the family land, do so for the sake of the family good, and are as much members of it still as those remaining at home. Even the sale of female children, which undoubtedly still occurs during severe famines, can be partly ex- plained as a sacrifice for the good of the whole group.
Another example of unity of energy is the well known fact of the complete backing which a promising young scholar might have expected from his family under the old examination system. There was a thoroughly utilitarian motive in this support, for the scholar, once he made good, was expected to bring both honors and material gain to his family. The organization of many crafts on a purely monopolistic family basis, where the whole economic fortune of
1 The enormous increase in population during the Ch'ing dynasty, with the attendant disastrous famines in almost all parts of China, has proved to be a force strong enough to exert a loosening effect upon the cohesiveness of the family system. This tendency has been, however, not toward the entire destruction of the traditional family system, but toward decreasing the size of the family unit. Cf. Buck, J. Lossing; Chinese Farm Economy, p. 335.
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