Some big families have their own ancestral temples. Why is there such a big gap between the number of ancestral temples in the north and the south?

We can often see in some film and television dramas that some big families have their own ancestral temples, in which there are many memorial tablets, all of which are dead people in the family, and many of these big families are also famous families at that time, which have been circulating for a long time and have a high reputation. But ancestral temples are rare in modern society, mostly in the south. So why is this happening? There are more ancestral temples in the south than in the north?

As we all know, our Huaxia center has been in the north for a long time in history, so the ancestral temple culture actually originated in the north.

Like the famous locust tree in Hongdong, Shanxi, it is the ancestral home of many family surnames!

Of course, with the development of history, the cultural atmosphere of ancestral temples in the south, especially in Lingnan area, is indeed stronger than that in the north. Tacun, a popular ice-breaking operation some time ago, is a good embodiment. Lin's clan system, in the village, sometimes even overrides the law, and its influence can be seen.

The reason why the north is not as good as the south as the birthplace is mainly because of the war. There are many wars in the north, and there are naturally many ancestral temples involved.

During the war, everyone was busy fighting, and the common people didn't even care about the minimum food and clothing. How can they spare energy to maintain the integrity of the ancestral temple? And the war in the north, many people fled to other places, and the ancestral temple in the north was naturally abandoned.

In particular, the Three Kingdoms Rebellion, the May Rebellion and the Anshi Rebellion often caused tens of millions of casualties, which can be said to be terrible in the north. Thousands of miles of bones, many families have no one left directly, so what ancestral temple is there? The south is different. In ancient times, the south was not a political center, and agriculture did quite well. In the era when there was no war, people had food and shelter, and ancestral temples were naturally passed down from generation to generation.

Of course, the reason why there are so many ancestral temples in the south is that most of them were born after northerners moved south and opened branches and scattered leaves in the local area. As mentioned earlier, during the war years, thousands of miles of bones, many big families chose to move south. Like Yongjia Du Nan in Jin Dynasty; The southern crossing of bamboo slips in song dynasty. When the family moved, the ancestral temple naturally moved with it.

In addition, all dynasties in history are vigorously developing the south, and the most effective way is immigration. Many northerners came to the south because of immigration and established new families.

At that time, northerners were newcomers and relatively weak, so they kept building ancestral temples to consolidate the family's sense of existence.

And sometimes it may be that people of a family go to different places, and they will build new ancestral temples. In this way, there are more ancestral halls.

Comparatively speaking, the big families in the north have lived here for thousands of generations, and the ancestral halls are relatively fixed, so the number is less than that in the south. But in terms of history, it is often longer than the South Ancestral Hall. Like Jinci Temple and Confucius Temple, these are very famous.

Finally, in addition to the war mentioned above, there are economic factors. From building ancestral temples to maintaining them, money is needed. As I said before, there is a large population in the north, but the land distribution is relatively small. In the absence of arable land, grain income naturally cannot guarantee a bumper harvest every year.

In the ancient farming period, the family was not rich, and the maintenance of the ancestral temple was naturally affected.

The south is different. The area distribution of cultivated land and the climatic conditions in the south are very conducive to grain harvest. It was difficult to maintain the integrity of the ancestral temple in the north at that time with extra financial resources.