Clan migration

There is a very popular TV series "Action to Break the Ice", which tells the story of the clan named Lin, who accounts for the vast majority of the population in Tazhai Village, Dongshan, Guangdong Province, making ice collectively. The drama highlights the extremely powerful influence of the Dongshan clan. Under the leadership of Lin Yaodong, the Lin clan collectively produces drugs, which is impenetrable. It is extremely difficult for the anti-drug police to enter the investigation and collect evidence. Lin Yaodong colluded with local officials to form an umbrella, but his biggest dream was to build the largest and best Lin ancestral hall.

The realistic prototype of Tazhai Village in TV series is Boshe Village in Lufeng City, Shanwei City, Guangdong Province. As in the TV series, it happened in Guangdong, where the clan is powerful and it is difficult for the police to intervene. In South China of China, especially in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, clan power is particularly strong, even shaking the jurisdiction of the government. Ancestral halls and ancestral halls are very common in southern settlements, and clan forces have a great influence. But this is rare in the north. Why is this?

There are many ancestral halls in the stills of the TV series "Action to Break the Ice".

0 1 the pioneering history of the south has formed the tradition of living in groups.

The center of ancient civilization in China lies in the Yellow River Basin. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Chu developed the south, but the political center of Chu was still relatively north. After Qin Shihuang destroyed the six countries and achieved reunification, he sent troops south, especially hundreds of thousands of troops to the southeast Baiyue area, before bringing the southeast coastal areas under the jurisdiction of the central unified empire. During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also used troops many times, and a large number of Vietnamese were forced to move northward to the Jianghuai area.

Since the Han Dynasty, the civilization of the Central Plains has been expanding to the outside world, and various immigrants from the North and the Central Plains have gradually poured into the south, especially the southeast coastal areas. Local aborigines are either wiped out or wandering in the mountains, and immigrants often take families as units and gradually become the masters of all parts of the south. These families came from the north and brought the concept of clan gate valve; Holding a group to warm up and save yourself during the migration process; Facing the new environment, unity, unity and exclusion have laid a tradition of living together in the south, especially in South China.

The topographical conditions in the south limit living together.

Topographic map of southeastern China

In addition to historical factors, topographic factors are also extremely important, concentrated in Fujian and Guangdong on the southeast coast. Fujian is located on the southeast coast, with mountains and seas at its back. The Wuyi Mountain Range, which stretches for more than 1000 miles, separates Fujian from Jiangxi and northern Zhejiang, forming a unique topographic region. In the long history of China, Fujian has long been a place where the government has little influence.

The same is true in Guangdong. Guangdong was called "the land of Lvliang" in ancient times, also known as "Lingnan". It is because there are five mountains in the north, and Guangdong is located in the south of the five mountains, isolated from the Central Plains, so it is called "Lingnan". Wuling, like a girder on land, is isolated from the two places, so it is also called "Lvliang Land". Guangdong and Fujian are far from the central government, and there are endless mountains blocking traffic. In such an isolated environment, the southeast people live in groups, and it is difficult for a unified government army to intervene.

Living together can avoid the control of a unified regime.

The south is far away from the central geographical conditions and the tradition of living in groups, which can avoid excessive intervention by government forces. In the history of China, both the big central dynasty and the small local clan forces have changed. In order to consolidate the rule, the unified central dynasty will inevitably suppress the powerful local clan forces. Therefore, in the north where the central dynasty is powerful, the clan power is relatively weak, mostly manifested as small families and farmers. In the south, there are many clans, and most of the land is collectively owned by clans.

Guangdong large ancestral hall

In the history of China, one of the most important measures of Shang Yang's political reform is to require men to live alone when they grow up, otherwise they will be taxed twice. On the one hand, the purpose of this policy is to increase tax sources and enrich Qiang Bing; On the other hand, it can divide powerful clan forces and strengthen the control of the government. Only under such a policy can a powerful centralized empire emerge.

In the history of China, the central dynasty also tried to deeply control the clan forces in the south. For example, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a large-scale movement to destroy genealogy and ban genealogy. Genealogy records the origin and members of a family and plays a vital role in the cohesion of a family. In fact, destroying genealogy is to interfere with clans through centralization, restrain and divide clan forces, but it has little effect.

To sum up, many areas in the south are far away from the areas controlled by the central dynasty, and the terrain is blocked. In addition, a large number of immigrants moved south, forming a tradition of living together. These immigrant families huddled together to keep warm, moved to new homes, and even formed the collective ownership of ancestral temple land with the family as the unit, forming a powerful clan force in the south. Even today, there are still a large number of ancestral temple relics, indicating that period of history.