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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese kinship | 1/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_kinship | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T14:59:56.995561+00:00 | kb-cron |
The Chinese kinship system (simplified Chinese: 亲属系统; traditional Chinese: 親屬系統; pinyin: qīnshǔ xìtǒng) is among the most complicated of all the world's kinship systems. It maintains a specific designation for almost every member's kin based on their generation, lineage, relative age, and gender. The traditional system was agnatic, based on patriarchal power, patrilocal residence, and descent through the male line. Although there has been much change in China over the last century, especially after 1949, there has also been substantial continuity. In the extended family, every child, from birth, participated in an organized system of kinship relations involving elder brothers, sisters, maternal elder brothers' wives, and various aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and in-laws. These relationships were precisely named and differentiated. The kinship system influences every aspect of Chinese custom and morality and even law - the rights and duties they entailed were even enshrined in the legal codes of the Ming and Qing dynasties, so that gross violation could invite legal sanction. In traditional Chinese thought, these relationships carry extensive rights and duties whose fulfilment that constituted both righteousness (yi, 義) and propriety (li, 禮). These rights and duties included love and care, certain kinds of respect on the basis of relation alone, mutual support - including financial, and mourning in the event of death. Fulfilment of these duties constituted the principal Chinese virtue - filial piety (xiao, 孝). Family members expect to be addressed by the correct term that indicated their relationship to the person communicating with them. Whenever wills clashed, it was expected, and even legally enforced, that the will of the superior family member would prevail over the will of a junior family member. In the Chinese kinship system:
Maternal and paternal lineages are distinguished. For example, a mother's brother and a father's brother have different terms. The relative age of a sibling is indicated by specific terms. For example, a father's younger brother has a different terminology than his older brother. Twins are ordered by whichever baby came out first if necessary. The gender of the relative is distinguished, as in English. The generation from ego is indicated, like in English. Rights and duties of kinship continue even after death - it was not considered sufficient to serve one's parents well in life, but one had to display the proper protocol even after they died. Five degrees of mourning (五服) are observed. In all places and times, Chinese mourning behavior is calibrated according to the genealogical distance between the mourner and the deceased. The 19th century anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan, without field-work or detailed descriptions, classified Chinese kinship as a "Sudanese" or "descriptive" system.
== Kinship and Chinese societies ==
=== Literature and history === Kinship terms appeared in the earliest Chinese lexicon, Erya. Chapter Four Shiqin (释亲/釋親) is dedicated to an explanation of kinship and marriage. Another lexicon from the late Han dynasty, Shiming, has a detailed list of forms of address for all relatives. With the influence of Confucianism, the concepts of kinship and consanguinity are deeply ingrained in Chinese culture. One of the Confucian teachings is filial piety, which it is extended to a series of five relationships known as the Five Cardinal Relationships (五倫), three of which are related to the family:
ruler and subject (君臣 Pinyin: jūnchén) father and son (父子 fùzǐ) elder and younger brother (兄弟 xiōngdì) husband and wife (夫婦 fūfù) between friends (朋友 péngyǒu) In the Three Character Classic, the nine agnates are listed in the following stanza:
=== Culture === In Chinese culture where the extended family is still valued, kinship terms have survived well into current usage. Also, since it is taboo to refer to or address a more senior family relation by his or her given name, the kinship term is the only possible term of address. When there are many siblings as in many Post–World War II baby-boom families, the relation is distinguished and addressed according to age or rank, going as far as ordering twins by which baby came out first if that is necessary. For example, 大 (great/senior/elder) is used in the address for 大姨 (the eldest sister of one's mother); 二姨 for the second eldest sister of one's mother; 三姨 for the third eldest sister of one's mother, etc. In cases where someone is older than his more senior relation, such as an uncle, it is common to address the senior relation with a diminutive suffix. Because some of these terms have no equivalent in foreign languages, they are not easily translated and the descriptiveness is often lost in translation. However, terms such as "Second Uncle" are sometimes used. Translating kinship terms from other languages often presents the problem of ambiguity as there is no equivalent general term for when the relationship is unspecified (such as if an English speaker mentions their cousin, grandparent, aunt or uncle without specifying the relationship of that family member) Despite the complexity of the kinship address system (see terminology section below), it is common to simplify it for the sake of familiarity. Some formal kinship terms are not familiar to many people, cumbersome, or not preferred by the addressee. For example, a cousin once removed may at her discretion be referred to as simply a cousin if she is of a similar age to the speaker.