Branches of Heaven

by Chaffee, John W.

• ISBN13: 9780674080492
• ISBN10: 0674080491
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-11-15
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Council on East Asian

Summary

By the end of the Sung dynasty (960-1279), known descendants of the three Chao brothers who had founded the dynasty numbered over 20,000. Unlike the rulers of many other Chinese dynasties, however, the Sung emperors were not plagued by challenges to their rule from their relatives. How the Sung created a social and political asset in the imperial clan while neutralizing it as a potential threat is the story of this book. In this, the first full-length study of the imperial clan as an institution, John Chaffee analyzes its history, its political role, and the lifestyle of its members, focussing on their residence patterns, marriages, and occupations.

Table of Contents

Tables, Maps, and Figures	xv
The Sung Emperors and Their Reigns	xvii
Abbreviations	xix
Note on the Genealogical Coding of Clansmen	xxi
Introduction	1	(20)
Two Incidents	1	(2)
Imperial Clans in Chinese History	3	(9)
Historiography and Sources	12	(4)
The Approach	16	(5)
A Royal Family	21	(16)
Family Origins	21	(1)
T'ai-tsu's Definition of the Imperial Clan	22	(3)
Power and Succession	25
Imperial Kin in the Early Sung 30	21	(16)
Culture and Confinement	37	(27)
Chen-tsung, Jen-tsung, and Their Imperial Kin	37	(3)
Clan Institutions	40	(4)
Clansmen and Officeholding	44	(4)
Education and Civil Culture	48	(5)
Life in the Imperial Clan	53	(11)
The Clan Reoriented	64	(31)
The Succession of Ying-tsung	64	(2)
The Crisis of Clan Growth	66	(2)
The Clan Reformed	68	(3)
The Clan Redefined	71	(2)
Policies for Non-mourning Kin	73	(11)
Clan Institutions in a Time of Change	84	(2)
The Li Feng Affair	86	(5)
The Clan Adrift	91	(4)
The Creation of Secondary Centers	95	(17)
Ts'ai Ching's Reform	95	(3)
The Tun-tsung Halls	98	(5)
The Great Office and Its Sections	103	(1)
Education and Recruitment	104	(3)
Clansmen as Officials	107	(3)
At the Northern Sung's End	110	(2)
Captivity, Resistance, and Opportunity	112	(28)
An Overview of the War	113	(3)
Captivity and Flight	116	(7)
Clansmen in the War	123	(6)
Service by Clansmen and the Issue of Fraud	129	(3)
The Crises of 1129	132	(3)
The Clan in Politics	135	(3)
The New Political Limits	138	(2)
Settlement and Privilege	140	(39)
Settlement Patterns	142	(2)
Maintaining the Clan as a Whole	144	(5)
The Clan Centers	149	(6)
The Independent Clan Families	155	(5)
Marriages and Affines	160	(5)
Schools and Education	165	(6)
Examinations and Recruitment	171	(8)
Politics and the Limits of Power	179	(38)
The Selection of Hsiao-tsung	179	(2)
Hsiao-tsung and the Imperial Clan	181	(8)
Chao Ju-yu, Clansman as Grand Councilor	189	(6)
Clansmen-Officials Under Ning-tsung	195	(7)
The Succession of Li-tsung	202	(3)
Clansmen and Politics Under Li-tsung	205	(9)
Imperial Clansmen and Southern Sung Politics	214	(3)
Maturity and Defeat	217	(44)
The Problems of Maturity	218	(5)
The Development of Family Identities	223	(4)
The Southern Office in Ch'uan-chou	227	(7)
Overseas Trade and the Imperial Clan	234	(8)
Politics and War in the Late Southern Sung	242	(4)
Clansmen and the Loyalist Cause	246	(6)
The Imperial Clan in the Sung-Yuan Transition	252	(9)
Conclusion: The Sung Clan in Chinese History	261	(50)
Emperor, Society, and the Imperial Clan	261	(6)
High Culture and the Clan	267	(4)
The Legacy of the Sung Imperial Clan	271	(8)
Appendixes
A Clansmen with Biographies	279	(26)
B Imperial Clan Genealogy Offices	305	(6)
Reference Matter
Notes	311	(60)
Bibliography	371	(22)
Glossary	393	(14)
Index	407