Social Study In The Middle And Lower Reaches Of The North Branch Of Jiulong River From Tang And Song Dynasties

Jiulong River is the second largest river in Fujian Province.The region of middle and lower reaches of its north branch is an important habitation of early immigrants to Fujian as the region is a plain zone that is scarcely formed in central Fujian.Conflicts and integration between immigrants and aborigines and competition and cooperation among immigrant communities contribute to the complex social network in the north branch which is seated at a buffer area amid mountain and sea.How to maximize the use of geographic advantages between mountain and sea has been a key subject of the local clans.As the research on social history has many leads that are too tangled to figure out,the paper sets out to study four villages--Jinsha,Yintang,Yulan and Bixi--typical of the main development forces in the north branch drainage basin and therefore discuss its social forms in different historical periods and its development strategy.As shown in the development history of the north branch drainage basin,these four villages played their role with unusually brilliant results in different periods respectively,considered to be the representatives of specific historical periods.The paper chronologically outlines the history of society in the region of middle and lower reaches of the north branch from Tang and Song dynasties based on field investigation(the main research method)and references to folk literature and official historical annals.It mainly includes:investigation into the event that Chen Yuanguang(the Founding King of Zhang)and his son in Tang Dynasty put down the "rebellion of barbaric ethnic groups" along the banks of Jiulong River and founded Zhangzhou,indicating the implicit frontier spirit,and textual research on the time when descendants of some subordinates(officials and soldiers)of Chen Yuanguang and his son,known as"four trees in the north branch"(for the family names of the four big families in Chinese characters all relate to wood),settled down in the middle and lower reaches of the north branch;a case study of Yang family,one of the four families,in Bixi Village to detail the historical origin of settlement of descendants of the subordinates who founded Zhangzhou,in Song Dynasty and their measures to develop wooded mountains;research on Chen Chun who was a disciple of Zhu Xi(the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China)and praised as "Mr.Beixi" and on his writings about folk beliefs,to observe the construction of the spiritual and cultural world of folks there;a case study of Zhao family in Yintang Village to analyze how a family strengthened itself in society in the area and explore how it expanded its business space;a case study of Punanxu(or Punan fair)to discuss commercialization of society in the north branch from Ming and Qing Dynasties and do textual research on the time when Punanxu rose and fell and figure out the cause,influence and the relation with local society of Zhangzhou;and statement of the fight between clans from Bixi and Yulan Villages in the middle and lower reaches of the north branch in the third year of Emperor Yongzheng period(1725)and afterward handling,to explore how fluctuation of family forces in southern Fujian influenced the local social order and conclude the root cause and significant cause of the frequent clan fights.Based on the investigations in the previous chapters,it is found that the development of the middle and lower reaches of the north branch of Jiulong River was a long-term and arduous process and it is the pioneering spirit that helped people there established military defense,explored mountains and forests,developed culture,grew families and operated in markets even though they were amid a challenging wild environment.During the process,local clans adapted their development strategies to social development by taking advantage of their superior geological position which is amid mountain and sea,so that they survived and grew.Meanwhile;the area saw the integration of traditional culture and external ideas there which gradually constructed the spiritual world of its people based on both the neo-Confucianism and the folk belief.Thus,the people there tend to carefully follow the funeral rites of parents,be attached to their native land,and make a fetish of civil and military forces,being gentle yet strong.In turn,it is their characteristic dispositions that have profound influence on the economic and cultural development of society in the middle and lower reaches of the north branch of Jiulong River.