The Legal Structure Of "Family"

Ancient China has a typical characteristic of “isomorphism between family and the state”,which means a patriarchal family is in alliance with the feudal empire. This structure ofpatriarchal integration has a strong isomorphic effect, thus becoming the core repairmechanism of Chinese feudal dynasty. Meanwhile, patriarchal families proved to beexemplary units to generate the imperial order. However, in Tang and Song Dynasties,patriarchal clan system experienced serious crisis and was almost abandoned until theemergence of the new pattern of clan represented by Fan’s free estate. It started the course ofreconstruction and recovery of clans after Song Dynasty.Fan’s free estate was born is response to the transformation of economic form, diversionof political governance structure, changes of social structures and and renaissance trend ofpatriarchal system between Tang and Song Dynasties. Fan Zhongyan, who created free estate,did not strictly follow the ancient system, but reformed the traditional clan structure, forminga new patriarchal mode.With "Rules of Free Estate" which had been revised for more than ten times as theinternal basic law，with the regulations and etiquettes of Confucianism as the external sourceof law, Fan’s free estate formed a complex and vital clan legal structure, setting up a model ofright distribution pattern in order to ensure clansmen’s property rights, cultural andeducational rights, etiquette and organizational rights, forming a power allocation pattern inwhich the endogenous power, functional power and institutional power crossing andbalancing each other.Supported by the unique legal structure, Fan’s free estate overcame problems arisingfrom the one-off identity under imperial examination bureaucracy and increasingly rarefactionof property under the principle of average distribution of family property. It successfullyrealizes the regeneration of feudal bureaucrats and the longevity of patriarchal family,becoming the model prototype of ancient Chinese clans. At the social level, free estate maintained the order of local society and meanwhile expanded the autonomy space. At thenational level, the new pattern of clans represented by Fan’s free estate, equipping with thewhole three elements (genealogy, ancestral temple and clans property)， repaired thepatriarchal integration structure which is the foundation of feudal empire with thecharacteristic of “isomorphism between family and state”, and helped the clan become thecarrier of imperial order’s production and expansion and the basic unit of social integration.Therefore, the attitude of ancient Chinese rulers to clans echoes between supporting andsuppressing.