NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 2/ 



SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS 

 THE FAMILY AND FILIAL PIETY 



China is in the Temperate Zone. The climate is generally good, and 

 the soil productive. There are occasional droughts, floods, and 

 pestilences, but on the whole life is pleasant. This may explain at 

 least in part why the Chinese are optimistic, regard life as worth 

 living, and place the highest value on life in this world. 



The nature of their language, their history, their customs, and 

 their literature indicates that for several thousands of years the 

 Chinese have been an agricultural people. This facilitated the growth 

 of family life, the organization of families into clans or tribes, and 

 finally into a great nation. The Chinese were primarily interested in 

 the social order, the present world in and of itself being regarded as of 

 supreme value. While they believe in life after death, life in this 

 world is regarded as better, more pleasant, and more important. 



The family is the starting point of all interests, the rights of in- 

 dividuals being subordinated to those of the family group. Property 

 belongs to the family, not to the individual members of the family, 

 and the incomes of all are pooled. The family means so much that an 

 isolated individual feels peculiarly alone. Kulp has called this aspect 

 of Chinese life famihsm. 



Filial piety is held in high esteem, its roots extending back to the 

 very beginnings of Chinese history. The power of the family is 

 focused in its head, and filial piety is the organizing principle that 

 holds the family together. Reverence and obedience to the parents 

 is the first duty of the children. These principles vitally affect the 

 social and religious worlds of the Chinese. Rehgion is a family and a 

 community affair, and ethics is social. 



Filial piety is the cardinal virtue. One of the worst things that can 

 be said of a person, if not the worst, is that he is unfilial. About the 

 worst thing a person can do is to die without leaving descendants to 

 continue the family and to carry on its ceremonies of venerating and 

 commemorating the deceased ancestors. Filial piety requires that a 

 person show respect and love for his parents and elders, and for his 

 ancestors for three generations. For millennia this has been the 

 cement that has strengthened and bound Chinese society together. 

 Some of the results were elaborate funeral ceremonies, expensive 

 tombs, and ceremonies of commemoration and veneration. 



All this is affected by the dualistic yin-yang conception. The yin is 

 the female principle and is lower, weaker, and inferior to the yang 

 principle, which is male and is superior, stronger, and better than the 



