传统父系宗族中“族”的意义：以九族亲属制度的建构为例

本文主要讨论的是儒家九族制度的建构逻辑。九族制度是儒学经典记载的亲属制度,也是宗法制度的基础,它确立了一个以己为中心、逐渐外推的亲属圈子,并规定了一个人亲缘关系的范围。《礼记·丧服小记》说,“亲亲以三为五,以五为九,上杀、下杀、旁杀,而亲毕矣。”本文将对这句经文的解释和梳理为核心,讨论“九族”的建构过程。这一过程以“父—子”这一基本的人伦关系为基础,以“亲亲之杀”为核心原理,以“上杀”“下杀”“旁杀”为基本路径。此外,本文也对九族制度下“家”的基本形式进行了讨论。

The Meaning of Zu in Chinese Traditional Patriarchal Clan System:A Study of the Formation of the Nine-Generation Clan System

This article is an intellectual history study on the traditional family system. It is based on the relevant texts in Rituals (Yi Li) and Book of Rites (Li Ji) with a focus on a kinship system known as the Nine-Generation clan system (Jiuzu Zhi). As an ideal family structure of Confucianism, the Nine-Generation system is an essential part of the traditional patriarchal clan system in Chinese society. This study examines the fundamental basis and its construction principle and process of the Nine- Generation system from the perspective of Confucianism. The Nine-Gen eration system starts at the centre of oneself and ends with a gradually extrapolated circle of kinship. The circle defines the scope of kinship that one has. In the Book of Rites:Funeral Dresses, it is said: In counting the kindred (in mourning rituals), from the three closest generations it expands to the next closest five generations, and then from the five to the next nine. The mourning dressing codes and the period of mourning are gradually diminished as the generations ascend or descend outwards to the collateral branches, and eventually end beyond this point. This scripture is the key to understand the Nine-Generation and it reveals the core construction principle of the system, which is called Diminishing Attachment of Kinship. Starting from oneself, one has affection for one's father, this affection is extended to one's immediate ancestors, and then to further distance ancestors. The same with the descent order from one's sons to grandsons and so on. In the process, the further out the circle, the more diminished affection for each other. Therefore, Diminishing Attachment of Kinship becomes the most important construction principle and it eventually forms the Nine-Generation kinship group linking great- great-grandfathers to great-great-grandsons.The study points out the significance of the Nine-Generation in Confucianism, arguing that it is the institutionalized interpretation of the father-son cardinal relationship and the essential ethic principal of filial piety in Confucian humanism. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between the Nine-Generation system and the traditional patriarchal clan system, asserting that the former is the prerequisite for understanding the latter.