The blood feud system in the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC) established the social structure of China. The consanguineous community has become the basis of social resource allocation. Therefore, consanguinity is the main channel through which Chinese society operates. The non-consanguineous social groups, which are ultra-consanguineous, also operate in the same way; for example, the sworn brothers of different surnames, the mentoring relationship in which the mentor for life is regarded as a father, and the recognition of total strangers with the same surname as a far relative. Such a social model is enclosed. The exclusion of non-consanguineous members by the consanguineous communities and between consanguineous groups makes them enclosed, and it is thus difficult to build trust among people.
At the same time, our society is not only an enclosed community limited by blood but also by geography. Such is the characteristic of an agricultural society, as it is difficult to move with the soil. As real estate, land binds people to it, and it is difficult to form regional mobility. In addition to the conquering nature of ancient Chinese politics, the imperialists confined people to their own living areas as much as possible to seize power, and so people were not allowed to mobilize because the mobility would bring greatly dangerous challenges to the throne.
The social characteristics of consanguineous communities and geographical closure form such a feature, that is, the lack of cross-community groups and public activities. Therefore, the public activities of acquaintances on social networks almost did not exist in ancient times. Moreover, although there are reciprocal interactions on occasions like weddings and funerals of the same family, it is, after all, communication in an acquaintance society and does not have much sociality or publicity at all.
In ancient society, the only people who could take part in public activities were religious groups. Religion is neither a consanguineous community nor a regional group. It allows members to communicate across blood ties and regions. For instance, Buddhist monks could travel far away to make alms or give lectures. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (184 AD–220 AD), the Yellow Scarf Army was an example of a cross-regional campaign with a religious background. Looking at the history of China, one will find that most of the large-scale military actions that overthrew the imperial power had religious backgrounds. It was precisely because of the cross-regional publicity of religion that it became the target of imperial power. In ancient history, there were countless religious wars, the Yellow Scarf Army Uprising, the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion (a Taoist movement, translator’s note), the Uprising of the White Lotus Society, the Pure Water Sect Uprising, the Rnying-ma-ba Uprising, and so on.
It was the imperial power’s attack on religions that made Chinese society always lack community public activities. As a substitute for public activities, weddings, funerals, and clan sacrifices became the focus of people’s communication. When I was a child, I was especially looking forward to the weddings and funerals of my relatives, not only because of the delicious food but also because I could meet relatives and partners I hadn’t seen for ages. In addition, small business vendors whom I had not seen for a long time would also appear. Some relatives also showed movies at weddings. These were very rare for rural childhood in the 1980s.
However, with the process of reform and opening up after the legalization of Christianity, the religion became the leader of rural public activities. The development of church members and interpersonal interaction were not limited to blood groups. Therefore, the rural church’s regular weekly activities and public celebrations at Christmas and the Spring Festival turned to some of the few public activities and spiritualities in rural areas. However, with economic development, the influence of the public activities of the church is weakening. One reason is the rise of TV and mobile phones, and the other is due to public square dancing and the increase of public entertainment.
With the development of the economy and the rise of rural migrant workers, the result is the collapse of rural traditional ethics and social structure. Public activities in rural areas have not been established because of the withdrawal or decline of the church.
This is why, every year, we see people drinking and playing cards one after another in almost all rural areas during the Spring Festival. The festival, which was originally themed on reunions, has gradually evolved into one in which the economy plays the leading role. After the collapse of the traditional social structure, the lack of public activities made individuals completely atomized. The need to return to the countryside during the Spring Festival has almost become the worst anxiety of the festival season. The unattached and detached state of personal value allows individuals to gain a sense of existence only by comparing themselves to each other’s financial power. Therefore, among villages, we see comparisons of cars, fashion, and income. On Chinese New Year’s Eve, we see fireworks, lavish hands at poker tables, and red packets in front of relatives, which has become a common practice in rural areas during the season. This phenomenon is becoming a heavy economic burden for the public.
In this state, the church needs to return, respond to the value collapse caused by the lack of public activities in rural areas, and take up the public function of shaping values once more.
First of all, the church should launch some high-quality programs to attract the participation of other non-church members. Everyone should be allowed to enter the church, and then the church should try to influence those who come. On the other hand, it is best for church programs to avoid traditional preaching, put down the purpose of preaching, and let the public activities of the church be well organized. The church should respond directly to everyone’s anxiety, especially in marriage, life, family, and so on. Finally, the church should care for and sympathize with its own members during the Spring Festival so that people are willing to know about the activities of the church because of the mutual love of church groups.
- Translated by Charlie Li
周代的血缘分封制创制了中国的社会结构。血缘共同体成为社会资源分配的基本单位。因此我们社会的运作和流动的方式，血缘都是主要的流动渠道。其它非血缘的社会团体，也同样是以超血缘的模式运行。比如异性兄弟的结拜，一日为师终身为父的师徒关系，同姓认作本家的陌生人结盟等。这种社会模式的特点就是封闭性。血缘共同体对非血缘成员的排斥，以及对非血缘团体之间的排他性，让血缘团体形成一个封闭团体，对其他人很难建立信任。
同时，我们的社会不仅仅是一个血缘封闭共同体，还是地理封闭共同体。这是农业社会的特点，重土难迁。土地作为不动产，把民众束缚在土地上，很难形成地域流动性。加上我们古代政治的征服性质，皇权出于安全考量，尽可能地将人限制在自己生活的区域，而不允许流动，因为流动会给政权带来极大的危险性。
血缘共同体和地域封闭性的社会特点带来一个特点，那就是缺乏社区和跨社区共同体和公共活动。因此熟人社会网络的公共活动，在古代社会几乎是不存在的。而那些同一家族的婚丧嫁娶，尽管也包含着礼尚往来的互动，这毕竟是熟人社会之间的交际，并不具备社会性和公共性。
在古代社会，唯一可以担当公共活动的是宗教群体。宗教不是血缘共同体，也不是地域性的团体，它允许成员的跨血缘组合以及跨地区行动。比如佛教僧人可以出远门化缘或者讲经。东汉末年的黄巾军同样也是以宗教背景的跨地区活动。考察中国历史，会发现大规模军事行动推翻皇权的大部分都是宗教背景。正是因为宗教的跨地区的公共性，因此成为皇权的打击对象。在古代历史上，有数不胜数的宗教战争，黄巾军起义，五斗米道起义，白莲教起义，清水教起义，红教起义等等。
正是皇权对宗教的打击，让我们的社会一直缺乏社区公共活动。作为对公共活动的替代，婚丧嫁娶和宗族祭祀活动成为人们交往的集中节点。笔者小时候，对于亲戚的婚丧嫁娶尤其期待，这不仅是因为有好吃的，还因为可以见到许久没见到的亲戚和伙伴。 除此之外，许久不见的小商小贩也会出现。有的亲戚家婚事还放映电影。这些对于八零后的农村童年来说都是非常稀罕。
然而，随着改革开放的进程，基督教合法化之后，它成为农村公共活动的担纲者。教会成员的发展和人际之间的互动，并不局限于血缘团体。因此教会的周间定期活动，以及圣诞和春节的公共演出，成为农村地区的为数不多的公共活动和精神娱乐。但是随着经济发展，教会的公共活动的影响性正在减弱。这一方面因为电视和手机的普及，另一方面也是因为广场舞开始兴起，人们的公共娱乐增加的结果。
随着经济的发展，农村务工潮的兴起，带来的结果是农村传统伦理和社会结构的崩溃。农村的公共活动因为教会的退出或者衰落却一直没有建立起来。
这就是为什么我们每年春节期间，在几乎大部分农村都能听到此起彼伏的喝酒喝打牌的喧闹。春节这一本来是以团聚为主题的节日，逐渐演变成一个经济唱主角的节日。传统社会结构崩溃之后，公共活动的缺乏，让个体彻底原子化。春节回归乡村的个体，安身立命于何处，这几乎成为现在的春节最主要的焦虑。个人价值的无所归附和游离状态，让个体只能在彼此的攀比中，获得存在感。因此，我们在村头巷尾，看到的是比车、比衣服、比收入，除夕夜晚看到的是比烟花，在牌桌上的出手阔绰，在亲戚面前的不甘人后的红包比拼，成为农村当下春节的常见景象，这一现象正成为大众沉重的经济负担。
这种状态下，需要教会的回归，需要教会回应农村这种公共活动缺失所带来的价值崩溃，重新担当起价值塑造的公共职能。
首先教会要推出一些质量较高的节目，吸引其它非教会成员的参与。让大家进入教会，然后再想办法影响这些进入的人。另一方面，教会的节目最好避免传统的说教，放下传教的目的，让教会的公共活动去工具化。直接回应大家的焦虑问题，尤其是婚恋问题，生活问题，家庭问题等等。最后教会应该在春节最好对自己教会成员进行关怀和慰问，让人们因为教会团体的彼此相爱，而愿意了解教会的活动和内容。
观察与思考：社区公共活动中视角下的教会春节活动与出路
The blood feud system in the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC) established the social structure of China. The consanguineous community has become the basis of social resource allocation. Therefore, consanguinity is the main channel through which Chinese society operates. The non-consanguineous social groups, which are ultra-consanguineous, also operate in the same way; for example, the sworn brothers of different surnames, the mentoring relationship in which the mentor for life is regarded as a father, and the recognition of total strangers with the same surname as a far relative. Such a social model is enclosed. The exclusion of non-consanguineous members by the consanguineous communities and between consanguineous groups makes them enclosed, and it is thus difficult to build trust among people.
At the same time, our society is not only an enclosed community limited by blood but also by geography. Such is the characteristic of an agricultural society, as it is difficult to move with the soil. As real estate, land binds people to it, and it is difficult to form regional mobility. In addition to the conquering nature of ancient Chinese politics, the imperialists confined people to their own living areas as much as possible to seize power, and so people were not allowed to mobilize because the mobility would bring greatly dangerous challenges to the throne.
The social characteristics of consanguineous communities and geographical closure form such a feature, that is, the lack of cross-community groups and public activities. Therefore, the public activities of acquaintances on social networks almost did not exist in ancient times. Moreover, although there are reciprocal interactions on occasions like weddings and funerals of the same family, it is, after all, communication in an acquaintance society and does not have much sociality or publicity at all.
In ancient society, the only people who could take part in public activities were religious groups. Religion is neither a consanguineous community nor a regional group. It allows members to communicate across blood ties and regions. For instance, Buddhist monks could travel far away to make alms or give lectures. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (184 AD–220 AD), the Yellow Scarf Army was an example of a cross-regional campaign with a religious background. Looking at the history of China, one will find that most of the large-scale military actions that overthrew the imperial power had religious backgrounds. It was precisely because of the cross-regional publicity of religion that it became the target of imperial power. In ancient history, there were countless religious wars, the Yellow Scarf Army Uprising, the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion (a Taoist movement, translator’s note), the Uprising of the White Lotus Society, the Pure Water Sect Uprising, the Rnying-ma-ba Uprising, and so on.
It was the imperial power’s attack on religions that made Chinese society always lack community public activities. As a substitute for public activities, weddings, funerals, and clan sacrifices became the focus of people’s communication. When I was a child, I was especially looking forward to the weddings and funerals of my relatives, not only because of the delicious food but also because I could meet relatives and partners I hadn’t seen for ages. In addition, small business vendors whom I had not seen for a long time would also appear. Some relatives also showed movies at weddings. These were very rare for rural childhood in the 1980s.
However, with the process of reform and opening up after the legalization of Christianity, the religion became the leader of rural public activities. The development of church members and interpersonal interaction were not limited to blood groups. Therefore, the rural church’s regular weekly activities and public celebrations at Christmas and the Spring Festival turned to some of the few public activities and spiritualities in rural areas. However, with economic development, the influence of the public activities of the church is weakening. One reason is the rise of TV and mobile phones, and the other is due to public square dancing and the increase of public entertainment.
With the development of the economy and the rise of rural migrant workers, the result is the collapse of rural traditional ethics and social structure. Public activities in rural areas have not been established because of the withdrawal or decline of the church.
This is why, every year, we see people drinking and playing cards one after another in almost all rural areas during the Spring Festival. The festival, which was originally themed on reunions, has gradually evolved into one in which the economy plays the leading role. After the collapse of the traditional social structure, the lack of public activities made individuals completely atomized. The need to return to the countryside during the Spring Festival has almost become the worst anxiety of the festival season. The unattached and detached state of personal value allows individuals to gain a sense of existence only by comparing themselves to each other’s financial power. Therefore, among villages, we see comparisons of cars, fashion, and income. On Chinese New Year’s Eve, we see fireworks, lavish hands at poker tables, and red packets in front of relatives, which has become a common practice in rural areas during the season. This phenomenon is becoming a heavy economic burden for the public.
In this state, the church needs to return, respond to the value collapse caused by the lack of public activities in rural areas, and take up the public function of shaping values once more.
First of all, the church should launch some high-quality programs to attract the participation of other non-church members. Everyone should be allowed to enter the church, and then the church should try to influence those who come. On the other hand, it is best for church programs to avoid traditional preaching, put down the purpose of preaching, and let the public activities of the church be well organized. The church should respond directly to everyone’s anxiety, especially in marriage, life, family, and so on. Finally, the church should care for and sympathize with its own members during the Spring Festival so that people are willing to know about the activities of the church because of the mutual love of church groups.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Observation: The Church Can Engage in Spring Festival Community Activities to Reshape Public Values
