Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2014

Restoration of Clan Names among Ming Scholars and the Corresponding Cultural Implications                                                                              

(Abstract)

Wang Weizhen and Niu Jianqiang

From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the government began to allow people who were using others’ surnames because of adoption, fostering, or uxorilocal marriage to resume their original family or clan names. The principle governing resumption of one's family name was based on social status: ordinary people could resume their original family names on their own, but it was  more complicated for scholars to do so because their names were listed as having passed the base level (sheng yuan 生员) and higher levels of the imperial examinations (ju ren举人and jin shi进士), and having served as officials (incumbent and retired). Their personnel files were kept in the official academies or the offices of the Board of Rites or the Board of Personnel. Therefore, they had to "apply to the authorities" to restore their family names, requests processed by the relevant local departments, the Board of Rites or the Board of Personnel. Because they had experience of studying, being examined and holding official posts, scholars would be more aware of filial piety and their ancestral surnames than ordinary people and would have stronger feelings about them. In terms of long-range history, scholars' resumption of their original family names was a common, even a typical, phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty. In traditional society, restoration of one's surname or clan name not only clarified the origins and destinies of individual clans, but also strengthened the construction of culture by promoting filial piety.