During the
mid to later Ming period, the practice of the state and among the literati of labeling the
culture south of the Yangzi River “barbarian and alien” began to change. This was marked by the increasing Hanization and Confucianization of the hundreds of tribal groups in South China, a process that resulted from the interaction between the elite and commoners, the elegant and the vulgar, and between the locals and the Han people, as well as by the penetration and popularization of
clan culture in the
region south of the Yangzi River. On the one hand, a whole
set of clan ethics and system of
rites gradually came into existence,with prominent Confucian scholars, officials and the gentry actively promoting family precepts and the formulation of local rites; on the other hand, it became the fashion among the population to construct clan temples, edit clan pedigrees, create clan properties and set up clan schools. All these activities helped to increase the integration of local communities and gave added orthodoxy and legitimacy to the local culture. Consanguinity thus became integrated with geo culture which had an important influence on the formation of local traditions in the Lingnan region in the later mid Ming period.
More summaries about the Social and Clan Culture in the Lingnan Region During the mid and Late Periods of the Ming Dynasty