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== Informal Aristocracy == | == Informal Aristocracy == | ||
By the mid T'ang dynasty, few of the old aristocratic families seem to have formed lineages (distinct kinship groups with common activities). By this time, the descendants of the 4th and 5th century lineages were | By the mid T'ang dynasty, few of the old aristocratic families seem to have formed lineages (distinct kinship groups with common activities). By this time, the descendants of the 4th and 5th century lineages were often only distantly related. Moreover, many families had scattered, thereby losing their geographical focus. By the T'ang dynasty, the bonds that brought together members of different aristocratic families as social equals greatly outweighed the ties to patrilineal kinsmen that divided them. | ||
The old aristocratic families in the T'ang dynasty are best seen as a status group, a community with a distinctive way of life, sustained by prestige more than power or wealth. What gave coherence to this status group of old families was marital exclusiveness. A restricted marriage circle, into which entry was difficult to obtain except on the basis of the ascriptive criterion of birth, visibly defined the membership of this group. | The old aristocratic families in the T'ang dynasty are best seen as a status group, a community with a distinctive way of life, sustained by prestige more than power or wealth. What gave coherence to this status group of old families was marital exclusiveness. A restricted marriage circle, into which entry was difficult to obtain except on the basis of the ascriptive criterion of birth, visibly defined the membership of this group. | ||
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