Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China
The term “inheritance” may not be best suited to describe the traditional Chinese system for transmitting property rights through generations. What was absent was the notion that property was owned by an individual who could unequivocally decide how to use or dispose of the same property. This absen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
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Centre de Recherches Historiques
2020-11-01
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| Series: | L'Atelier du CRH |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/acrh/11472 |
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| author | Kentaro Matsubara |
| author_facet | Kentaro Matsubara |
| author_sort | Kentaro Matsubara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The term “inheritance” may not be best suited to describe the traditional Chinese system for transmitting property rights through generations. What was absent was the notion that property was owned by an individual who could unequivocally decide how to use or dispose of the same property. This absence was part and parcel with a system where property (which was nominally held by the household and could be disposed of as the household head) was seen to ultimately belong to the continuity of the male line (zong), and would be transferred through generations in manners not necessarily related to the death (or survival) of the current household head. Through a reconstruction of this system and a description of various strategies, including ancestral property and posthumous marriages, this chapter explains how a very different view of life and death led to the development of a very different system regarding the treatment of property in the absence of living, unequivocally recognised owners. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e9332ed3bf9b4a31b051ca18dcb13fc6 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1760-7914 |
| language | fra |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Centre de Recherches Historiques |
| record_format | Article |
| series | L'Atelier du CRH |
| spelling | doaj-art-e9332ed3bf9b4a31b051ca18dcb13fc62025-08-20T01:55:58ZfraCentre de Recherches HistoriquesL'Atelier du CRH1760-79142020-11-012210.4000/acrh.11472Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional ChinaKentaro MatsubaraThe term “inheritance” may not be best suited to describe the traditional Chinese system for transmitting property rights through generations. What was absent was the notion that property was owned by an individual who could unequivocally decide how to use or dispose of the same property. This absence was part and parcel with a system where property (which was nominally held by the household and could be disposed of as the household head) was seen to ultimately belong to the continuity of the male line (zong), and would be transferred through generations in manners not necessarily related to the death (or survival) of the current household head. Through a reconstruction of this system and a description of various strategies, including ancestral property and posthumous marriages, this chapter explains how a very different view of life and death led to the development of a very different system regarding the treatment of property in the absence of living, unequivocally recognised owners.https://journals.openedition.org/acrh/11472Traditional ChinaFamily LawFamily PropertyLineageHousehold DivisionPosthumous Marriage |
| spellingShingle | Kentaro Matsubara Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China L'Atelier du CRH Traditional China Family Law Family Property Lineage Household Division Posthumous Marriage |
| title | Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China |
| title_full | Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China |
| title_fullStr | Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China |
| title_short | Death is Nothing at All. Heirs, their Absence and Lineage Strategies in Traditional China |
| title_sort | death is nothing at all heirs their absence and lineage strategies in traditional china |
| topic | Traditional China Family Law Family Property Lineage Household Division Posthumous Marriage |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/acrh/11472 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kentaromatsubara deathisnothingatallheirstheirabsenceandlineagestrategiesintraditionalchina |