The genealogy, which serves as archival material for family reproduction and activities, preserves a wealth of information related to the activities of the lineage in different regions of the past dynasties, and it is useful for related disciplines such as social history, migration history, population history, and local history. and so on have historical value, which has been demonstrated by many people of insight. Decades ago, Gu Jiegang, a master of history, said: "The wealth of China's historical books is incomparably rich." However, due to various reasons, it is difficult to call it a 'history of faith''。Today's young people should seek historical materials from 25 foreign scholars, learn from the essence and use macros, and their achievements should not be comparable with those of the previous generations. Today, there are two 'big gold mines' in the field of Chinese historiography that have yet to be developed', i.e. local history and genealogy. It has always been ignored by historians, but in fact, it contains endless valuable historical materials, which is the 'official history.''It is difficult to know the discipline and not be known".
Following the pulse of history and tracing the origins of genealogy, we can trace Chinese genealogy back to the pre-Qin era. "The small history of the Zhou family, the lineage, the identification of Mu, is also the position of history. "Determining the lineage and distinguishing the Mu" is the most basic function of genealogy. This sentence shows that as early as the Zhou Dynasty, ** set up a "small history official", whose duty is to be in charge of "determining the lineage and distinguishing Mu". Qin unified the world, the princes and princes lost their original power, and the social pattern was redivided, that is, "Qin and the world, the old traces were divided, the descendants of the princes and princes lost their original lineage." The "Shiben" published in the early Han Dynasty: "The ancestors of the Yellow Emperor are born", which records the surnames, lineages, relocations, and names of the princes and doctors from the Yellow Emperor to the Spring and Autumn Period, and is considered to be the first work of Chinese genealogy. It can be said that the name of the spectrum really appeared in the Han Dynasty, and there are many monographs on the spectrum written by Liu Xiang such as the second volume of the "Shiben Princely Doctor's Spectrum". During the Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the F spectrum was an official monopoly. "Wei Li Jiupin, set in the center. State, Dazhongzheng, main book; County, Zhongzheng, Gongcao. Each has a book for election. Jin and Song Qi Liang because of it. "From the Sui and Tang dynasties up, the official has a book, and the family has a pedigree. The election of the officers shall be due to the book; The marriage of the family will be due to genealogy. In the past dynasties, there was a map bureau, and the history of Lang Ling was in the palm of his hand, and he still used the ancient and modern Confucianism of Botong to write the score. Those who have a family name of a hundred official families, the official on the top, for the examination is detailed, hidden in the secret pavilion, and the deputy is on the left and right. If there is a misuse of private books. then correct it to official status; If the official status is not enough, it will be a private letter. This ancient system is based on the rope of the world. So that the noble have permanent respect, and the lowly have the prestige. Therefore, the study of genealogy is still the book of genealogy. This passage fully illustrates that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the spectrum was fully valued, and the state set up a special "Atlas Bureau" (equivalent to the current Fang Zhi Office), and appointed the official of M Lang Ling Shi M to be in charge of M spectrum affairs. The appointment of bureaucrats, the selection of marriages, and the division of the noble and the low, are all based on the "book" or "family", that is, the spectrum. Like national history and chronicles, genealogy is the basis for "detailed examination" and is officially recognized. In this social environment, the trend of genealogy was prevalent, and genealogy came into being, and genealogy entered an unprecedented heyday.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the revision of the score continued to be in the official hands. "Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty ordered Confucianism to compile 100 volumes of "Clan Chronicles", rearranged the surname rank, and divided the national surnames into 9 grades, 293 surnames, and 1651 families, with the surname Li listed as the first class and the relatives listed as the second class. When Wu Zetian was in power, he changed the "Clan Chronicles" to the "Surname Record". The "Surname Record" included a total of 235 surnames and families, and listed the Wu surname as a first-class, readjusting the original Shi clan and Shu clan, and striking at the power of the original Shi clan. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the great integration of ethnic groups, the replacement of the family lineage, the further development of genealogy, and the gradual popularity of private genealogy, such as the "Tang Book Art and Literature Chronicles" contains two volumes of "Sima Family", Wang Fangqing's "Wang's Family" fifteen volumes, "Yan Family Tree" one volume, and other genealogy of 17 families and 39 books of 1,617 volumes. During the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the soldiers were in chaos, the people were displaced, the famous families declined, the genealogy was scattered, and the genealogy also sank. That is, "since the fifth season, the scholars do not ask about their family background, and their marriage does not ask about reading, so their books are scattered, and their learning is not passed on." "During the Song Dynasty, Chinese genealogy was extensively developed. Compared with the previous generation, its function has changed from the previous "don't elect, determine marriage, and show the noble and low" to "respect the ancestors, respect the ancestors, and accept the clan" The role of the ethic education of the clan has changed. During this period, private pedigree was further developed, replacing official pedigree as the main method of compilation. Ouyang Xiu and Su Xun must be mentioned here, they synthesized the experience of their predecessors in cultivating genealogy, combined with the style of their predecessors, and created their own genealogy, and respectively revised the "Ouyang Family Spectrum" and "Su Family Tree", which were imitated by later generations and laid the basic style of later generations.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, private genealogy became a common practice. In relatively economically developed areas such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, almost all surnames and surnames are repaired, and family genealogies are collected, and some genealogies are repaired again and again, continuously, becoming serial publications in the true sense (most of the genealogies that survive today are genealogies of this period). Especially in the Qing Dynasty, along with the large-scale revision activities, with the widespread popularity of movable type printing, in the southeast of our country and Anhui, Hunan, Sichuan and other places, there were "genealogists" and "genealogists" who specialized in arranging genealogies for others. After the autumn harvest, these people would take up the burden of movable type and go to the ancestral halls of various towns and villages to print and repair family trees for others. Because the starting point of these people is to make money, and their own level of knowledge is not high, the genealogy they cultivate is uneven, and there is even the phenomenon of pretending to be a clan and rebelling with their ancestors, and arbitrarily clinging to famous families. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, for a considerable period of time, genealogies were thrown into the forbidden zone, and a large number of genealogies were burned. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, with the increasingly relaxed cultural atmosphere, genealogy has been developed to a certain extent, genealogy research organizations have been established in some places, and many local folk genealogy have also taken action. It can be said that the activities of revising notation, which have lasted for thousands of years, are synchronized with the history of civilization of the Chinese nation and run through the entire Chinese society, which is a unique historical and cultural phenomenon of the Chinese nation (other ethnic minorities also revise the score). The continuous genealogy revision activities have left a considerable number of genealogies. At present, there are more than 10,000 genealogies compiled before 1949 in the Shanghai Library. Other genealogies in public collections such as Zhejiang, Guangdong, Anhui and other places are also more than 1,000, and there are many overseas collections. But what is even more impressive is the large number of genealogies scattered in the homes of ordinary people, the number of which cannot be counted at all.
The endless history and huge number are the objective embodiment of the charm of the genealogy itself. Historically, from official genealogy to private genealogy, from emperors to ordinary people, genealogy has its specific role in different historical stages. Its value is mainly reflected in: genealogy, known as "private history". Its rich historical value is its most important value embodiment, and it is also the main purpose and starting point for us to study, organize and develop genealogy today. The genealogy contains a large number of local historical materials, which have an irreplaceable role for future generations to study the local population migration, marriage system, family rules and etiquette at that time. "If the family is not repaired, then the head of the country will have the right to do it? "'Ancestral raids', "inheritance", "impersonation", "marriage violations", "household service omissions", etc., can all be found in the family tree. It can be said that without the genealogical information of the emperors and the subjects, the 25th history cannot be written. That is what historian Liang Qichao said: "If you want to test the organization of the ethnic system, you want to test the average age and average life expectancy of marriages in different eras and places, you want to test the inheritance of both parents, you want to test the ratio of men and women, and you want to test the birth rate and the mortality rate are ......and so on, I am afraid that there is no other way to obtain information except genealogy. ”
In 1984, when Jiande County, Zhejiang Province revised the "Jiande County Chronicles", the ownership of the oldest single-span stone arch bridge in the territory was inconclusive due to the different materials reported in various places and the lack of strong evidence in various places. Later, the county chronicle compiler determined that the "Longxi Bridge" built in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty in the area where the surname was inhabited was the oldest from the "Genealogy of the Zhang Family in Yanzhou", thus calming the dispute. In view of the irreplaceable role of genealogy, the ———Shanghai Branch, the leader of China's public libraries, established the Department of Genealogy and the Genealogy Research Center in 2019 to collate, develop and research genealogy. According to the readership statistics of the Historical Literature Department of our library, the number and utilization rate of genealogy are the highest. It is understood that the utilization rate of genealogies in other libraries has also been high. Therefore, genealogy has been, is, and even in the future, providing people with first-hand information and evidence at all stages and in all aspects. "There is a spectrum of the family, such as the wood has a foundation, and the water has a source". Genealogy is a historical evidence of the evolution and development of a family. Its "lineage catalogue" is the main content of the family tree, which can help people find their roots. If you flip through your own family tree, you can find the origin of your life, your ancestors, your ancestors, etc. Perhaps under the influence of thousands of years of feudal rule, the concept of loyalty and filial piety of the Chinese is deeply rooted, and the concept of respecting ancestors, family and region is the fine tradition of the descendants of Yan and Huang. When two people with the same surname meet, even if they do not belong to the same sect, they will have a special affection, and they will often say "five hundred years ago was one family". During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the famous Hui merchants, in the process of their formation and development, the clan blood bond played a very important and even decisive role, and the genealogy is the manifestation of this bond. At that time, in Huizhou, southern Anhui, "the grave of a thousand families, do not move a hand; The family of a thousand dings has not tasted scattered; Thousands of years of spectrum, no order. "Nowadays, with the further opening up of the mainland of the motherland and the return of Hong Kong and Macao, the desire of overseas travelers to return to their roots and seek their roots is particularly urgent. There is an endless stream of people who return to their hometowns to visit relatives and seek their roots, and genealogy provides a guarantee for the fulfillment of their wishes. From this point of view, genealogy has its role as a link and bridge for Chinese people to find their roots and identify and enhance national cohesion.
To further promote the building of modern spiritual civilization, the genealogy generally contains such contents as "family rules" and "family laws", including good moral norms such as advocating frugality, abstaining from luxury, prohibiting gambling, and abiding by contracts, which is a rare textbook for carrying forward the fine traditions of the family and enlightening and educating future generations, and is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. Today, the whole society is vigorously advocating the basic moral norms of "patriotism, law-abiding, courtesy, integrity, unity and friendliness, diligence and thrift, self-improvement, dedication and dedication", and genealogy also has its role in promoting and encouraging us to inherit the fine traditions, carry forward the spirit of the times, and abide by social morality, professional ethics, and family virtues.