Zhang Fei :.. for residents of a given area, their ancestral graveyards are rooted
in areas their lineal forebears have populated for possibly thousands of years.
The importance of ancestral worship in the Chinese tradition may have acted as a counterbalance
to the centripetal pull of the 10m and up regional agglomerations that the Chinese call “cities”.
As I understand it, Mao's conquest involved physical destruction
of many Chinese written genealogical records.
The destruction was needed to move much of the agrarian population to the cities
and off their ancestral lands.
Is this true, ..or was I misinformed ?
[As I understand it, Mao’s conquest involved physical destruction
of many Chinese written genealogical records.
The destruction was needed to move much of the agrarian population to the cities
and off their ancestral lands.
Is this true, ..or was I misinformed ?]
I’m not Chinese, so I’m only privy to whatever English language sources are available in hard copy or on the internet. But my decades of amateur China-watching indicate that the destruction is less complete than the Party would have liked. After all, many of the people who were tasked to do this stuff were locals who would have to live with the people whose things they would have destroy. Look at it this way - it rumored that under Ye Jianying’s protection, Deng Xiaoping survived assassination attempts organized by Mao, an emperor in all but name, who was laser-like focused on eliminating potential rivals for the throne. Nobody cares about how completely destroyed musty ancestral records are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Jianying