In this chapter, lineage organization and lineage ideology are discussed in detail. In particular I am concerned with the relationship between an ideology that emphasizes lineage solidarity and a socioeconomic system that is based on clear economic inequalities. In Chapter 2 I discussed the early history of the Teng lineage; the present chapter is concerned with the lineage during the twentieth century, although the patterns described are very likely representative of earlier periods as well. The data presented in the following pages are based upon conversations with lineage elders, personal observations, and analyses of the many lineage rituals I attended. Lineage genealogies also provide an important source of information.

In Ha Tsuen the representations of the system of descent are complex and even contradictory. In some contexts the unifying aspects of descent are emphasized; in other contexts differences among agnates are stressed. The image of an undifferentiated lineage is one that the Teng are quick to express in conversation and thus remains a conscious ideal. The other view of the lineage emphasizes the differences among agnates and is most clearly reflected in rituals associated with the ancestral cult.

Anthropologists who work on lineages in other parts of the world will find little that is surprising here, for it is well known that all unilineal descent groups have within them unifying and differentiating tendencies. However, in the Chinese context differentiation has a special meaning. In China, descent groups have been imbedded in a class-based, bureaucratic state system for centuries.