Abstract
The evolution of the Zhang Heavenly Master clan of the Zhengyi Order in the Ming dynasty was influenced both by the Daoist and the patriarchal clan systems. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, following the Daoist system, the Zhang Heavenly Master clan genealogy mainly covered the list of Zhang Heavenly Masters. At the beginning of the Ming, Zhang Yuchu, the forty-third Heavenly Master, complied a genealogy according to clan system principles, extending it to include all ancestors of the Zhang Heavenly Master clan, divided into different branches. However, this construction of the Zhang Heavenly Master clan was unsustainable. The clan faced internal struggles over succession to the position of Heavenly Master twice during the middle and second half of the fifteenth century, ultimately leading to a change from “younger brother succeeding after the older brother’s death” to succession by the lineal eldest sons. This change brought the Zhang Heavenly Master clan into a crisis. During the Longqing reign period (1567-1572), with the loss of the emperor’s favor, civil officials downgraded the status of the Zhang Heavenly Master, from official rank 2 to rank 6. The mother of the newly-titled young Zhang Heavenly Master quickly patched up the relationship between the Zhang Heavenly Master and his clansmen by compiling a new genealogy, which was incomplete. The evolution of the Zhang Heavenly Master clan in the Ming dynasty shows that we must consider the influence of the Daoist system on the evolution of hereditary Daoist priest clans and the influence of the patriarchal clan system on the evolution of clans with hereditary privileges. Then we can understand the contexts and mechanisms of the evolution of these two clan types, and better combine the study of the history of clans, Daoism and politics.
Keywords
the Zhang Heavenly Master clan, Daoist system, patriarchal clan system, the succession system of the Heavenly Masters, Zhengyi Order
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