"虚拟"先人与十九世纪新加坡华人社会--兼论海外华人的"亲属"概念

在东南亚殖民地时代,"虚拟血缘"的组织原则对于华人移民社会的重组重建及其运作,具有重要的意义.本文以19世纪的新加坡为个案,考察华人移民如何透过埋葬先人的坟山组织建构"社群共祖"以整合华人社会,讨论东南亚华人虚拟的"先人"或"祖先"概念,进而思考海外华人的亲属研究问题.本文也讨论与比较了"虚拟血缘"组织原则在明代华南宗族"联宗"形态、台湾汉人社会发展早期的"合约式"宗族和东南亚华人坟山组织的不同运用.

Fictitious Ancestors and the Sinagpore Chinese Society in 19th-century:A Discussion on overseas Chinese Perception of Lineage

The scholarship on Chinese social kinship has for a long time put its emphasis on the study of kinship organizations. In reality, there exists a form of social organization not recorded in genealogy. Relationship between some people was fictitious yet closely resembled that of kinship organizations. In the Chinese society of the Southeast Asia, fictitious kinship was not only the basis for surname clans but also the principle applied to other social organizations. This paper is a case study of the burial association in the 19 th century Singapore and the impact of fictitious ancestor on the integration within the various Chinese communities during the colonial time. Comparing different forms of the fictitious ancestor among the south Chinese in the Ming dynasty, the early Chinese settlers in Taiwan and the burial organization in the Southeast Asia, the author offers some thoughts on overseas Chinese perception of lineage.