Portrait of a Community

Portrait of a Community: Society, Culture, and the Structures of Kinship in the Mulan River Valley (Fujian) from the Late Tang Through the Song is a study of emerging kinship structures in a central coastal Fujian province from the 9th through 13th centuries. Chapters focus on the establishment of elite kin groups, the structure and internal segmentation of those kin groups, and marriage patterns, religion, and education. The book argues that cultural innovation often begins at a local level and challenges the current paradigm that emphasizes the link between locality and the elite in the Northern and Southern Song.