Every household lights lanterns for the celebration.

Clansmen now living around the world return to the village for the event.

The ceremony also serves as a review of family history. Here is an award issued in 1958 by the State Council.

Gods worshipped by locals.

Ceremony preparations.

The revised genealogy is placed before the gods.

A local opera.

Offerings to the gods.

Published in 1976, Alex Haley’s novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, achieved a groundbreaking level of popularity and garnered great critical acclaim. Written by an African-American, the epic story centered on the lives of the captured and enslaved Kunta Kinte and his American descendants. Haley traced his ancestry back to a village on the Gambia River in West Africa. He believes that it is important for individuals to be aware of their people and place of origin, and that the greatest evil is slavery. Roots was a huge success and was later adapted into a hugely popular television miniseries. The novel and television production opened up the minds of many.

The people of China, too, are known for their strong family values and great reverence for ancestral heritage. The earliest Chinese genealogy can be traced back to the 14th Century B.C. And the study of genealogy enjoyed great popularity during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Our trip to Pingzhou Village in Southeast China was especially exciting, for the local Zhang Clan, with a known history of more than 1,000 years, is now re-recording and honoring its genealogy.

Pingzhou Village is located about 50 kilometers away from the county seat of Anxi, Fujian Province. At an altitude higher than 850 meters, the village is favored by a pleasant and humid climate, enjoying an average annual temperature around 16 to 18 degrees Celsius. In China the place is well known for its production of Oolong tea. Tieguanyin, a variety of Oolong tea produced here, sells well in both domestic and foreign markets. Most local residents earn their livelihood on tea plantations and trading, and they do good business across the country, mainly in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Almost all of the 5,000 residents of the village belong to the Zhang Clan. The 1996 edition Scholastic Zhang Clan Genealogy reveals that in the year 420, decedents of a government official, Zhang Yi, traveled to Fujian from Shandong and settled down along the coast. This could be considered the origin of the Anxi Zhang Clan. In 886, another group of Zhang people arrived in Anxi from Henan. Thereafter, a reliable record was kept on the Fujian Zhang Clan. The Pingzhou Zhang Clan settled in this village during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). To date, they have resided in the place for more than 30 generations.

Recently, the Pingzhou Zhang Clan held a large ceremony honoring their ancestral heritage. The ceremony served two purposes: First, honoring gods and symbolically informing ancestors that the recent sixth revision of the genealogy had been successfully completed; and second, praying to the ancestors to bless the Zhang Clan as a prosperous and ever-growing population. Historical records reveal that more than 100 years have passed since the fifth revision. Thus, great importance was attached to the once-a-century pageant.

Besides the Zhang people in the Pingzhou Village, participating in the celebration were international Zhang clansmen, now residing in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of China. The gathering lasted for seven days and held great meaning for the clan.

To ensure the success of the ceremony, the entire village was mobilized for preparations. The wealthier donated money while others offered their services. An event organizing committee was formed, with its membership comprised of the clans’ respected elders. While money needed for the event was donated by clansmen, the majority of expenses were covered by those families doing business. Each household prepared their offerings for both their ancestors and gods. According to tradition, people invited religious personnel to host rites and employed local opera troupes and a cameraman. Traditional folk operas were performed to entertain the locals and to please the gods. And the cameraman was assigned to record the entire ceremony.

All preparations were in place the day before the ceremony. Then, all the villagers gather in the newly-renovated ancestral hall to pay homage. They also offered sacrifices to Buddha statues and those gods worshipped by locals.

The ceremony formally began with three successive days of worshipping ancestors. Altogether nine “monks” presided over the process, while four musicians added ambience. The “monks” are not monks in the traditional sense. They are neither living in temples nor practicing vegetarianism. Actually, they are local people rendering Buddhist services as their families have done over the course of centuries past. Seniors and respected elders in the village attended this particular ceremony on behalf of the entire clan. Many special ceremonials were observed during these three days, and two grand sacrifice-offering events were held. The purpose of the ceremony is to inform ancestors that the sixth revision of the Zhang Clan genealogy was complete, and to comfort the souls of Zhang Clan members now passed.

Guests were invited for a feast on the fourth day, including clansmen from other parts of the country and abroad. The feast, presented on 100 tables, is held in the four main halls.

The following day’s major activity is to prepare for a religious rite on the sixth day. This time, the rite proceeded according to Taoism. The ancestral hall is redecorated, and the Tao is honored there. Chairing this day’s ceremony are a man and his two sons. His family has served the ceremony for generations in the village. The newly revised genealogy is placed before the gods, which means all those listed on the genealogy will hence be guarded by the ancestors.

The ancestor worshipping and genealogy revising activity of the Pingzhou Village is typical of southern Fujian Province. The development of local economies is rejuvenating folk culture in China’s rural areas. The ancestral worshipping ceremony is an outward manifestation of this revitalization. However, genealogy revising has bestowed new meaning. In China’s feudal society, genealogy is important for the family system. It performs the function of holding the clan together, and through genealogy maintenance, some elite families promote their status within the clan. In Pingzhou Village’s latest ceremony, those families donating more money and offering more service were seated in the front rows while worshipping ancestors, a sign of exulted status within the clan.

Just as Alex Haley believes, learning more about one’s roots is a natural human inclination. Against the backdrop of China’s modernization, to better understand the nation and the people, it is relevant to look again at ancestral heritage, and to the revival of traditional Chinese folk culture.