Family Institution. Significant, but gradual, changes in family institutions occurred during the imperial period of China. Family/kinship systems were in a state of flux—one of constant transformation and confusion—for a millennium prior to the Tang dynasty (618-907), whereupon they became stabilized. The key changes that occurred from the Tang dynasty through the Song (960-1279) and Yuan dynasties (1279-1368) until the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) eventually led to the firm establishment of what is viewed as the core structure of the Chinese family. Traditional families could be classified as three distinctive types: the small conjugal family, the medium stem family, or the large extended family. The first type averaged five or six people—including a man, his wife, and their unmarried children—living under one roof. The second type consisted of two conjugal units, with an average often people, living together as the "stem" of the family tree. The third example, which usually represented well-to-do.....
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