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...