Preface to the Continued Genealogy (1904) (Text)

Preface to the Continued Genealogy

The compilation of genealogies originates in the human heart’s respect to ancestors and reverence for the lineage. Since everyone has ancestors, who does not respect their ancestors? Since everyone belongs to a lineage, who does not revere their  lineage? As long as we respect the ancestors and revere the lineage, naturally we will pay attention to the fact that the lineage [descended from] the ancestors is divided into many branches. We know that our ancestors would treat us the same way they treated their descendants. Since we know that our ancestors treated their descendantsthe same way as they would treat us, when we treat our descendants, we are not treating our own descendants, but showing respect to our ancestors and expressing reverence for our lineage. What our descendantsexpect of us toward them is not something they are expecting of us, it is that they expect us to to havethe same mind as of our ancestors and to thus to be take care of them and be kind to them. Thus, if we make any mistakes in treating our descendants, it would mean that we have not done our best to respect our ancestors and revere our lineage, and that the spirits of our ancestors in Heaven definitely feel regret because, in their minds, they would not have allowed this to happen. Oh! How can we not be afraid and watchful?

Therefore, in the genealogy, we record the dates of birth and death in the hope that one will receive and return [one’s body to the ancestors] completely; we record one’s wife and sons in the hope that they will continue [the family line] and make it prosperous; we record one’s daughters and their marriages in the hope that [both families] are benefited; we record the order of the generations in the hope that the hierarchical order will be properly arranged; we make charts in the hope that the close and distant relations will be clear; we record adoptions in the hope that the spirits of the dead will have somewhere to turn and to show our sympathy to those who did not have descendants; we record punishments and rewards in the hope that the descendants will not disgrace their ancestors but glorify them; we record the burial sites in the hope that the descendants will take the burial sites seriously; we record the dates of sacrifices in the hope that the spirits will not be hungry. There are more issues than can be listed. All of them are to arouse the descendants’ minds of filial piety, fraternity, friendliness to agnates, cordiality to affines, honesty to friends, and sympathy to those who need help,[1] so that they can fulfill their duty to respect their ancestors.

It has been more than twenty years since the yiyou year of the Guangxu reign period (1885) when our lineage did a comprehensive revision [of the genealogy]. It was not because we were slow, but because it was difficult. The “Long-haired bandits” [i.e. Taiping rebels rebelled] during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reign periods (1851-1864). The cost of defense was so huge that we had nothing left of the income from the ancestor hall, thus we did not [have resources] to rely on--this was the first reason. Since the regulations set up by our ancestors were abandoned, the fund for the recompilation had to be raised by temporary arrangements—this was the second reason. In the dingyou year (1897), we renovated the ancestral hall, and [each adult males’s] contribution was only one wen per day, but it was already very difficult [to collect]—this was the third reason.  People may or may not have descendants, [thus] it was not easy to raise funds—the difficulty was in arranging it on a case by case basis. The expense was huge, and every daily expense required money. When something was needed it had to be provided, but unfortunately we did not have a talented person  to manage it—the difficulty was in the overall administration. We added new entries to existing ones, sometimes following [the existing entires] but sometimes adding [new entries]. It became as complicated as weaving silk–the difficulty was to construct the branch . However, the matter was urgent and time was pressing. We bore the difficulties in mind and started with the easy ones, and you gentlemen who participated have contributed to it.

All in all, no matter whether it was an issue of numerous descendants or arranging them into branches, of overall administration or branch compilations, consistently everyone did their best to fulfill their respect for the ancestors and reverence for the lineage, so that [the compilation] was accomplished through cooperative effort. This project continues former generations and opens the way for future later generations. Truly it is not inconsequential Today, we have made it known that the compilation has been completed; when, our ancestors look at it we hope they will be delighted. I was asked by you gentlemen to write a preface. Although not lacking literary talent, I have described the compilation of the genealogy from the beginning to the end, and put it at the head [of the genealogy]. Respectully composed,

On an auspicious day of the last third of the eleventh month in the jiachen year, the thirtieth year of the Guangxu reign period (1904)

Respectfully written by

Ruizhi,  eighteenth generation descendant