Society
Dong clans are known as dou, and are further divided into ji, gong, and households (known as "kitchens"), respectively from largest to smallest in size (Geary 2003:68-69). Village elders were traditionally the village leaders, although the government replaced these elders with village heads from 1911-1949. Dong society was also traditionally matriarchal, as can be evidenced by the cult of the female goddess Sa Sui (Geary 2003:88). Before the advent of the Han Chinese, the Dong had no surnames, instead distinguishing each other by their fathers' names.
Dong common law is known as kuan and is practiced at four different levels (Geary 2003:62).
- Single village
- Several villages
- Single township / entire local rural area
- Multiple townships / large portion of the entire Dong population
Read more about this topic: Dong People
Famous quotes containing the word society:
“The most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world, who argue from what they see and know, instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings man the consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are non-existent, that their promises are null and void, since they can be fulfilled only through man’s subordination.... The individual is the heart of society, conserving the essence of social life; society is the lungs which are distributing the element to keep the life essence—that, is, the individual—pure and strong.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“He was all for catharsis and purification, he dreamed of an aesthetic consecration that should cleanse society of luxury, the greed of gold and all unloveliness.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)