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:
“I came along at a time when there was a demand to give men greater visibility and opportunity. In white society they were saying, “Women can’t do it.” In black society, they were saying, “Women do too much.” It’s a diabolical situation.”
—Yvonne Braithwaite Burke (b. 1932)
“A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.”
—Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974)