Abstract:

Based on agriculture, the relation between agricultural production and dwelling in the ancient China witnessed the development trend from the state that the production labor was relatively scattered and residence was relatively concentrated to the state that both the production labor and residence were relatively scattered. No matter scattered or concentrated, the neighborly relations are very important to common people, which is directly related to national administration. Confucianism maintains that the basic organizations in villages and townships should bear the mission of public education to establish harmonious social order and sound neighborly relations. Confucian rites were neglected in the Qin Dynasty so that the neighborly relations were in tense. In the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, due to the rise of Confucianism, the establishment of stable social orders and harmonious relations among neighbors as well as the ritual education of the public were paid great attention. Castle-shaped residential houses appeared in the Western Han Dynasty and lasted till the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the time of war, the neighborly relations experienced distortion and alienation and the ritual education was terminated. The neighborly relations experienced major changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties. At that time, the household registration system based on townships was abolished, centralized residence was terminated and private schools and clans rose, so the gentries bore the responsibility of ritual education of the masses. These factors caused great changes to the neighborly relations. In a nutshell, the neighborly relations in ancient China were restrained by economic conditions, political status, and influenced by ritual education and the efforts of official-scholars.

Key words: period after the Qin and Han Dynasties, neighborly relations, rites, education