The Origin and Evolution of Chinese Lineages

Chinese lineages are a relatively historically novel socio-political institution that plays a significant role in structuring communities and lives across China. Anthropologists and long noted the extensive geographic variation characterizing the relevance of lineages across communities. Using ethnographic and historical-economic evidence, I construct a theory explaining demand for lineage institutions, and thus individuals’ willingness to shoulder the costs of lineage-participation, as demand for risk-pooling institutions, which provide lineage members with access to land and its dividends. Variation in regional demand for risk-pooling likely stems from how rice-wheat agro-economic differences interact with shared Chinese inheritance practices. I test this hypothesis by examining whether lineage activity is associated with landholding size, precipitation predictability, and historically documented precipitation disasters. More so, I provide evidence that the relationship between historical lineage activity and agro-climatic factors is likely causal.