Citation/Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the exercise of political power and the construction of Kong family identity by the "Dukes for Fulfilling the Sage," the titular heads of family recognized by successive imperial states as the recognized descendents of Confucius. This study examines the formation of a large network of estates in western Shandong under the administrative control of the dukes and the social implications of the rise of the canal trade and the increasing integration of estate lands into this market economy. The socioeconomic tensions that accompanied these regional economic changes underlay the political conflicts that erupted between the Kong dukes and their opponents in the city of Qufu. County magistrates, in particular, often served as the foci around which ducal opposition attempted to mobilize. Along with the coercive aspects of economic and political domination, the dukes supported an equally aggressive campaign in the cultural realm in an effort both to subjugate narratives produced by the opposition and to cultivate a measure of consent among the ruled. Writing about the family past and controlling the articulation and practice of ritual forms were central aspects of this project, and this dissertation attempts to interrogate the historical development of these efforts throughout the late imperial period.