The System of Dominant Family is a manifestation of the privileges of the feudal landlord class that have developed to a certain historical period. During the Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the clan system was closely related to the politics, economy and culture of the time. Overall, the most important feature of China's medieval clan system was the selection and appointment of officials according to their family status. As for the exemption of gentry from corvée service, marriages based on family status, and the fact that "the gentry and common people are separated by heaven" and other features, these are all Gradually derived from the former.
So for a long period of time, the clan system mainly belonged to the political system, and the social system was secondary. Only after the Sui and Tang Dynasties did it gradually and completely transform into a social system and finally withdraw from the stage of history. The clan system generally sprouted in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, took initial shape in the Cao Wei and Western Jin Dynasties, was established and flourished in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the early Southern and Northern Dynasties, and declined in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties.
In the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, land annexation was very serious, and the powerful landlord force of bureaucrats, businessmen, and landlords was gradually formed. The regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty was established with the support of powerful landlords. Therefore, powerful landlords enjoyed political and economic privileges in the Eastern Han Dynasty. They controlled the central and local political power politically, annexed land economically, and ran manors. They gradually became separatists and became famous families. The gentry landlords (also known as aristocratic clans and clan landlords) began to form in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which provided a class and economic basis for the establishment of the gentry system in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The prevalence of the gentry system depends on various laws and regulations promulgated by the ruling class. The promulgation of the law institutionally safeguarded the privileges of ethnic landlords in politics, economy, culture, social life and other aspects. After the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Sima family continued to implement the policy of indulgence and win over them in order to gain the support of big landowners from aristocratic families, thus forming a typical clan politics.
The Eastern Jin Dynasty was a joint dictatorship between the Sima imperial power and the northern gentry represented by the surnames Wang, Yu, Huan, and Xie, as well as the non-mainstream gentry with the surname Wu in the south of the Yangtze River. This political pattern continued until In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, it lasted for a century. The power of the gentry clans in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was strong enough to rival or even surpass the imperial power. The emperor relied on the support of the gentry clan, and clan politics reached its peak.