ABSTRACT
The ancestors of the "lord" were only ordinary persons until his great-grandfather became a military officer in the Tsing Dynasty. The officer acquired at this time more than 100 mow of land. His son, grandfather of the "lord," became a military commander in Hunan, acquired more than 300 mow of land, and built a large temple and also the large house now occupied by the family in the village. No one knows, at present, how the grandfather, as a simple military officer, was able to accumulate such wealth; but the big estate is evidence of his success and reinforces the traditional idea of how wealth is acquired in the village. However, although it is believed that getting rich in this way is a common occurrence, not all are able to do it. During the last forty years there must have been a number of people who attempted to do so. Of numerous young men who recently have passed through the middle school, graduated from a military academy, entered a military medical school, joined the Chemical Corps, or become civil servants or regimental commanders, none has as yet attained the high success of their heroes of the past, although it is true they are looking in this direction. Since the village economy is closed, it is quite natural that ambitious young men should struggle to get ahead in the world in this way, following traditional ideas. It is true that there is an ideal type of good official who retires from office with only "two sleeves of cold wind," meaning that he has gained nothing but.the love of the people. But, on the other hand, the mores also encourage a man to build up security for his descendants. The sense of personal obligation to one's family is often strong enough to make the ideal of the good official seem an impractical one for ordinary life.
