ABSTRACT
Wang Bao and thousands of his clansmen', some brandishing knives and bamboo staves, gather on a grassy rolling bluff on the outskirts of their ancestral home. On the opposite bluff about a half mile away, Yang Huan and his ragtag army of kinsmen hurl curses at the Wangs. They hoist red flags, signaling they are ready for battle. Under the burning sun, a dare-to-die corps of two dozen Yang clansmen scrambles down one side of the bluff and into the fields. The men step nimbly along raised dirt paths that crisscross toward the stream boundary. A shouting band of Wang men rushes to counter them. Gunfire bursts from the fields. Dominating the hillside is the elaborate black tomb of a founding ancestor of the Wang clan, an imperial official of the Song dynasty. Each year during the Chinese Qingming festival honoring ancestors, thousands of Wangs join a pilgrimage to the grave.
