Ancestral Home of Shen Congwen

Ancestral Home of Shen Congwen

Ancestral Home of Shen Congwen

Xiadui Village is the ancestral home of the famous literary master Shen Congwen. The tomb of Shen Wenke, the father of Shen Congwen’s great-grandfather, is located near a small hill just beyond the village.

It is said that until his passing, Shen Congwen had one unfulfilled wish: to clarify his family lineage.

An American scholar named Jin Jiefu, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, spent ten years “traveling to China multiple times, visiting Western Hunan, and interviewing Mr. Shen (Congwen) on several occasions.” He collected a large number of research note cards and wrote the 280,000-word biography Son of Phoenix: A Biography of Shen Congwen. However, the author was also unable to clarify Shen Congwen’s family background. In the book, he wrote: “The Shen family was considered a prominent local clan, and they took pride in their ancestry, even though their rise to prominence was relatively recent. Shen Congwen mentioned that to the west of Zhen’gan City there was a hamlet called Shenjiazhuang, inhabited by Han people. The villagers made a living by mining cinnabar; they might have been exiled criminals sent to the frontier—though this is now impossible to verify. Shen traced his ancestry back only two generations, unlike some noble families in China who routinely trace their genealogy back a thousand years. This alone is enough to show that the Shen family indeed came from humble beginnings. Moreover, in a place like Western Hunan, which has a relatively short history of development, a family like the Shens, whose ancestors and fathers both held official ranks, could well be called a ‘distinguished lineage.’”

In fact, Shen Congwen’s ancestors were neither “exiled criminals sent to the frontier” nor a “family from humble beginnings.” Jin Jiefu “spent a long time and collected a large amount of material,” yet arrived at such an inaccurate conclusion because he failed to find Shen Congwen’s true “roots.”

Where are Shen Congwen’s “roots”?

Shen Congwen’s “roots” lie in Tongren !

Had Jin Jiefu ventured into Tongren, he would have easily discovered that Shen Congwen’s family tree could be traced back not just a thousand years—but even two or three thousand years—and that his ancestors were neither “likely exiled criminals” nor from a “humble background.”

According to the Shen Family Genealogy discovered in Huashi, Shen Congwen’s ancestors were descendants of King Wen of Zhou from around the 11th century BCE, who were enfeoffed in the region of Shen and adopted the name of their territory as their surname. Their origins were not only “noble,” but also quite illustrious.

Shen Congwen’s ancestors settled in the border area between Western Hunan and Guizhou after holding official positions and “remaining in Guizhou and Chu due to their service,” and were later reputed to possess “half the wealth of the township in silver and money.” Therefore, they were neither “exiled criminals” nor a “humble family” at the time.

Shen Congwen’s ninth-generation ancestor, Shen Siyuan, first served as magistrate of Gao’an County in Rui Prefecture, Jiangxi, before relocating to Tongren Prefecture in the first year of the Ming Xuande era (1426). At that time, due to unsafe roads, he found it difficult to return home upon completing his term, so he settled in Tongren. Initially, he established himself in Xiongjiatun on the outskirts of the city, then moved shortly after to Shenjiatan, also on the city’s outskirts, and eventually relocated again from Shenjiatan to Huashi Township. The Shen family purchased land in Huashi extending east to Tingziguan, west to Daxingchang, south to Maxiexi (now Maxian’s Maxianxi), and north to Huanghuiying (now Huangheyi Village in Fenghuang County). “They possessed wealth equal to half the township’s, and to this day the clan remains large and flourishing.” Villages such as Guyao, Yangliuping, Xiaotian, Yayatang, Jutun, Gengzhulin, and LuanYantang in Huashi are all settlements where descendants of the Shen family live together.

In the 60th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1795), a major Miao uprising led by Shi Liudeng erupted along the Hunan-Guizhou border, dealing a heavy blow to local feudal forces. This upheaval swept away the prosperity of the Shen family, causing the once-glorious clan’s fortunes to plummet sharply. The former grand mansions vanished without a trace, reduced to broken walls and desolation. From then on, the Shen family lived in poverty, enduring hardship. In the sixth year of the Jiaqing reign (1801), Shen Wenke, the 18th-generation ancestor of Shen Congwen and son of Shen Guanghan, still lived in poverty, residing in only three dilapidated wooden houses covering about a hundred square meters. After Shen Wenke’s death, he was buried hastily, and it wasn’t until the 13th year of the Daoguang reign (1833) that a crude tombstone, two feet high and no more than one foot five inches wide, was erected. To this day, the inscription can still be faintly made out: “Tomb of Shen Wenke, erected in the 13th year of Daoguang.” Shen Wenke had five sons, who divided the property and made their own livings. The fourth son, Shen Qishan, finding it difficult to survive in their ancestral home in Xiadui, left his hometown in the 30th year of the Daoguang reign (1850) with his sons Shen Hongfu and Shen Hongfang, seeking a new life. They found a foothold in Huangluozhai within the territory of Fenghuang (now Linfeng Zhongzhai Village). Since the 19th-generation ancestor of Shen Congwen—his great-grandfather Shen Qishan—moved to Fenghuang, a branch of the Shen family in Tongren, Guizhou, split off and settled in Western Hunan. Although this branch had left their ancestral homeland, they maintained ties with their roots, often visiting relatives and ancestral graves, staying closely connected. Shen Congwen’s grandfather, Shen Hongfu, rose to the high rank of Guizhou Regional Commander-in-Chief and even served temporarily as Guizhou Military Governor at the age of 26. He frequently returned to Xiadui in Tongren to visit, and Shen Congwen’s father, Shen Zongsu, who studied medicine in the army, often returned to practice medicine in the Xiadui area, earning a good reputation locally. It was not until 1941 that Shen Congwen’s younger brother, Yunlu, returned to Xiadui and sold the ancestral property there. Because Shen Congwen rarely returned home after leaving in his youth, he could only trace his ancestry back two generations when reflecting on his family history.

Shen Congwen (1902–1988), a famous Chinese writer, was originally named Shen Yuehuan and used pen names such as Xiuyunyun, Jiachen, Shangguan Bi, and Xuanruo. His childhood name was Maolin, and his courtesy name was Chongwen. He was from Fenghuang County, Hunan. His grandmother, Madam Liu, was Miao, his mother Huang Suying was Tujia, and his grandfather Shen Hongfu was Han. Thus, Shen Congwen could identify with any of these three ethnicities, but he personally felt a stronger connection to the Miao people, and many of his literary works depict Miao customs.

Shen Congwen was a writer and historian specializing in cultural relics. At the age of 14, he joined the military and wandered through Hunan and Sichuan... More details about Shen Congwen ++