本文探討棠樾鮑氏宗族在明清時期的發展過程,特別是祠堂和族產出現的時間及其演變的過程。在明初,棠樾鮑氏藉着其宋朝祖先的慈孝名聲,成功在棠樾村立下根基和登記戶籍。他們在佛寺和社壇內祭祀祖先,而當時登記在祖先名下的田地規模並不大。到明中葉里甲制度崩潰,新的賦稅制度不再以「戶」的大小作為稅收標準,從而促使棠樾鮑氏宗族的擴展,特別是購置大量田產,並把這些田地登記在過世的祖先名下,成為族產。同時,棠樾鮑氏興建宏偉的祠堂,作為祭祖場所和控產組織。另外,鮑氏亦編修族譜,記錄宗族成員的身份。到了清朝,居於揚州的族人捐贈大量的資產,令棠樾鮑氏宗族得以進一步擴展。在宗族的擴展過程中,棠樾鮑氏購置大量的「義田」,並訂立管理義田的規條。規條的作用是確定義田屬祖先所有,是永恆的儲蓄和不能轉讓的財產。由明中葉直到清末公司法出現之前的這段時間,中國人便懂得透過祖先祭祀這種有效的方法,來累積財產並永久保存。
This article examines the development of the Baos Lineage in Tangyue village from Ming to Qing period, especially their ancestral halls and lineage land. In early Ming dynasty, with a reputation of filial piety of their Song ancestors, the Baos had formed a village and registered themselves in the Ming state. They conducted ancestral worship in different Buddhist temples and earth god shrines, but had not built up large-scale ancestral trust until the breakdown of the "lijia" taxation. When in the mid-Ming the new taxation method abolished the link between tax rate and sizes of household, the Baos lineage expanded, bought much land, and registered it in the household of dead ancestors. At the same time, they built grandeur ancestral halls for the worship and land control, and compiled genealogy to define the membership of the trust holders. The Baos lineage further expanded in the Qing, thanks to the generous donation from its Yangzhou's lineage member. In this expansion, the Baos lineage bought more land, called "charitable land". By the rules it laid down, this land belonged to their common ancestors, and was thus permanent and inalienable. From the mid-Ming onwards, ancestral worship had become an effective way for the Chinese to accumulate perpetual wealth with limited liability prior to the emergence of company law.