The paper methodologically (meta-theoretically) reviews ancient Chinese classics and historical practices, reconstructing from them a continuous tradition-the familistic tradition-which has dictated the Chinese political-cultural developmant, even up until the present time. Characterized by the transformation of familistic norms into values for individual practice with the denial of the universality of cultural ideas, this Chinese familistic tradition appears to be internally consistent and culturally rational. It not only gave rise to an elaborate system of ”familiocracy” and a grand political unity across time and space in traditional China; but also has survived in contemporary China and seriously influenced contemporary Chinese political developments, including the victory of the Chinese Communist Party and the failure of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.