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The parent-child and the husband-wife relations are two fundamental axes in the family organization. But in the Chia the former seems more important. The essential character of the Chia is that married sons do not always leave their parents, especially when either father or mother is dead. Furthermore, to find a bride for a young man is regarded as part of the parental obligation. Mates are selected and ceremonies arranged by the parents. On the other hand, the legal act of marriage, although preceding the birth of the child, always anticipates the realization of parenthood. The main purpose of marriage, in the village, is to secure the continuity of descent. To ensure posterity is the chief consideration in the selection of a daughter-in-law and this is explicitly expressed in the consultations which are held with the fortune-tellers. The incapacity of a daughter-in-law to fulfil her obligations may be taken as a strong ground for her repudiation without compensation. Again, the full status of a woman is acquired after the birth of her child. Similarly, the affinal relation remains impotent unless a child is born. It is, therefore, justifiable to start our description of the organization of Chia from the parent-child relation.
最常见的类型是：以一对已婚配偶为核心，再包括几个依赖于此家的父系亲属。事实上，超过一半的家，准确地说，占总数58%的家都属于此类。但并不是每一个家都有一对已婚配偶。有时候，在一个妇女丧夫之后，她就和她的子女在一起生活，而不去加入另一个单位。也有这样的情况，一个父亲和他儿子居住在一起，家中没有女人。这些都是社会解组的结果，主要是由于这个群体中从事劳动的成员死亡所致，因而它们是不稳定的。鳏夫会再结婚，孩子也会在不久的将来，一有可能就结婚。任何一种情况都能使一个不正常的家庭得到恢复。这一类不稳定的家占总数的27%。
村中，一个家的成员平均为4人。这说明这种群体是很小的，而且这绝不是一种例外的情况，从中国其他农村地区的材料也可以得出同样的结论。中国农村家庭，平均的人数大约是在4至6人之间。
所谓大家庭，看来主要存在于城镇之中，很明显，它们具有不同的经济基础。就现有材料看，可以说，这个村里的家是一个小的亲属群体，以一个家庭为核心，并包含有几个依靠他们的亲属。
父母与子女、夫与妻这两种关系是家庭组织的基本轴心。但在中国所谓的“家”中，前者的关系似乎更为重要。家的基本特征是已婚的儿子中往往有一个不离开他们的父母，父母之中如有一人亡故，更是如此。此外，为儿子找一个媳妇被视为父母的责任。配偶由父母选就，婚礼由父母安排。另一方面，婚姻的法定行为尽管先于生孩子，但结婚总是为了有后代。生孩子的期望先于婚姻。在农村中，结成婚姻的主要目的是为了保证传宗接代。选聘媳妇的主要目的是为了延续后代，保证生育男儿是向算命先生明白提出的要求。如果当媳妇的没有能力来完成她的职责，夫家就有很充足的理由将她遗弃而无需任何赔偿。妇女在生育了孩子之后，她的社会地位才得到完全的确认。同样，姻亲关系只有在她生育孩子以后才开始有效。因此，先从父母与孩子的关系着手来描述和研究家的组织是有根据的。
The importance of the posterity is conceived in religious and ethical terms. The local term for the continuity of descent is "continuity of incense and fire"; this means a continuity of ancestor worship. Beliefs connected with the relation of living descendants to the spirits of their ancestors are not clearly and systematically formulated among the people. The general view is that the spirits live in a world very similar to ours, but that economically they are partially dependent on the contributions of their descendents which are made by periodically burning paper money, paper clothes, and paper articles. Therefore it is essential to have someone to look after one's well-being in the after-world.
Some explain the importance of having children on purely ethical grounds. They conceive it to be their duty because it is through their children that they can pay back their debt to their own parents. Thus the desire to have children is backed up by a two-fold motive: it ensures, in the first place, the continuity of the line of descent; and, in the second place, it is a concrete expression of filial piety by the future father towards his ancestors.
These beliefs, while undoubtedly connected with religious and ethical ideas, have also practical value. In later sections I shall show how the child helps the development of intimate relations between husband and wife, who are little acquainted with one another before marriage. The child stabilizes the relations in the domestic circle. The economic value of the child is also important. A child starts contributing very early to the family welfare, often before he is ten years of age, in such tasks as collecting grass to feed sheep. A girl is specially useful in the daily house work and in the silk industry. Moreover, when a boy grows up and gets married, his parents are relieved by the young couple of the full burden of work on the land and in the house. When the parents are old and unable to work, they are supported by their sons. This is illustrated by the following fact: there are 145 widows in this village who are unable to live on their own resources, but this does not constitute a serious social problem because most of them are supported by their adult children. Children in this sense are insurance for old age.
Social continuity in kinship is complicated by the unilateral emphasis of affiliation. Membership and property of a person is not trans-mitted equally to the son and daughter. Emphasis is on the male side. During childhood both male and female children are cared for by their parents. Both assume their father's surname, but when they grow up, and get married, the son will continuously live in the parents' house before division while the daughter will leave her parents and live with her husband. She will add her husband's surname to her own. She has no claim on the property of her parents except what she gets as dowry. She also has no obligation to support them except by offering periodical gifts and occasional financial help as their affinal relations (XV–2). Property is inherited by the son whose obligation it is to support the old (IV–3). In the third generation, only the children of the son carry on the continuous line of affiliation. The children of the daughter are regarded as affinal relatives, and assume their father's surname. Therefore, in the village, the principle of descent is patrilineal.
传宗接代的重要性可以从宗教和伦理角度加以理解。传宗接代，用当地的话说就是“香火”绵续，意思是，不断有人继续祀奉祖先。关于活着的子孙和他们祖先鬼魂之间联系的信仰，在人们中间不太明确，也没有系统的说法。大致的观点是：这些祖宗的鬼魂生活在一个和我们非常相像的社会中，但在经济方面他们部分地依靠子孙所作的奉献，这就是定时地烧纸钱、纸衣服和其他纸扎的模拟品。因此，看来死者在阴间的福利还是要有活人来照管的。
有人用纯伦理的观点来解释生育子女的重要性。他们认为这是一种做人的责任，因为只有通过他们的子女才能向自己的父母偿还他们对自己的抚育之恩。因此，要有子女的愿望是出于双重的动机：首先是传宗接代；第二是向祖宗表示孝敬。
这些信仰，无疑地和宗教及伦理观念联系在一起，同时也有实际的价值。在以后的章节里我将说明子女如何有助于建立夫妇间亲密的关系，因为丈夫和妻子在结婚前是互不相识的。子女还起着稳定家庭群体里各方关系的作用。子女的经济价值也是很重要的。孩子很早就开始给家庭福利作出贡献，常常在十岁之前，就打草喂羊。女孩在日常家务劳动及缫丝工业方面是非常有用的。再者，孩子长大结婚后，年轻的夫妇代替父母担负起在田地上及家庭中的重担。当父母年老而不能劳动时，他们就由儿子们来赡养。这些可以由以下的事实来说明：这个村子中有145名寡妇，她们不能靠自己的经济来源维持生活，但这并没有形成一个严重的社会问题，因为她们之中的绝大多数都由成年子女赡养。从这个意义上来说，孩子是老年的保障，即所谓“养儿防老”。
亲属关系的社会延续问题，由于强调单系的亲属关系而变得复杂起来。一个人的身份和财产并不是平等地传递给子女的。总是把重点放在男性这一边。在幼年时期，男孩和女孩都由父母抚养。他们都用父亲的姓氏。但当他们长大成亲后，儿子在分家前还继续住在父母的房屋里，而女儿则离开父母去和自己的丈夫住在一起。她在自己的姓名前要加上丈夫的姓氏。她除了能得到自己的一份嫁妆外，对自己父母的财产不能提出什么要求。出嫁的女儿，除了定时给父母送礼品及有时给父母一些经济帮助外，她也没有赡养自己父母的责任（第十五章第二节）。财产由儿子继承，他的责任是赡养其父母（第四章第三节）。在第三代，只有儿子的儿子接续他的家系。女儿的孩子则被视为亲戚关系，他们使用自己父亲的姓氏。因此，在村子中，传代的原则是父系的。
This principle, however, can be modified in case of need. By agreement, a daughter's husband may add his wife's surname to his own and their children will carry their mother's line. Sometimes the husband and wife may carry both lines of their parents. These however are minor obliterations of the general principle and appear only in specific circumstances (IV–4). The present legal system has attempted to alter the traditional unilateral emphasis of kinship affiliation owing to the new conception of sex equality (IV–6). We will discuss these obliterations later.
In spite of the fact that the villagers recognize the importance of posterity, there is a limiting factor for population. It is true that children can contribute labour to the domestic economy, but there must be enough work on which it can be utilized. With land holdings of limited size, and with limits to the extent of silkworm raising, surplus members of a Chia will be merely a burden to the unit. This brings us to an examination of the average size of a land holding in the village.
The total area of cultivated land is 3,065 mow or 461 acres. If this area were equally allotted to 360 households, it would mean that each household could only occupy a piece of land about 9.5 mow or 1.2 acres in size. Each mow of land can produce in a normal year six bushels of rice. About twenty-seven bushels of rice is needed for the consumption of one man, one woman, and one child (VII–5). In other words, to obtain sufficient food, a family group needs a piece of land of about five mow . The present size of land holdings is hardly sufficient to provide an average household with a normal livelihood which requires sufficient food and other necessities. The pressure of population on the land is thus a strong limiting factor on the number of children. For example, a family, with a small holding of nine mow , will face a serious problem if a second boy is born. According to local custom, the children when grown up will divide the estate. This will mean poverty for both sons. The usual solution is infanticide or abortion. The people do not attempt to justify these practices and admit that they are bad. But there is no alternative except poverty and "crime." The result can be seen in the figures of the total number of children in the village: there are only 470 children under sixteen years of age, 1.3 per Chia.
然而，这个原则有时也可以根据需要加以修改。经过协议，女儿的丈夫也可以在自己的姓名前面加上他妻子的姓，他们的孩子则接续母亲的家系。也有时夫妇双方各自接续双方的家系。总之，这些是总的原则在特定条件下的次要变动（第四章第四节）。由于男女平等的新概念，现行的法律制度企图改变这种传统的偏重单系的亲属制度（第四章第六节）。关于这些变化，留到以后再加以讨论。