宗族組織向來是中國農村社會結構的核心，通過與地緣的緊密複合，形成一種地方化鄉紳政治的歷史傳統，至於在地個別宗族勢力的強弱與否，則端視其在村落政治體系中所扮演的角色份量。基本上，中國的農村是一個超穩定的社會體系，呈現為一種巢狀的細胞式組織結構，而宗族組織就是構成農村社會的細胞單位，這些細胞單位成為介於個人與國家之間的中介組織，同時也是個人人身賴以依附的組織性單位。傳統的村落社會係以宗族作為政治共同體來運作，在中共實施改革開放之後，宗族組織的運作模式，雖然在形式上已轉移到村行政組織，但真正發揮維繫村落社區秩序，使村民形成一個行動主體的力量仍是宗族意識和宗族網絡。如果從村落的社會活動和組織來看，宗族組織與村落組織有著不可分割的密切關係，其在村落的政治組織和祭祀組織中扮演了一個舉足輕重的角色，從而使得村落社會得以成為一個具有內在權力結構、宗教組織和信仰合一的共同體。

The lineage organizations have always been the core of the social structures of Chinese rural villages. Combined with natural geography, these organizations had formed a kind of history tradition of local gentry politics. The influence of each lineage depended on the role it played in the village political systems. Rural China had been basically a ultra-stable social structures, which presented a kind of cell organizations like beehives. The lineage organizations were the cell units that constructed the village society. The cell units that the individuals heavily relied on had become the medium between the individuals and the state. The lineages operated as the common political systems in the traditional villages. After the Open Policy, the operational patterns of the common political systems of lineage organizations have formally shifted to village administrations. In fact, it is still the lineage consciousness and networks that maintain the orders of the villages, and establish the power of the action subject. In terms of the village social actions and organizations, the relations of the lineage organizations and village organizations have been very close. The lineage organizations particularly played an import role in the village political organization and sacrifice rites. So that the village society has become the common systems which composed domestic power structures, religious organizations and worships.