A Study on the Spatial Pattern of Traditional Villages from the Perspective of Courtyard House Distribution

Abstract

As clan and blood relations are the essential core of rural social attributes, the rise and fall of the main family names in a village not only affects the spatial arrangement of their internal courtyard houses but also influences the overall spatial pattern of the village. Taking Pei Cheng Village as an example, in this study, quantitative analyses, such as those entailing standard deviation ellipse, kernel density, and space syntax, are incorporated to investigate the changes in rural family names’ courtyard houses and the historical context for these changes to reveal the influence of the evolution of courtyard house distribution under a given social structure on the overall spatial structure of the countryside at the micro- and meso-scales. The results in this study show that there is strong aggregation and bonding associated with the main family surname in a village and that such surnames have an important correlation with the village centre and spatial structure formation. Notably, the distribution of the surname-bearing clan courtyard houses has a certain degree of consistency with the spatial pattern of the village, with the main space corresponding to the main family surname, the secondary space corresponding to the secondary family, and the underdeveloped space corresponding to mixed family surnames. On this basis, the spatial system grading of Pei Cheng Village is summarized, providing a fundamental basis for future planning of Pei Cheng Village facilities and other aspects of planning, such as the selection of locations.

1. Introduction

The spatial pattern of traditional rural settlements is the product of the joint action of ecological and environmental [1] and social and human elements [2,3], with both material and social attributes [4,5] reflected in the physical environment and various human activities [6]. In recent decades, studies on the spatial patterns of villages have usually taken one rural settlement or multiple rural settlements with common or different characteristics as research objects [7,8] and have explored the characteristics [9,10], evolution [11,12], influencing factors and driving mechanisms [13,14], and commonalities and differences in their spatial patterns through quantitative and qualitative methods. Since the 1980s, with the penetration of interdisciplinary ideas and methods from sociology, anthropology, and history into the field of rural settlement research [15], the study of rural settlement spatial patterns has been focused more on the combination of social and human elements in addition to the description of material forms [16], and the study of village spatial patterns has been carried out in both material and social dimensions to reveal the deep structural relationships behind the surface appearances [17].

The constitutive kernel of village settlement space originates from its social organizational structure, and there is an obvious joint relationship between the social organizational structure and village spatial pattern under the clan system [18,19]. The clan is the most stable and powerful organization underlying the social structure of rural China [20,21], and the family name is a symbol indicating the family bloodline, containing rich humanistic plots and playing a strong role in bond. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the clan system disintegrated, and the changes in prosperous clans resulted in groundbreaking transformations in the spatial patterns of villages [22]. Courtyard houses are the direct venue for clan activities, and as the most common rural spatial system component closest to people’s daily lives, the distribution of the courtyard house is a mapping of the aggregation and differentiation of blood ties [23], with the distribution of social relations such as kinship ties being transformed into a visible space in the rural layout through the distribution of the courtyard house structures. Since ancient times, Henan has existed in the hinterland of the Central Plains and is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization, with a long history and cultural heritage and strong clan characteristics that shape the spatial layout of traditional villages in a manner that is compatible with the north and south. Taking the nationally declared first through sixth batches of official traditional villages in Henan Province as an example, the percentage of villages dominated by a single surname was found to be 20.44%, while the percentage of villages dominated by two or more surnames was 43.43%, and the percentage of villages with mixed surnames was 36.13% (Referring to the classification of rural settlements by scholars such as He Yi, Zhang Jianrong, and Luo Qiusheng and taking into account the actual blood, geographical, and business relationships within rural settlements in Henan Province, rural areas are divided into single-surname rural settlements dominated by a single surname, main-surname rural settlements dominated by two or more surnames, and mixed-surname rural settlements with prosperous business activities, coexistence, or no obvious blood relationships [24,25,26]. Among these types of rural settlements, single-surname settlements account for over 60% of the households with a single surname. The total number of households with two or more dominant surnames in a settlement is greater than 60%. The rest are settlements with mixed surnames). It is easy to see that the majority of the villages in Henan Province are linked by blood ties (Figure 1), and the families in such villages often influence the formation, development, and decline of the villages and have a strong influence on the spatial pattern of villages [27]. Pei Cheng Village, the subject of this study, is a typical case of a bloodline-type village.

In China and abroad, early studies on courtyard houses mostly appeared in the form of residential studies. Foreign studies on residential buildings began with the work of anthropologists and ethnographers in the 19th century. From the perspective of anthropology and ethnography, most studies focus on social kinship, symbols, and ritual space [28,29]. In contrast, architecture studies pay more attention to issues related to the nature of residential environments, including the aspects of architectural form [30], function, quality [31], and decoration. In 1977, the famous architectural theorist Christopher Alexander mentioned the overall courtyard construction pattern in his book A Pattern Language, which presents the courtyard and the building edge as more lively through suitable matching patterns (patterns 115 and 166) [32]. In addition, A New Pattern Language of Growing Regions, a book published by Mehaffy Scholars in 2019, complements A Pattern Language by exploring building patterns within neighbourhoods where residents can adopt courtyard building patterns (pattern 9.1) when quiet outdoor spaces and better flow of light and air are needed [33]. The model language presented by the two scholars aims to create a better living environment. Research on residential buildings in China can be traced back to the 1930s. In 1953, Mr. Liu Dunzhen’s monograph Introduction to Chinese Housing established the general outline of Chinese residential research [34]. After the reform and opening up of the 1980s, scholar Chen Zhihua conducted an in-depth investigation into rural areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, focusing on the integration of rural architecture and the countryside, with an emphasis on rural houses and public buildings, as well as on rural economy and society [35]. From the research results available thus far, it can be observed that the early studies of courtyard houses mainly focused on the internal characteristics, emphasizing the decorative art [36], architectural features, spatial layout structure [37], and differentiation of internal spatial forms of houses. In recent years, the research perspective of scholars has gradually extended from the inside of the house to the outside, and the academic community has begun to analyse the spatial structure of historical blocks [38] and villages from the social structural attributes of the house itself, correlating the material space with social relations to analyse the relationship between the rural spatial structure and family social structures to dig deeper into the rationale behind the formation of rural spatial texture [17,24].

International research on villages arose in the 19th century, and the relevant research methods and means have constantly been enriched [6]. The early research methods applied to many villages mainly relied on the research foundations of geography and anthropology, qualitatively analysing the impact of the natural and artificial environment from outside the village on the village morphology. Later, with the development of spatial analysis technology, an increasing number of types of spatial quantitative methods and ideas penetrated the study of village morphology. Increasingly diversified research methods, such as spatial mathematical models, fractal geometry, spatial syntax, and GIS, have been integrated into the study of rural areas. Among these techniques, the spatial syntax theory proposed by Bill Hillier in the 1970s is rooted in the study of the relationship between spatial organization and intrinsic social attributes [39]. A number of scholars have now applied spatial syntax theory to study the social attributes of village space, emphasizing the role of social order [9,40].

In summary, the present study takes Pei Cheng Village in Luohe City, Henan Province, as an example, utilizing ancient county records, inscriptions, genealogies, historical images, etc., combined with field interviews, and using ArcGIS and space syntax quantitative analysis tools to study the spatial pattern of traditional rural settlements from the perspective of house distribution divergence due to changes in the rise and fall of families. The objectives were to sort out the clues of changes in the gathering and divergence of several larger family houses in the village [41]; to study the changes in the distribution of family houses in relation to bloodline [42], geography and business relationships, and the changes in the spatial distribution of all these components [43]; to study the nature of the formation of the spatial pattern of traditional settlements in terms of both social structure and physical space; to reveal the dynamic changes in the spatial pattern of villages (Figure 2); and to provide a relevant basis for the future development of village construction [44].

2. Courtyard House: The Smallest Rural Social Unit

2.1. Definition of a Courtyard House

The attributes of a courtyard house are a house and a courtyard, including two parts: real houses and virtual courtyards [45]. The term ‘house’ refers to a residential area, while the term ‘courtyard’ refers to a field of space where the social environment enters an environment that is both semi-open and semi-private.

Similar to Alexander’s depiction of “courtyards which live”, the courtyard houses in the village accommodate the rural people’s life and social interaction activities and show the dynamic characteristics of social hierarchy, strong family cohesion, and mixed commercial and residential activity as part of the process of life [32]. In this paper, the house is defined as a family living unit in rural areas and is mostly a group of courtyards enclosed by walls or buildings on all sides or a domain space generated by invisible social ownership limited by individual or multiple houses. Ignoring the internal spatial arrangement, the house is regarded as an independent point, and the correlation analysis between the village and the house is carried out from the perspective of the whole and the parts (Figure 3).

2.2. Courtyard Houses and Rural Order

Courtyard houses are the smallest social unit in rural areas and an important component of the rural system. Social relations in the vernacular show a self-centred circle structure that progresses in the order of closeness and distance [46]. Alexander also pointed out in his book A Pattern Language that space functions as a whole when it has the right shape [32]. In a village, the house space itself has complete unity, and at the same time, it is connected with other units, such as streets and squares, to form a larger house–village system as a whole with a certain social organizational structure (Figure 4). As elements of the most basic social relationship in rural areas, surnames and clans are the endogenous determining factors of the spatial organization of social relationships [47]. As a directly representative carrier of surnames and clans, the distribution and organization of courtyard houses are influenced by different social systems, clan changes [48], and historical environments in different periods and will synchronously map to the evolution of the overall rural space [49]. There is an order between the distribution of courtyard houses and the overall spatial pattern, often presenting a point-like aggregation or strip-like extension of order.

Based on this order, this study takes Pei Cheng Village as an example and explores three research questions around the theme of “spatial pattern of traditional villages from the perspective of distribution of courtyard houses”: (1) The Central Plains has excellent traditional culture and a family name “tree root” culture. Under the influence of this social and cultural background, what kind of spatial pattern has been formed in traditional rural settlements? (2) Studying the village pattern from the perspective of courtyard houses, how did internal family power influence the distribution of courtyard houses, and thus, the entire spatial texture of the village? (3) Through the results of the study and analysis, how should the future sustainable development and planning of traditional village settlements be further explored?

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Study Area

Since the launch of the declaration regarding traditional Chinese villages in 2012, after six batches of declarations, 274 villages in Henan Province have been included in the national list of traditional Chinese villages. Pei Cheng Village, one of the first villages selected in 2012, is located in central Henan and is representative of the few traditional villages in the Henan Plain region (Figure 5). The village is located in the town of Pei Cheng, Yancheng District, Luohe City, with a registered population of approximately 4000 people and a permanent population of more than 2000 people. The construction land scale reaches 60.39 hectares. The earliest history of the village can be traced back to the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, with Prime Minister Pei Du having attacked the Cai garrison here, as articulated in a Tang poetry saying: “In past years because of Cai, a thousand years have Pei Cheng”. Thus, the village is named Pei Cheng.

From the Ming Dynasty to the present, rural development in Pei Cheng Village has mainly been based on the migration, development, prosperity, and decline of the Peng family (Figure 6). According to the inscription on the tablet outside the old fortress gate in the southern part of the village, “Epitaph on Pei Cheng Peng Jun, an official of the Ming Dynasty”, the earliest Peng ancestor who moved into Pei Cheng Village, Peng Zhicong, was born in the year of Ming Zhengtong Bingyin (1446 AD) and died in the year of Ming Hongzhi Renxu (1502 AD). “Grant him Jinshi, Hanlin Academy, Wenlinlang, Co-Repairing National History and Jinyanguan, Chengzhilang, chief of the Ministry of War.” "At first, the Jiangxi Luling people came to Yancheng to do business, and they did so for a long time, loving its terroir and fertile terrain. They therefore settled and established their household registration there and are now considered Yancheng people; this has been the case for three generations”. "Peng Zhicong, a wealthy individual known for his philanthropy and influential family, instills values of etiquette, justice, and open-mindedness in his four sons. In times of calamity, the brothers engage in a compassionate competition to provide food assistance to the underprivileged” (Epitaph on Pei Cheng Peng Jun, an official of Ming Dynasty: this monument stands next to the former site of the South Walled Gate Site in Pei Cheng Village). The Peng family has been documented from the development of the Ming Dynasty to the present. Although there have been several twists and turns, it has always been the most dominant family in Pei Cheng Village. The village is currently dominated by the surnames Peng, Su, and Li.

3.2. Research Methods

3.2.1. Research in the Literature and in Ancient Books

A systematic study of ancient documentary materials was conducted by utilising the Pei Cheng Village’s Yan Cheng County Annals (Shunzhi version), Yan Cheng County Notes (Republican version), inscriptions of the rural epitaph on Pei Cheng Peng Jun, an official of the Ming Dynasty, Jin Gong Ancestral Hall Record, and Restoration of the Jin Gong Ancestral Hall Record. In addition, we interviewed the elderly people in the village and collected maps drawn by the villagers and text information copied by the villagers (Figure 7).

3.2.2. Map Analysis

Maps of the typical historical stages of Pei Cheng Village (Figure 8 and Figure 9) and aerial views of the field research area that were taken in 2023 were analysed to determine the spatial pattern of the village (Figure 10). The distribution of courtyard houses, the distribution of surnamed families, and the spatial structure of the rural area were analysed in conjunction with the homestead property confirmation map (Figure 11).

3.2.3. Quantitative Model Assistance Method

Standard Deviation Ellipse Analysis

As a spatial statistical method for quantitatively analysing the overall characteristics of the spatial distribution of geographical elements, standard deviation ellipse analysis can accurately reveal the central, discrete, and directional trends in the spatial distribution of geographical elements [50]. In this study, the standard deviation ellipse analysis method was used to abstract the courtyard house elements of Pei Cheng Village as points and to measure and study the overall spatial distribution characteristics and each clan courtyard house within the village in terms of the directional and centripetal nature of the distribution. The long semiaxis of the ellipse indicates the direction of the distribution of the courtyard houses, while the short semiaxis indicates the extent of the distribution of the courtyard houses. The greater the difference between the values of the long and short semiaxes is, the greater the oblateness, indicating the more pronounced directionality of the courtyard houses. The shorter the short semiaxis is, the more pronounced the centripetal tendency presented by the courtyard houses; conversely, the longer the short semiaxis is, the greater the dispersion of the courtyard houses.

Kernel Density Analysis

The courtyard house elements of Pei Cheng Village were abstracted as points and imported into ArcGIS for kernel density analysis, as this is a traditional nonparametric method that was suitable for estimating the spatial distribution of point elements to analyse the aggregation and differentiation characteristics of the courtyard houses of the whole village and each clan [51].

The calculation formula is follows:

$$f\left(x\right)=\frac{1}{Nh}{\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^{N}K\left(\frac{X_i-X}{h}\right)$$

where X is the mean; h is the bandwidth; N is the number of courtyard houses; K is the kernel function; and X_i is the sample point, usually taken as a symmetrical single-peaked probability density function.

Space Syntax

Space syntax was used to explore the interrelationship between the physical space and the social structure of the village [39,40]. Taking the surveying and mapping topographic map of Pei Cheng Village as the base map, the axis map model was generated and imported into Depthmap for topological relationship analysis to analyse the relationship between the village space and human activities and to further confirm the quantitative analysis results from ArcGIS. Two morphological variables, entropy and global integration (Rn), were selected.

4. Results

4.1. Characteristics of Clan Courtyard House Patch Aggregation and Differentiation

The distribution characteristics of surname-associated courtyard houses are the expression of the village spatial order based on blood relations in rural areas, and the courtyard house itself is a synthesis of social attributes and regional integration [45]. The distribution characteristic of courtyard houses associated with different surnames is that consanguineous relationships are projected in the overall spatial organization of villages in terms of aggregation and differentiation [38] (Figure 12).

4.1.1. Overall House “Ring-Axis” Distribution

According to the village history and field research, the distribution of houses in the village has changed through three typical periods (Figure 13). The Peng family of the Ming Dynasty moved from Jiangxi to Pei Cheng Village and first used the safe and higher terrain inside the Old Hui River to form the earliest core neighbourhood construction area. After the core block was saturated, the population continued to increase and expanded in various directions. During the Xiantong period of the Qing Dynasty, under the leadership of official forces, walls and trenches were built, ultimately forming a turtle-shaped walled area that matched the terrain of the village. After the founding of the country, during the Cultural Revolution, most of the walls surrounding the villages were dismantled. The Old Hui River in the village was rerouted to the west side and became the New Hui River, while a new provincial road S238 was added on the north side. The village then outgrew its walls and developed towards advantageous areas around it, forming its current distribution. At present, Pei Cheng Village has a total of 993 courtyard houses, of which 297 households with the main surname Peng account for 29.91%, 91 households with the secondary surname Li account for 9.16%, and 65 households with the secondary surname Su account for 6.55%, with a total of nearly 50% of the courtyard houses under the ownership of these three prosperous families in the village, while the number of households of other secondary families is mostly between 40 and 100, and the remaining are mixed surnames, with a total of 255 households accounting for 25.67% of the total number of courtyard houses. Along the north side of Provincial Road 238, there are 81 unvested courtyard houses, and these are mostly illegal to occupy, so they were not counted in the analysis (Figure 14 and Figure 15).

The standard deviation ellipses and kernel density analyses show that the overall distribution of courtyard houses in Pei Cheng Village is centred on Cross Street and developed in all directions, forming one (point A) high-density area and seven (points B-H) secondary high-density areas and showing a “ring–axis distribution, bounded by the river” distribution feature (Figure 16 and Figure 17):

(1)

According to the standard deviation ellipse calculation, there is no obvious directionality in the overall distribution of courtyard houses in Pei Cheng Village, and thus, it is more evenly distributed in all directions, with Cross Street as the centre. The elliptical long axis is 328.051 m in length, and the short axis is 281.223 m in length, with an oblateness of 0.142. The difference between the long and short axes is not significant, and the shape is nearly circular, with the long axis being relatively long and coinciding with the east–west main street, originating from the historic period when the wall was built in an elliptical shape, like the back of a tortoise, and slightly longer in the east–west direction than in the north–south direction. The centre of the ellipse derived from the quantitative analysis overlaps highly with Cross Street centre, indicating that the overall village courtyard houses are distributed in all directions, with Cross Street as the centre.

(2)

According to the kernel density analysis results, the whole cluster of rural courtyard houses shows a pattern of “a ring and an axis, bounded by water”. As for the ring and the axis, the areas of high aggregation are concentrated on the inner side of the original ring trench in the north of the village, forming a circular distribution feature along the wall of the fortress, and at the same time, forming a high-aggregation axis for the distribution of village courtyard houses along east–west Street. The river is the boundary: the Old Hui River is the density-dividing line between the courtyard house patches, with a low density of courtyard houses on the west side of the river and a high density of courtyard houses on the east side. In the old days, due to the constraints of the river barrier, there was only one bridge connecting the two sides of the river at the intersection of east–west Street and the Old Hui River, and a large area of wetland to the southwest of the village was not suitable for construction, so the distribution of courtyard houses on the west side of the village is still sparse and scattered.

Figure 16. Elliptic analysis of the standard deviation of the overall courtyard houses in Pei Cheng Village.

Figure 16. Elliptic analysis of the standard deviation of the overall courtyard houses in Pei Cheng Village.

Figure 17. Overall kernel density analysis of the courtyard houses of Pei Cheng Village.

Figure 17. Overall kernel density analysis of the courtyard houses of Pei Cheng Village.

4.1.2. Clan House Aggregation and Differentiation

Furthermore, each surname-associated courtyard house in Pei Cheng Village was projected onto the spatial surface domain of the village, and the distribution pattern of each clan was dissected (Figure 18 and Figure 19). The results of the standard deviation elliptic analysis and kernel density quantization analysis of the courtyard houses associated with different surnames were compiled (

Table 1. Results of elliptic analysis of standard deviation data for surname-associated courtyard houses in the village.

	Centre X Coordinate	Centre Y Coordinate	Long Axis Length/m	Short Axis Length/m	Oblateness
Peng	2436.051	889.163	329.751	158.363	0.520
Li	2438.180	889.223	226.035	186.634	0.174
Su	2438.826	889.563	178.976	114.890	0.358
Wang	2435.045	889.183	343.765	193.540	0.437
Zhang	2434.456	889.631	315.003	198.116	0.371
Xu	2436.988	890.006	214.342	170.117	0.206
Yang	2437.073	889.867	336.973	136.178	0.596
Mixed surname	2434.876	889.580	346.085	206.192	0.404

, Figure 18, Figure 19, Figure 20, Figure 21 and Figure 22), and the centripetal tendency and degree of aggregation of groups with different surnames were compared.

(1)

Main surname—The Peng clan courtyard houses are distributed in a continuous axis, dominating the main spatial structure of the rural village.

Although the Peng family declined with the collapse of the clan system after liberation, it is still the family with the largest number of courtyard houses in Pei Cheng Village, with a total of 297 households, approximately one-third of the total number of households in the village. The results of the quantitative measurement show that the main distribution pattern of the Peng clan courtyard house patches shows consistent characteristics with the important spatial skeleton of Pei Cheng Village and has a strong centripetal tendency and degree of aggregation (Figure 18a and Figure 19a), as follows (Table 2):

(a)

The results of the standard deviation ellipse calculation are as follows: the Peng family courtyard house is axially oriented through the north and south of the village, with strong centrality. The standard deviation elliptical oblateness of the distribution of the patches of the Peng family’s courtyard house is 0.520, ranking second in the data (as shown in Figure 21). The oblateness is larger, indicating that the distribution of courtyard houses has significant directionality, and the long axis of the ellipse almost coincides with north–south Street, indicating that the distribution direction of its courtyard houses is a south–north distribution. The short semiaxis of the ellipse indicates the distribution range and centripetal tendency of the courtyard houses, and the length of the short axis of Peng’s standard deviation ellipse is 158.363 m (as shown in Figure 20), which is second in the village family data. The centre of the ellipse basically falls in the centre of the village across the street and near the Peng ancestral hall (Figure 18a), showing that the Peng family occupies the centre of the village and takes the village centre, and that the Peng ancestral hall serves as the interclan core for distribution and presents a strong centripetal tendency.

(b)

From the results of the kernel density analysis, the Peng family courtyard houses have an “east of the river distribution, and are highly aggregated”. On the one hand, the vast majority of the Peng family courtyard houses are distributed on the east side of the Old Hui River, and only a small part of the south of the village crosses the Old Hui River and is distributed around the Peng family’s ancestral tomb. On the other hand, the Peng courtyard houses run north and south through the village and form several clusters in the area near the former North Walled Gate at the north end of North–South Street and at the Peng ancestral graves at the south end. After liberation, the Peng clan moved out of the core neighbourhood area where they lived at the beginning of the settlement, and the Peng courtyard houses in the core neighbourhood have been replaced by mixed surname-associated courtyard houses one after another. Only the scattered presence of Peng clansmen remains in the core neighbourhood, and this is the reason why the distribution of Peng courtyard houses is physically centred at the Cross Street intersection, but no high aggregation point is formed here (Figure 22 and Figure 23). Moreover, the kernel density maximum value of the Peng family is the highest within the village (26.34), and thus, it is higher than the kernel density maximum value of other family courtyard house distributions, forming a high-density area on the north side of the village. The high maximum value indicates that the courtyard house distribution is more clustered and distributed relatively closer under the control of a strong clan bloodline (Figure 22).

Figure 23. The development process of Peng’s axial belt.

Figure 23. The development process of Peng’s axial belt.

Table 2. Distribution of the courtyard houses of the Peng family.

Main Surname—Peng
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	The elliptical centre is close to the village centre (the centre of Cross Street) and the family ancestral hall, and the physical centre coincides with the spiritual centre of the family.
	Directional trends	High values of oblateness (0.52), obvious directionality, and a south–north distribution.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	Short axis length (158.363 m), strong degree of centripetal tendency.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	East of the river distribution, highly aggregated.

Table 2. Distribution of the courtyard houses of the Peng family.

Main Surname—Peng
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	The elliptical centre is close to the village centre (the centre of Cross Street) and the family ancestral hall, and the physical centre coincides with the spiritual centre of the family.
	Directional trends	High values of oblateness (0.52), obvious directionality, and a south–north distribution.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	Short axis length (158.363 m), strong degree of centripetal tendency.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	East of the river distribution, highly aggregated.

(2)

Secondary surname—The distribution of the courtyard houses of the Li and Su families is in a staggered pattern, strengthening the main nodes in rural areas.

The Li and Su families were also important families in Pei Cheng Village, forming a three-legged family pattern with the Peng family at the top of its peak. The Su family also bought courtyard houses from the Peng family at the end of the Qing Dynasty and moved into the core neighbourhood, showing the great power of the family. In modern times, the Su family has famous members, such as Su Jin, the founding general, and Su Yaxiu, the founder of sheep intestine burial treatment technology. The analysis of the standard deviation ellipse and density of the courtyard houses show the following characteristics in spatial relationships (Figure 18b,c and Figure 19b,c) (Table 3):

(a)

The results of the standard deviation ellipse calculation are as follows: the overall directionality and centripetal tendency of the distribution of the Li courtyard houses is not strong, while the overall directionality of the distribution of the Su courtyard houses is significant, and the centripetal tendency is strong. The standard deviation ellipse oblateness for the Li houses is 0.174, with a small oblateness (as shown in Figure 21). According to the standard deviation ellipse measurement and the distribution of courtyard houses, it can be seen that the overall distribution direction of the Li courtyard houses is not strong but more distributed along both sides of Northeast Avenue. The Su standard deviation ellipse oblateness is 0.358, the oblateness is relatively large (as shown in Figure 21), and the long axis of the ellipse overlaps with Northeast Avenue, showing a south–north distribution. The values of the short axis for the Li and Su houses are 186.634 m and 114.890 m, respectively. The short semiaxis for the Li houses is longer, and the short semiaxis for the Su houses is the shortest among several major clans in the village, indicating that the centripetal tendency of the Li family is not obvious, and that the Su family has a strong centripetal tendency. The physical centre of the Su standard deviation ellipse falls near Su Jin’s former residence, and the strong centripetal tendency associated with the Su family stems from the fact that there is a building with the spirit of the Su family. Although the Li family has grown, there are no obvious Li family spiritual ritual structures in the village, leading to a small number of Li courtyard houses scattered in the village away from the high aggregation point of the Li family. After liberation, the two families tended to extend outwards; in one direction, the expansion was through the wall of the fortress to the east, and in the other direction, the expansion was laid out along provincial road 238.

(b)

From the degree of aggregation, it can be observed that the Li and Su families are clustered in a point-like pattern, with staggered distribution. Although the overall distribution of the Li courtyard houses lacks a strong centripetal tendency, there are obvious gathering areas, and both the Li and Su families are distributed in the village east end near Northeast Avenue on both sides, with a scattered distribution aggregation state. The Li family has the highest nuclear density of 23.73, ranking second in the village, with densely distributed residential areas, while the Su family has a lower kernel density maximum value (14.49), with a looser distribution and multiple point-like aggregation areas. Since the Su and Li families moved into the village, their intermarriages have continued to intertwine with each other, ultimately forming a trend of interconnected development (Figure 22 and Figure 24).

Table 3. Distribution of the courtyard houses of the Li and Su families.

Secondary Surnames—Li, Su
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	The absence of obvious representations of the elliptical centre of the Li family; the Su family elliptical centre is in close proximity to Su Jin’s former residence, and the physical centre coincides with the family’s spiritual centre.
	Directional trends	The low value of oblateness for the Li family (0.174), with an insignificant directional distribution; the value of oblateness for the Su family is high (0.358), and the direction of distribution is obvious, along both sides of Northeast Avenue.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	High value for the Li family’s short axis length (186.634 m), which is not strongly centripetal; low value for the Su family’s short axis length (114.890 m), strong degree of centripetal tendency.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	Li and Su point aggregation, interwoven distribution.

Table 3. Distribution of the courtyard houses of the Li and Su families.

Secondary Surnames—Li, Su
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	The absence of obvious representations of the elliptical centre of the Li family; the Su family elliptical centre is in close proximity to Su Jin’s former residence, and the physical centre coincides with the family’s spiritual centre.
	Directional trends	The low value of oblateness for the Li family (0.174), with an insignificant directional distribution; the value of oblateness for the Su family is high (0.358), and the direction of distribution is obvious, along both sides of Northeast Avenue.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	High value for the Li family’s short axis length (186.634 m), which is not strongly centripetal; low value for the Su family’s short axis length (114.890 m), strong degree of centripetal tendency.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	Li and Su point aggregation, interwoven distribution.

Figure 24. Li and Su interwoven distribution development.

Figure 24. Li and Su interwoven distribution development.

(3)

The distribution of courtyard houses belonging to other secondary surname clans is characterized by scattered clusters and flexibility.

Pei Cheng Village has some other clans with a large family population, such as the Wang, Zhang, Xu, and Yang clans, who mostly moved in one after another after liberation, with the number of households mostly between 40 and 100, and their distribution characteristics showing a certain scattered aggregation, but no significant centripetal tendency, and a weaker sense of centre, flexible location, etc. (Table 4)

These families appear in the standard deviation ellipse analysis, with the long axis indicating their direction of development, and the length of the short axis generally being larger except for that of the Yang family, indicating that these families have an insufficient centripetal tendency (as shown in Figure 20 and Figure 21). Although the short axis for the Yang family is shown to be shorter in the measurement results because it has two high aggregation points and is distributed on one axis and far away, it presents the distribution characteristics of spot-like aggregation in two places and poor centrality. In the kernel density measurement, these families moved one after another after liberation, and the distribution tended to be mostly in one place. Although family aggregation developed, the location was flexible; the nuclear density was typically low (as shown in Figure 22) and did not form a high-density area, and the aggregation ability was weak, constrained by the family lineage, and not strong (Figure 18d–g and Figure 19d–g).

Table 4. Distribution of other secondary surname-associated courtyard houses.

Other Secondary Surnames—Wang, Zhang, Xu, Yang, etc.
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	No apparent representation of the elliptical centre.
	Directional trends	The oblateness values (0.206–0.596), distribution direction is obvious.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	Short axis length (136.178–198.116 m), not strongly centripetal.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	Flexible location, weak aggregation ability.

Table 4. Distribution of other secondary surname-associated courtyard houses.

Other Secondary Surnames—Wang, Zhang, Xu, Yang, etc.
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	No apparent representation of the elliptical centre.
	Directional trends	The oblateness values (0.206–0.596), distribution direction is obvious.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	Short axis length (136.178–198.116 m), not strongly centripetal.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	Flexible location, weak aggregation ability.

(4)

Mixed surname family courtyard house distribution is scattered into pieces.

Historically, Pei Cheng Village had a very strong commercial atmosphere, attracting many people to take root and settle there. In addition to the main and secondary surnames and other secondary surnames mentioned in the previous section, Pei Cheng Village had more than two hundred people with mixed surnames, each of which was small in scale, ranging from a few to a dozen or twenty households, and could not form an effective family gathering point but overall formed a bloodless agglomeration patch within the village without obvious centripetalism (Figure 18h and Figure 19h). The quantitative measurement analysis revealed the following specific characteristics (Table 5):

(a)

The calculation results of the standard deviation ellipse: The mixed surname family courtyard houses of are distributed in the general direction of “southeast–northwest”, but the centripetal nature is poor. The standard deviation elliptical oblateness for the mixed family names is 0.404, and the distribution of courtyard houses shows a certain directionality (as shown in Figure 21), with the two large families of Li and Su occupying the northeast region and the Pei Cheng ruins and wetlands in the southwest region of the village, so they can only compete for the distribution of vacant plots in the village, and finally present a “southeast–northwest” direction distribution. The length of the short axis of the ellipse for families with mixed surnames is 206.192 m, which is the longest of the short axis of the standard deviation ellipse for each surname (as shown in Figure 20), indicating that its centripetal nature is the weakest compared to that of other families with stronger clan power because families with mixed surnames have chosen to build on some of the remaining flat and liveable plots within the village, with fewer ties between surnames and more freedom in choosing the site.

(b)

From the results of the kernel density analysis, the degree of clustering for the mixed surname families courtyard house distribution is low (Figure 22) and scattered into pieces. Most of the mixed surname family courtyard houses are distributed in the area west of the Old Hui River and the area outside the wall in the south of the village. The overall layout is scattered, the average degree of clustering is low, there is no obvious spatial structure relationship, and there is a lack of internal order control and connection. In the early days of village construction, there was only a Xiangshui Bridge on the Old Hui River that connected the east and west of the village. The river barrier led to more families who came here for development or had weaker power gathering on the east side of the river. After the demolition of the wall, the surrounding trenches were gradually buried, and the people made developments towards the south outside of the wall. There was less communication among the families of mixed surnames, and the correlations among them were very weak, without forming a strong cluster.

Table 5. Distribution of mixed surname-associated courtyard houses.

Mixed Surname
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	No apparent representation of the elliptical centre.
	Directional trends	Oblateness value (0.404), with a “southeast–northwest” distribution.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	Highest value of short axis length (206.192 m), not strongly centripetal.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	Low degree of agglomeration, patchy and scattered distribution.

Table 5. Distribution of mixed surname-associated courtyard houses.

Mixed Surname
Standard deviation ellipse	Spatial distribution centre	No apparent representation of the elliptical centre.
	Directional trends	Oblateness value (0.404), with a “southeast–northwest” distribution.
	Degree of centripetal tendency	Highest value of short axis length (206.192 m), not strongly centripetal.
Kernel density	Degree of aggregation	Low degree of agglomeration, patchy and scattered distribution.

In summary, it can be observed that the distribution characteristics of the courtyard houses of the primary and secondary surname families dominate the development structure of rural areas and have a strong centripetal nature. The Peng family occupied the North–South spatial axis, the Li and Su families occupied the secondary streets on the east side of the village and carried out family development in a larger area; other families with secondary surnames were flexibly scattered within the village; mixed family courtyard houses were scattered outside the dense area and mostly developed on the west side of the Old Hui River, filling the gap between the main and secondary surnames. In addition, the larger the family group was, the higher the maximum value of nuclear density, the more easily a high aggregation point formed, the stronger the centripetal tendency, and the smaller the distance between courtyard houses. The clan-dominated distribution of courtyard houses is the main factor in the formation of the spatial structure of rural areas. Families with primary and secondary surnames have always played a crucial role in the spatial layout of rural areas at different historical stages [52,53], and the families mostly gathered together to prosper and keep warm, tendencies that can form a strong force and influence the development direction and spatial pattern characteristics of rural areas (

Table 6. Aggregation and differentiation characteristics of patches in clan courtyard houses.

Clan	Aggregation Tendency	Centripetal Tendency	Rural Distribution Area and Spatial Structure	Key Points
Peng	Strong	Stronger	Development along the north–south axis of the village	Cross Street centre, the Peng’s Old Ancestral Hall
Li	Stronger	Weaker	Two families are staggered in the east side of the village near Northeast Avenue	None
Su	Stronger	Stronger		Su Jin’s former residence
Wang, Zhang, Xu, and other secondary surnames	Weak	Weak	Mostly forming small clusters along East–West Street of the village	None
Mixed surnames	Very weak	Very weak	No obvious directionality, in the shape of a patch	West side of the Old Hui River, outside the fortress wall

).

4.2. The Joint Relationship between Spatial Use and Clan Courtyard House Aggregation and Differentiation

The previous quantitative analysis by standard deviation ellipse and kernel density obviously shows that the clan space under different clan powers exhibits obvious differences and affects the village spatial pattern. Next, by means of space syntax, the entropy value and the degree of global integration were selected to quantify the village space in a more diversified way against the results of the previous quantitative measurement analysis, incorporating the judgement of village space vitality and accessibility [54,55], and enabling the further analysis of the joint relationship between village space use and courtyard house aggregation and differentiation to more deeply elucidate the correlation between clan and village space (Figure 25).

4.2.1. Spatial Vitality and Distribution of Clan Courtyard Houses

The space syntax method uses entropy to express the ease of access to information in spatial systems. The colder the colour of the axis is, the lower the entropy value, the stronger and cheaper the ability to obtain information about the surrounding space, the higher the spatial vitality, and the easier it is to gather people; however, the warmer the colour of the axis is, the more the opposite takes place [56,57].

The entropy measurement results show that the overall spatial characteristics of Pei Cheng Village are “bounded by water, with the centre being cold and the surroundings warm” (Figure 26). The colour of the axes in the area east of the Old Hui River is cold, and the entropy value is low, while the colour of the axes in the area west of the river is warm, and the entropy value is high. The center of Cross Street exhibits the lowest entropy value in the entire spatial system, while East-West and North-South Streets have lower levels of entropy values. The remaining road sections expand in all directions from these streets, with a gradual increase in axis color and corresponding rise in entropy values. Generally, corner areas near the edge of the village exhibit higher levels of entropy. Historically, Pei Cheng Village was a post station on the official road, and with the help of the official road, east–west Street was formed, along which commercial strongholds such as post stations and inns were distributed. The village then developed to the north and south, eventually forming the pattern of the cross-axis, with Cross Street as the centre, and developing along North–South Street and east–west Street, with Cross Street having the highest flow of people in the village since ancient times. The obvious difference in the entropy values between the east and west sides of the Old Hui River stems from the fact that there was only one Xiangshui Bridge connecting the two banks in the old days, as mentioned in the previous section, preventing the west side of the river from acquiring information in the region. Thus, the spatial vitality was poor, and the measurement results are consistent with the actual research on the village.

The relationship between the entropy values and important points in the village: the more important spatial nodes in the village were selected (Figure 27), and their entropy values were measured and compared with the results of the previous analyses for the standard deviation ellipse and kernel density of the overall village courtyard houses. It was found that high-density points of courtyard houses are distributed around nodes with low entropy and strong spatial vitality. The five nodal spaces, Peng’s Ancestral Hall, Xiangshui Bridge, West Pavilion Gate, Pei Jin Gong Ancestral Hall, North Walled Gate Ruins, and Su Jin’s former residence, are the vitality points with low entropy values in the village, and these points were found to be highly correlated, although they do not overlap with the high-density points of the courtyard houses. There is a small cluster to the right of Peng’s Ancestral Hall, Cluster C to the east of the Ringshui Bridge, Cluster H to the south of the West Pavilion Gate, Cluster E to the west of Pei Jin Gong Ancestral Hall, Cluster A to the southeast of the North Walled Gate site, and Clusters B and D to the north and west of Su Jin’s former residence. Overall, villagers are more willing to be close but not too close to the vitality point.

Entropy values in relation to clan courtyard houses: The village space extends from the centre to the periphery, the axis entropy value increases, the spatial vitality decreases, and the family rank distributed in the space decreases. Combined with the previous quantitative analysis, it was found that the Peng family occupies the centre of Cross Street with the lowest entropy value and the coldest axis colour, both at the early stage of village building and at present, and the family has the greatest access to spatial information, high spatial activity, and commercial prosperity in this area. Thus, they have become the family with the largest development of clan power in the village. The Li and Su distribution area entropy value is high, with the Li and Su families moving into the village later. The two families had their own strength and marriage relationships, chose to maintain a certain distance from the Peng settlement, build courtyard houses away from the centre of commercial activity, and chose to attach to the village secondary street development. Wang, Zhang, Xu, Yang, and other secondary surname clans mostly moved in after liberation. At this time, the Peng family had declined, and these families moved into the core neighbourhood area of the village, and renovated, built and settled the old houses left by the Peng family. Therefore, many courtyard houses of the Wang and Yang families are located in the low entropy area of the core neighbourhood. The mixed surname families mainly competed for vacant land in the village for housing construction, so they are mostly distributed in areas with lower vitality on the west side of the Lao Hui River and the warm-coloured axis at the end of the village (Figure 26).

4.2.2. Space Access and Clan Courtyard Houses Distribution

The use of space syntax can express the hierarchy of the rural space, the space of different levels of the road system shows a hierarchical relationship, and there is a certain transition between different levels [39]. The axial plot of spatial syntactic integration shows (Figure 28) that warm tones indicate higher spatial integration and higher accessibility of the corresponding space, and conversely, cool tones are less accessible [9]. Integration cores: The distribution of integration cores can reflect the core of the village space. The parts of the axes with the highest global integration are called the integration core of the axis system, and these axes often play the role of important public spaces in the system and are the centres of human flow [58] (Figure 29).

The results for the global degree of integration measurement show that the direction of the hierarchical extension of the spatial axis of the village presents the developmental lineage of the village, which is consistent with the distribution of the family courtyard houses of the family names. Figure 25 shows that the North–South Street and east–west Street axes in the village are the core axes of integration, and these are important axes for the spatial skeleton composition of the village. The largest Peng clan family in the village occupies one of them, and combined with the previous nuclear density analysis, the Peng family courtyard houses are basically distributed within 100 m on both sides of North and South Streets. The Peng family courtyard houses developed east–west until the end of the first secondary street, and the distribution of the family courtyard houses stops at the end of Axis 1 of West Street and Axis 4 of East Street, which have the highest accessibility. This shows that the main surname clan courtyard houses gather distribution characteristics along the core axis. The second axis in terms of reachability is the secondary streets and alleys perpendicular to North Street and Northeast Avenue. The development direction of the village is from the cross core to the north to Axis 3 and further develops to the east. The integration of Axes 2, 7, 8, 10, and 12 on the east side of the village is high, forming a higher-reachability area. The village is developed to the east, where the courtyard houses of the second family members, Li and Su, are distributed and concentrated. On the west side of the village, which is opposite to the dense distribution of the high-integration axis on the east side, especially to the west of the Lao Hui River, only the axis of No. 16 and Northwest Avenue has a high degree of integration, while the degrees of integration of the other axes are relatively low. The Lao Hui River passes through the village, and only one bridge connects the two sides, resulting in inconveniences for transportation, which, to some extent, affects the development of this side. Given the distribution of the surname-associated houses, it can be observed that some mixed surname families have chosen to be established here (Figure 29 and Figure 30).

Subsequent to the above analysis, it can be observed that the spatial structure of villages has a high degree of consistency with the aggregation of the clan’s courtyard house distribution. The main surname family will consciously choose the place with good space and occupy the core space of the village at the early stage of development; the secondary surname family is distributed on both sides of the village secondary space road with high accessibility; the mixed surname families are distributed in the area with poor accessibility conditions and spatial vitality; and the accessibility of the family development terminal space decreases accordingly. That is, the direction of village development is positively correlated with family development in addition to objective environmental influence, with the main space corresponding to the main surname family, the secondary space corresponding to the secondary surname family, and the underdeveloped space corresponding to the mixed surname families. The use of space syntax to quantify the expression of village space further corroborates that surname-associated families influence the formation of the village centre structure and are associated with the development of the overall spatial pattern of villages [52,53] (

Table 7. Coupling relationship between space use and clan courtyard houses.

Clan	Vitality	Reachability	Village Space Level
Main Surname—Peng	Strong	Strong	Primary space
Secondary Surnames—Li, Su	Weaker	Strong	Secondary space
Other secondary surnames—Wang, Zhang, Xu, etc.	Stronger	Weaker	Secondary space
Mixed surnames	Weak	Weak	Underdeveloped space

).

5. Discussion

Today, the Peng family is still the largest family in Pei Cheng Village, with the largest number of rural courtyard houses. The rise and fall of the Peng family are fully reflected in the core neighbourhood of the countryside. The core neighbourhood is the place where the Peng family underwent the process of clan transformation from prosperity to decline and eventually gradually disintegrated. The change in the social structure within the family is further reflected in the iterative level of the courtyard house texture, which caused the internal spatial texture of its settlement area to change from orderly in the early stage to obviously fragmented in the contemporary era. By analysing the distribution patterns of courtyard houses in core neighbourhoods in different periods, it can be seen that the evolution of the spatial pattern of the Peng clan, from occupying to moving out of the core neighbourhoods altogether, has gone through four typical phases: the domination of clan courtyard houses, the decline of clan courtyard houses, clan to mixed surname courtyard houses, and mixed surname courtyard houses (

Table 8. Peng’s core neighbourhood evolution.

	Time	Trait	Surname	Spatial Pattern	Degree of Aggregation	Centripetal Tendency	Clan Characteristics
Stage one	Ming—Qing middle period	Domination of clan courtyard houses	Peng	Clan courtyard house + “horse path”	Strong	Strong (high-rise courtyard)	One name, one family
Stage two	Middle Qing Dynasty—late Qing Dynasty	Decline of clan courtyard houses	Peng, Su, and Li	Clan courtyard house	Stronger	Strong, three centres	Primary and secondary family names, strong clan
Stage three	Republic of China— before the founding of the People’s Republic of China	Clan to mixed surname courtyard houses	Peng, Su, Li, and He	Private courtyard house	Weak	Weak	There are many surnames, and the clan character is weakened
Stage four	After the founding of the People’s Republic of China	Mixed surname courtyard houses	Mixed surnames	Private courtyard house; separate export	Weak	Weak	Mixed surname, clan nature is not strong

, Figure 31). From the Ming Dynasty to the cultural revolution, the core neighbourhood formed the typical internal order characteristics of the Peng family. After the cultural revolution, with the collapse of clan power, the Peng family began to decline, and the corresponding family spatial form began to collapse, thus affecting the spatial pattern of the entire village.

The internal hierarchy of the courtyard house is distinct, and the Peng family compound as a whole has four groups of seven in the courtyards. There are spatial differences in the sets of seven courtyards themselves, which are distinguished according to the principle of seniority. Different owners live at different levels of space, and the interior is orderly. At the same time, there are semi-public spaces, such as a “horse path” between the four groups of yards to achieve privacy and connectivity between the courtyard houses (Figure 32 and Figure 33). The differences in levels are also reflected in the architectural form itself, which uses the heights of the buildings to reflect the hierarchical relationship. For example, the internal high-rise courtyard is the only three-story building, which has always been the spiritual core of the Peng clan members (Figure 34). The clan house of the Peng family, the front house and the back shop, and the last row of houses on east–west Street are used for commercial purposes and are operated externally. The buildings are arranged in a high, middle, and low arrangement on both sides (Figure 35). The middle building is the main commercial storefront, which is open to the public.

Focusing on the whole village, the change and reorganization of the courtyard house and the differences in levels are also fully reflected. In the village space, there are many clan courtyards, behind which there are obvious family forces that interfere with the distribution of houses and courtyards and affect the development and evolution of the spatial form of the whole village.

6. Conclusions

The formation, development, and decline of Pei Cheng Village are closely related to the rise and fall of the main clans in the village. The existence of blood ties prompted the aggregation and centripetal development of the village’s courtyard houses, forming an organic order and complete form. As the carriers of family consanguinity, courtyard houses reflect the temporal and spatial evolution of rural spatial organization from the perspective of the house, making invisible social relations tangible and making it possible to analyse the evolution of the overall spatial pattern of villages by quantitative means, thus providing a beneficial record for us to study the spatial pattern of villages with consanguinity as the link. The main findings are as follows:

(1)

Aggregation and centripetal tendency: The aggregation and divergence of primary and secondary surname clan courtyard houses in rural areas have a joint correlation with the spatial development structure of rural areas and the formation of key nodes. This is mainly reflected in the interconnection of the centripetal tendency, degree of aggregation, and high aggregation points of the courtyard houses. The main family name clan has an obvious spiritual core space, a strong centripetal tendency, and courtyard houses that easily produce high aggregation points that can form a series of tandem points dominating the main spatial structure of the rural area; in contrast, the courtyard houses have weak centripetal tendency, a relatively loose degree of aggregation, and a lack of cohesion.

(2)

Vitality and accessibility: The distribution of the primary and secondary surname clan courtyard houses in rural areas corresponds to the distribution of vitality points and the accessibility of space in rural areas. It is mainly reflected that the main family with the main surname will consciously choose the place with good space at the early stage of development and occupy the core space of the village, corresponding to the main space of village development; the secondary surname family is distributed on both sides of the main space road of the village with high accessibility, corresponding to the secondary space of village development; the mixed surname family is in the poor area of village development, corresponding to the underdeveloped space of the village.

(3)

Spatial system classification

The research results of this paper can be used to classify the rural spatial system based on quantitative analysis conclusions, and they provide a relevant basis for future rural research and construction. Given that the analysis revealed that the family courtyard houses are unevenly distributed within the village, with obvious clustering and divergence, the spatial syntactic entropy and global degree of integration were used to correlate the spatial vitality and accessibility with the kernel density results from the ArcGIS analysis, and the weights were set to superimpose the results of the two levels of analysis, resulting in the village spatial centre system hierarchy map and the street spatial vitality map below (Figure 36 and Figure 37).

7. Outlook

The number of villages in the Central Plains linked by blood relationships is very large. This paper features a typical village in the Central Plains region as the research object. The coupling between the invisible social structure and the tangible physical space in the village was quantified, and the evolution of the spatial pattern of the village under clan blood relations was explored. In the future, more blood-relation-based villages in the region can be selected for research, the core association patterns can be extracted, the universality of the conclusions can be improved, and the geographical distribution pattern, spatial types, and human–land relations of the clan blood-relation-based villages in the Central Plains can be further researched.