Abstract: The clan organization formed by the paternal blood relationship is the most important folk welfare subject in the traditional Chinese society, in which the clan welfare is the cornerstone of the folk welfare system. The idea of clan welfare is not only an integral part but also a distinctive feature of the traditional Chinese social welfare thought, which serves as an important ideological foundation for the development of the clan welfare security in the traditional Chinese society. From the perspective of ideological history, this paper briefly sorts out and analyzes the clan welfare thought of four social thinkers: Fan Zhongyan in the Song Dynasty, He Xinyin in the Ming Dynasty, Gong Zizhen in late Qing Dynasty and Feng Guifen in the modern times.

Key words: traditional Chinese society, clan welfare, clan welfare thought, ideological genealogy