Description
Book SynopsisChinese Families Upside Down offers the first systematic account of how intergenerational dependence is redefining the Chinese family. The authors make a collective effort to go beyond the conventional model of filial piety to explore the rich, nuanced, and often unexpected new intergenerational dynamics. Supported by ethnographic findings from the latest field research, novel interpretations of neo-familism address critical issues from fresh perspectives, such as the ambivalence in grandparenting, the conflicts between individual and family interests, the remaking of the moral self in the face of family crises, and the decisive influence of the Chinese state on family change. The book is an essential read for scholars and students of China studies in particular and for those who are interested in the present-day family and kinship in general.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction The Inverted Family, Post- Patriarchal Intergenerationality and Neo-Familism 1 Yunxiang Yan 2 “We Do” Parental Involvement in the Marriages of Urban Sons and Daughters Deborah S. Davis 3 The “Leftover” Majority Why Urban Men and Women Born under China’s One- Child Policy Remain Unmarried through Age 27 Vanessa L. Fong, Greene Ko, Cong Zhang, and Sung won Kim 4 United in Suffering Rural Grandparents and the Intergenerational Contributions of Care Erin Thomason 5 Floating Grandparents Rethinking Family Obligation and Intergenerational Support Xiaoying Qi 6 Families Under (Peer) Pressure Self-Advocacy and Ambivalence among Women in Collective Dance Groups 123 Claudia Huang 7 Intimate Power Intergenerational Cooperation and Conflicts in Childrearing among Urban Families Suowei Xiao 8 Losing an Only Child Parental Grief among China’s Shidu Parents Lihong Shi 9 The Chinese Proto Neo-Family Configuration A Historical Ethnography William Jankowiak 10 The Statist Model of Family Policy Making Yunxiang Yan 11 Three Discourses on Neo-Familism Yunxiang Yan Index
