Description
Book SynopsisThe family has long been viewed as both a microcosm of the state and a barometer of social change in China. It is no surprise, therefore, that the dramatic changes experienced by Chinese society over the past century have produced a wide array of new family systems.
Trade Review“We are fortunate to have Jankowiak and Moore’s new book, which fills a large gap in the literature and carries the description of changing family dynamics up to the present. It is an ideal text for both undergraduate and graduate courses dealing with family, kinship, or more generally with society and social change in China.”
Myron Cohen, Columbia University
“We used to see 'the Chinese family' as a fairly uniform institution shaped by Confucian values. Not any more! Chinese families have had to adapt to a bewildering array of social changes. How they have altered as a result is the focus of this wide-ranging and fascinating volume.”
Martin K. Whyte, Emeritus Department of Sociology, Harvard University
"Beyond the excellent description of changing family relationships over the past 120 years, Jankowiak and Moore parsimoniously summarize the significance of an analytic shift from a focus on lineage and corporate family interests to one that privileges affective emotion and individual desires among family members. Both the general reader and undergraduate student will benefit greatly from these distinctions as they conceptualize change over time. [...] It would work well as a required reading in a course on changing families across the world or one on modern Chinese society" -
Deborah Davis, The China Journal
"
Family Life in China provides a broad historical and ethnographic overview on changes in family life. As such it is a particularly useful introduction for students in sociology, ethnology or sinology and for all those interested in everyday life in China."
New Books Asia
Table of Contents1 The Chinese Family - Enduring Ideals and Changing Realities
2 Kinship, Friends and the Multigenerational Family
3 Chinese Families: Ethnic Variations
4 Courtship and Marriage: Twentieth-Century Transformations
5 The Preference for the Affection-Based Marriage
6 Parenting Philosophy and Practice
7 Parents, Adolescents, and Emerging Adults
Conclusion: Intergenerational Exceptions and Uncertainties
