Description
Book SynopsisEach successive wave of revolution to hit modern Chinapolitical, cultural, and economichas radically reshaped Chinese society. Whereas patriarchy defined the familial social structure for thousands of years, changing realities in the last hundred years have altered and even reversed long-held expectations. Transforming Patriarchy explores the private and public dimensions of these changes in present-day China. Patriarchy is not dead, but it is no longer the default arrangement for Chinese families: Daughters-in-law openly berate their fathers-in-law. Companies sell filial-piety insurance. Many couples live together before marriage, and in some parts of rural China, almost all brides are pregnant.
Drawing on a multitude of sources and perspectives, this volume turns to the intimate territory of the family to challenge prevailing scholarly assumptions about gender and generational hierarchies in Chinese society. Case studies examine factors such as social class, geogra
Trade Review
"The anthropological perspective on Chinese family life adopted by the contributors to this volume reveals a great deal of interesting variation—across the urban-rural divide; according to region, class, and sexual orientation; and even just by personality and circumstance."
-- Andrew J. Nathan * Foreign Affairs *
"Provides a multifaceted and knowledgeable picture of present day families in the People’s Republic of China. . . . The book contributes to a deeper understanding of the ongoing transformation in China with changes of social norms, social relations and familial behavior modifying the traditional concept of patriarchy."
-- Jutta Hebel * New Books Asia *
"Taken together these papers succeed laudably in conveying the nexus of intersecting issues that complicate the contemporary scene in China with respect to gender and generational hierarchies and exchanges, filial piety, changing economic circumstances, the demands of familial duty, and so forth. In sum, the volume contributes importantly to understanding social circumstances in contemporary China."
-- P. Steven Sangren * China Review International *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Note on Transcription
Introduction / Stevan Harrell and Gonçalo Santos
Part One | Rural Reconfigurations
1. Dutiful Help: Masking Rural Women’s Economic Contributions / Melissa J. Brown 000
2. From Care Providers to Financial Burdens: The Changing Role of Sons and Reproductive Choice in Rural Northeast China / Lihong Shi
3. Higher Education, Gender, and Elder Support in Rural Northwest China / Helena Obendiek
4. Multiple Mothering and Labor Migration in Rural South China / Gonçalo Santos
Part Two | Class, Gender, and Patriarchy in Urban Society
5. Urbanization and the Transformation of Kinship Practice in Shandong / Andrew B. Kipnis
6. Being the Right Woman for “Mr. Right”: Marriage and Household Politics in Present-Day Nanjing / Roberta Zavoretti
7. Emergent Conjugal Love, Mutual Affection, and Female Marital Power / William Jankowiak and Xuan Li
8. Under Pressure: Lesbian-Gay Contract Marriages and Their Patriarchal Bargains / Elisabeth L. Engebretsen
9. Patriarchal Investments: Expectations of Male Authority and Support in a Poor Beijing Neighborhood / Harriet Evans
Part Three | New Technologies, New Institutions
10. Taking Patriarchy Out of Postpartum Recovery? / Suzanne Gottschang
11. Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Sperm Donation, and Biological Kinship: A Recent Chinese Media Debate / Kerstin Klein
12. Recalibrating Filial Piety: Realigning the State, Family, and Market Interests in China / Hong Zhang
Glossary
References
List of Contributors
Index
