Overview

Each successive wave of revolution to hit modern China-political, cultural, and economic-has 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, geography, and globalization as they relate to patriarchal practice and resistance to it. The contributors bring the concept of patriarchy back to the heart of China studies while rethinking its significance in dominant Western-centric theories of modernity.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gonçalo Santos ,  Stevan Harrell
Publisher:   University of Washington Press
Imprint:   University of Washington Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.340kg
ISBN:  

9780295999821

ISBN 10:   0295999829
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   01 November 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 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

Reviews

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 * 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 * 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 *

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 *

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 *

Author Information

Goncalo Santos is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Hong Kong. Stevan Harrell is professor of anthropology and environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington. The contributors are Melissa J. Brown, Elisabeth L. Engebretsen, Harriet Evans, Suzanne Gottschang, William Jankowiak, Andrew B. Kipnis, Kerstin Klein, Xuan Li, Helena Obendiek, Lihong Shi, Roberta Zavoretti, and Hong Zhang.

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