Family Management and Family Division in Contemporary Rural China

Abstract

Field-work in north, south and west China villages reveals that prior to the establishment of the People's Republic family organization at all three sites was characterized by the same customary arrangements concerning ownership of property, economic ties among family members, family management and family division. During the collective era and the present period of family fanning changes in these aspects of family life have been along similar lines. I was in a Hebei village for four months during 1986–87, and in 1990 carried out three-month periods of field-work in villages in Shanghai county and on the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan.

The Impact of Rural Pensions in China on Labor Migration

“…For extended families with multiple adult sons, one or more married sons usually move away from the parents' house to live independently. Economic factors are major forces in determining when adult children leave their parents' house (Cohen 1992). Therefore, to investigate the potential effect of pension receipt on family living rearrangements, we confine the sample to adult sons and focus on the outcome of coresidence with elderly parents.…”

Meal and Residence Rotation of Elderly Parents in Contemporary Rural Northern China

“…Families usually reach an agreement about the amount of money and food (e.g., grain, millet, edible oil) each son's family will provide, the adult son's responsibility in sharing the medical bills when parents are sick, and the parents' living arrangements in their later stages of life (Cohen 1976(Cohen , 1992(Cohen , 2005. At this time, houses are usually divided among sons.…”

Personal Well-being in Urban China

“…Attitudes and behaviour are also likely to differ. Lifestyles and attitudes in rural China are traditional (Cohen 2002;Davey et al 2009). Lifestyles and attitudes in Hong Kong and Macau are likely to be largely westernized (see e.g., Chan and Cheng 2002;Yee et al 1993).…”