Love's Uncertainty

The Rise of Maternal Grandmother Child Care in Urban Chinese Families

“…Unlike the parents of previous generations that had much higher fertility, the parents of China' single-child generation tend to invest heavily in their only children and have high expectations for their success (Fong, 2004;Kipnis, 2011). This child-centered orientation has become a standard feature of contemporary childrearing practices adhered to by the parents of the singleton generation in China (e.g., Goh, 2011;Kuan, 2015;Zhang et al, 2018), including many of the parents in our study.…”

Against Three “Cultural” Characters Speaks Self‐Improvement: Social Critique and Desires for “Modernity” in Pedagogies of Soft Skills in Contemporary China

“…In China, discursive practices of soft skills are mediated by expertise from the fields of management and positive psychology, as well as reforms in public education, known as “education for quality” ( suzhi jiayu ). These have sought to produce learning spaces that foster individual expression and creativity at the expense of discipline and rote memorization (Kuan 2015; Naftali 2014; Woronov 2003). The proponents of person‐centered methods also aim to bridge the rigid education system and the demands for flexibility and innovation that potentially characterize the market economy, as well as possibly fueling market productivity (Anagnost 2004).…”

“…The trajectory he narrated is one in which a child who is too preoccupied with pleasing one’s parents neglects one’s own personality and individual aspirations, and may ultimately struggle to find out who he or she “really is” and how one should live one’s life. In extreme cases, this burden can become pathological, as elaborated by Jiang, alluding to a horror story about a high school student from Zhejiang Province who murdered his mother as a result of the pressure she exerted on him (September 2015, field note; see more on debates following this incident in Kuan 2015, 64–67).…”

“…From the supportive responses of the mothers in the workshops, it was clear that they were interested in adopting new communication styles in order to promote their children’s well‐being. As Teresa Kuan (2011, 2015) has demonstrated in her work in Kunming (Yunnan Province), in parallel with educational reforms in China, middle‐class mothers learn through various forms of expert knowledge to regulate their emotions in consideration of the healthy growth of their children. Communication skills serve this process, even if mothers in Heart’s Secret admitted the difficulty of implementing egalitarian interaction because discipline was still crucial to success in the Chinese educational system.…”

“…In China, anthropologists in the last two decades have discerned new market‐driven forms of self‐cultivation as evidence for the penetration of self‐reliant and individualistic subject positions (e.g., Hoffman 2010; Otis 2011; Yan 2008; Yan 2013; Yang 2015; Zhang 2017), much like the situation in other economically changing societies (see Cahn 2008; Dunn 2014; Gooptu 2016; Kim 2016; Rudnyckyj 2011). This phenomenon is notable in Chinese public education where policymakers and educators increasingly regard person‐centered qualities as beneficial for the healthy growth of children as well as conducive to market productivity (Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council 1999; Kuan 2015; Naftali 2014; Woronov 2003). Although these reforms have not been applied consistently (Kipnis 2011; Woronov 2003, 2008), new educational values have gained currency among households and schools.…”