Selfless Offspring

The Effects of Grandparents on Children’s Schooling: Evidence From Rural China

“…At the risk of oversimplification, the traditional Chinese family is a complicated social system, involving multiple generations and marital unions along the male lineage, with the eldest male at the top of the family hierarchy (Greenhalgh 1985; Knapp 2005; Thornton and Lin 1994; Whyte 2004; Xie and Zhu 2009). The core value of the Chinese family system is filial piety, the idea that children should respect their elderly parents (Knapp 2005; Whyte 2004). In this family system, a child is not just a child of his/her parents, but a child of the whole extended family, subject to both the authority and the care of the head of the family—usually the grandfather.…”

Early Medieval Great Hall Complexes in England: Temporality and Site Biographies

“…The faunal assemblages from the middens at Lyminge and Rendlesham may be made up largely from the aggregate residues of cyclical episodes of intensified consumption associated with periods of elite residence. 68 Behind this lie the annual cycles of livestock farming and agriculture, glimpsed at both sites in the remains of cattle used for traction and, additionally in the case of Lyminge, in the discovery of objects denoting the use of unusually sophisticated ploughing technology. 69 Elements of the metalwork assemblage recovered from both sites and at Sutton Courtenay, including harness and weapon fittings, suggests the aggregate loss from periodic gatherings over decades or centuries.…”