The Chinese Family Today

Book excerpt: The Chinese economy is undergoing dramatic changes and the world is watching and changing along with it. The Chinese family is also changing in many ways in response to the economic transformation that is moving the world’s most populous nation from an agrarian economy to a global superpower. This is the first book in English to describe and explain the social transformation of the Chinese family from the perspective of Chinese researchers. Presenting a comprehensive view of the Chinese family today and how it has adapted during the process of modernization, it provides description and analysis of the trajectory of changes in family structures, functions, and relationships. It tracks how Chinese marriages and families are becoming more diverse and face a great deal of uncertainty as they evolve in different ways from Western marriages and families. The book is also unique in its use of national statistics and data from large-scale surveys to systematically illustrate these radical and extraordinary changes in family structure and dynamics over the past 30 years. Demonstrating that the de-institutionalization of family values is a slow process in the Chinese context, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Family Policy.