The Modern Chinese Family: In Light of Economic and Legal History
Most social science theory and the currently powerful Chinese ideology of modernizationism assume that, with modern development, family-based peasant farm production will disappear, to be replaced by individuated industrial workers and the three-generation family by the nuclear family. The actual record of China’s economic history, however, shows the powerful persistence of the small family farm, [...]
Read moreFeet and Fabrication: Footbinding and Early Twentieth-Century Rural Women’s Labor in Shaanxi
The early twentieth-century transformations of rural Chinese women’s work have received relatively little direct attention. By contrast, the former custom of footbinding continues to fascinate and is often used to illustrate or contest theories about Chinese women’s status. Arguing that for rural women at least, footbinding needs to be understood in relation to rural economic [...]
Read moreFeet and Fabrication: Footbinding and Early Twentieth-Century Rural Women’s Labor in Shaanxi
The early twentieth-century transformations of rural Chinese women’s work have received relatively little direct attention. By contrast, the former custom of footbinding continues to fascinate and is often used to illustrate or contest theories about Chinese women’s status. Arguing that for rural women at least, footbinding needs to be understood in relation to rural economic [...]
Read moreText, Practice, and Life Narrative: Bridal Lamentation and a Daughter’s Filial Piety in Changing Rural China
This article explores, through the lenses of text, practice, and life narrative, how Chinese peasant women as daughters manage patrilocality and carry out—or fail to carry out—filial piety toward their parents. Based on field research in a locale in southern China conducted since 1992, this article focuses on four women’s life histories and juxtaposes how [...]
Read moreQueering Taiwan: In Search of Nationalism’s Other
This article deals with the formation of Taiwan’s homosexual cultural politics in the 1990s, the impact and implications of which are yet to be examined within the larger context of Taiwan’s cultural and political development and ethnic relationships. It is argued that the rise of this cultural politics is both a reflection and a source [...]
Read moreWhat Determines Migrant Workers’ Life Chances in Contemporary China? Hukou, Social Exclusion, and the Market
Feet and Fabrication: Footbinding and Early Twentieth-Century Rural Women’s Labor in Shaanxi
The early twentieth-century transformations of rural Chinese women’s work have received relatively little direct attention. By contrast, the former custom of footbinding continues to fascinate and is often used to illustrate or contest theories about Chinese women’s status. Arguing that for rural women at least, footbinding needs to be understood in relation to rural economic [...]
Read moreWhat Determines Migrant Workers’ Life Chances in Contemporary China? Hukou, Social Exclusion, and the Market
It is widely believed that household registration (hukou) continues to play a fundamental role in determining migrant workers’ life chances in contemporary China. This article contends, on the contrary, that the importance of hukou has declined substantially, and that migrant workers’ life chances would not be significantly improved even if China were to abolish the [...]
Read moreWhat Determines Migrant Workers’ Life Chances in Contemporary China? Hukou, Social Exclusion, and the Market
It is widely believed that household registration (hukou) continues to play a fundamental role in determining migrant workers’ life chances in contemporary China. This article contends, on the contrary, that the importance of hukou has declined substantially, and that migrant workers’ life chances would not be significantly improved even if China were to abolish the [...]
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