Using data from a survey in Songzi County of Hubei Province, this article analyzes the relationship between children’s gender and marriage form and their provision of old-age support to their noncoresiding parents in rural China. The results show that children’s gender and marriage form have significant influence on their likelihood of giving financial and housework support to their parents, but no significant influence on the amount of financial support or their likelihood of supporting their parents with agricultural labor in peak agricultural seasons. Thus, the authors find that in Songzi, where both virilocal and uxorilocal marriages have been historically accepted and commonly practiced, sons and daughters play basically the same role in providing old-age support for their noncoresiding parents, as do virilocal and uxorilocal couples. The article discusses how these findings relate to current and future problems of old-age security and son preference in rural China.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bian, F., J. Logan, and Y. Bian. 1998. “Intergenerational Relations in Urban China: Proximity, Contact, and Help to Parents.” Demography35: 115-124.
Cohen, M. 1976. House United, House Divided: The Chinese Family in Taiwan. New York: Columbia University Press.
4.
Das Gupta, M. and S. Li. 1999. “Gender Bias in China, South Korea and India 1920-1990: The Effects of War, Famine, and Fertility Decline.” Development and Change30:619-652.
5.
Davis-Friedmann, D. 1991. Long Lives: Chinese Elderly and the Communist Revolution. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
6.
Feng, T. K. 1936. Rural Survey of Jiaxin County (in Chinese). Hangzhou, China: Zhejiang University with Jiaxin County Government.
7.
Fisher, D. C. and A. E. Joseph. 2000. “Long-Term Care Restructuring in Rural Ontario: Retrieving Community Service User and Provider Narratives.” Social Science & Medicine50: 1037-1045.
8.
Freedman, R., B. Moots, T. Sun, and M. Weinberger. 1978. “Household Composition and Extended Kinship in Taiwan.” Population Studies32:65-80.
9.
Ganschow, T. W. 1978. “Aged in a Revolutionary Milieu: China.” Pp. 303-320 in Aging and the Elderly: Humanistic Perspectives in Gerontology, edited by S. F. Spicker, K. M. Woodward, and D. D. Van-Tassel. Atlantic Highlands, MJ: Humanities Press.
10.
Greenhalgh, S. 1985. “Sexual Stratification: The Other Side of ‘Growth With Equity’ in East Asia.” Population and Development Review11:265-314.
11.
Gu, S., N. Zhu, X. Chen, and J. Liang. 1995. “Old-age support system and policy reform in China.” Korean Journal of Population and Development24 (2): 245-274.
12.
Han, C. 1992. “Uxorilocal Marriage Is Good for Family Planning” (in Chinese.) Population and Economics6:17-19.
13.
Hermalin, A. I., M. B. Ofstedal, and L. Chi. 1992. “Kin Availability of the Elderly in Taiwan: Who Is Available and Where Are They?” In Comparative Study of the Elderly in Asia No. 92-18. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Population Studies Center.
14.
Hermalin, A. I., M. B. Ofstedal, and M. L. Lee. 1992. “Characteristics of Children and Intergenerational Transfers.” In Comparative Study of the Elderly in Asia No. 92-21. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Population Studies Center.
15.
Hu, H. 1990. Cultural Custom in Songzi (in Chinese). Songzi, China: Songzi County Gazette Office.
16.
Jin, X., M. W. Feldman, S. Li, and C. Zhu. 2001. “A Survey of Marriage and Old-Age Support in Songzi, China.” Morrison Institute Working Paper Series No. 86, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
17.
Jin, X. and S. Li. 2003. “Study on uxorilocal marriage in rural Chinese communities: Results from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews in Songzi” (in Chinese). Population and Economy1:45-49.
18.
Lavely, W. 2001. “First Impressions of the 2000 Census of China.” Population and Development Review27:755-769.
19.
Lavely, W., J. Li, and J. Li. 2001. “Sex Preference for Children in a Meifu Li Community in Hainan, China.” Population Studies55:319-329.
20.
Lavely, W. and X. Ren. 1992. “Patrilocality and Early Marital Co-Residence in Rural China, 1955-85.” The China Quarterly130:378-391.
21.
Lee, Y., W. Parish, and R. Willis. 1994. “Sons, Daughters, and Intergenerational Support in Taiwan.” American Journal of Sociology99:1010-1041.
22.
Li, S., M. W. Feldman, and X. Jin. 2001. “Marriage Form and Duration of Post-Marital Coresidence With Parents in Rural China: Evidence From Songzi” (in Chinese). Population Science of China6:16-22.
23.
Li, S., M. W. Feldman, and N. Li. 2000. “Cultural Transmission of Uxorilocal Marriage in Lueyang, China.” Journal of Family History25:158-177.
24.
Li, S., M. W. Feldman, and N. Li. 2001. “A Comparative Analysis of Determinants of Uxorilocal Marriage in Two Counties of China.” Social Biology48:125-150.
25.
Li, S., M. W. Feldman, and N. Li. 2003. “Acceptance of Two Types of Uxorilocal Marriages in Contemporary Rural China: The Case of Lueyang.” Journal of Family History28:314-333.
26.
Li, S., M. W. Feldman, N. Li, and C. Zhu. 1999. “A Survey of Transmission of Son Preference in Two Counties of China” (in Chinese). Population and Economics suppl.:35-47.
27.
Li, S. and C. Zhu. 1999. “Analysis of Typical Couples in Uxorilocal Marriage in Lueyang, China” (in Chinese). Population and Economics suppl.:85-93.
28.
Li, S. and C. Zhu. 2001. Research and Community Practice on Gender Differences in Child Survival in China. Beijing: Population Publishing Press.
29.
Lu, Y. 2001. “Childbearing Interest: Rethinking of Farmer’s Childbearing Attitudes” (in Chinese). Population Research2:17-27.
30.
Pasternak, B. 1985. “On the Causes and Demographic Consequences of Uxorilocal Marriage in China.” Pp. 309-334 in Family and Population in East Asian History, edited by S. B. Hanley and A. P. Wolf. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
31.
Shi, L. Y. 1993. “Family Financial and Household Support Exchange Between Generations: A Survey of Chinese Rural Elderly.” The Gerontologist33 (4): 468-480.
32.
Skinner, G. W. 1997. “Family Systems and Demographic Processes.” Pp. 53-95 in Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis, edited by D. I. Kertzer and T. Fricke. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
33.
Stacey, J. 1983. Patriarchy and Sociological Revolution in China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
34.
Tian, S. 1998. “Facing the Challenges of Rapid Ageing in the People’s Republic of China.” Education and Ageing13 (3): 255-259.
35.
Tuljapurkar, S., N. Li, and M. W. Feldman. 1995. “High Sex Ratios in China’s Future.” Science267:874-876.
36.
Wolf, A. P. 1989. “The Origins and Explanations of Variations in the Chinese Kinship System.” Pp. 241-260 in Anthropological Studies of the Taiwan Area, edited by K. C. Chang, A. C. C. Yin, and K. Li. Taipei, Taiwan: National Taiwan University.
37.
Xiong, B. 2000. “Reform of the Support Insurance System for the Aged in China.” Paper presented at the Year 2000 International Research Conference on Social Security, International Social Security Association (ISSA), Finnish ISSA Member Organizations, September 25-27, Helsinki.
38.
Xu, Q. 1996. “A Comparative Study on Son’s and Daughter’s Old-Age Support for Parents” (in Chinese). Population Research5:23-31.
39.
Xu, Q. and Y. Yuan. 1997. “The Role of Family Support in the Old-Age Security in China.” Pp. 265-273 in 23rd IUSSP General Population Conference: Symposium on Demography of China, edited by the China Population Association. Beijing: China Population Association.
40.
Yan, M. 1995. “An Experimental Study of the Influences of Marriage Type on Women’s Sex Preferences in Childbearingin Rural China” (in Chinese). Population Science of China5:11-16.
41.
Yan, M., J. Mao, and J. Lu. 1999. “Exploring a Fundamental Way to Reduce Sex Ratio at Birth—Reforms in Marriage Customs in Daye, Hubei” (in Chinese). Population and Economics5:18-24.
42.
Yan, M. and R. Shi. 1996. “The Role of Marriage Type in Fertility Decline in Rural China” (in Chinese). Population Science of China5:32-38.
43.
Yan, S., J. Chen, and S. Yang. 2001. “Impact of Living Arrangement on Child’s Old-Age Support for Parents” (in Chinese). Chinese Journal of Social Sciences1:130-140.
44.
Yang, H. 1996. “The Distributive Norm of Monetary Support to Older Parents: A Look at a Township in China.” Journal of Marriage and the Family58:404-415.
45.
Yang, Y. 1998. “On the Positive Impact of Uxorilocal Marriage on Aging” (in Chinese). Population and Family Planning6:31-34.
46.
Yihuang County Government. 2000. “Promoting Uxorilocal Marriage and Advocating New Custom of Marriage and Childbearing in Yihuang” (in Chinese). Government document.
47.
Yu, X. 1996. “Saving and Population Aging in China” (in Chinese). Population and Economics3:10-17.
48.
Zhou, J. 1998. “Developing Social Pension Insurance in China’s Rural Areas.” Paper presented at the 2nd International Research Conference in Social Security, January 25-28, Jerusalem. www.issa.int/pdf/jeru98/theme2/2-3d.pdf
