The Role of The Family in China

A detailed Summary of The Role of The Family in China

The family in China is based on authority and obligations that are used to keep the males in their society in power, and the power of age is certainly a factor. In China the family's needs are put before an individual or that of the larger society.

The family system has been effective for so long because it has been maintained, defended and enforced through laws, customs, and their language. The family in Chinese cultures has an authoritarian structure. Authority is determined by first seniority, then it is based on sex. The oldest in the family are usually above the youngest and males are usually above the females, and the family is identified by a surname. Their surname remains the essential stamp of one's identity. The family is also labeled with a place from which their forefathers came, which is inherited from generations before them. Passed on by Confucius, male dominance was an ancient tradition. Since women were viewed as daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers of men, they had to be very tough to handle the way life was. Otherwise they would be squashed, and the only way a woman could become politically powerful was through marriage, such as Empress Dowager Ci Xi who used her widowhood to get more control over t

It looks as though after the urban kids grow up through the ranks while getting educated, eventually they will hopefully wean their parents from the emotional dependence and move on with their on independent lives. However, if this happens it will end the family system and the traditional Chinese characteristics that have been set throughout the years. Even though you could look at it as an eventual victory for their independence, at the same time these changes will have a major impact on their society as far as population growth. On the other hand the family business looks like for many will be the saving factor in several of their lives.

Since familism was strong, it survived the potentially damaging storm of Buddhism. Even in the sixth century when Buddhism swept through China and millions of households protected themselves from the state demands, such as taxes and labor, by putting themselves in monasteries, the monastic life never really became an established essential feature of Chinese culture. To become a monk in China you had to cut yourself off from your family almost completely and had to abandon his surname which was a dramatic thing to do.

One interesting area in the reading was a woman's right to divorce, and that if she was married to a serving soldier how that right was suspended. Even though women now have the right to divorce it is still hard for her to enforce her right, especially in the countryside, and if she does divorce him she will have a much harder time staking

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ci Xi, , Passed Confucius, family chinese, family system,

Approximate Word count = 1019
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History