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Village and Family in Contemporary China

After 1949 the Chinese Communists carried out land reform, the collectivization of agriculture, and the formation of people’s communes. The new economic and political organizations that emerged have made peasant life more comfortable and secure, but many economic and status differentials and traditional customs remain resistant to change. Focusing on rural Kwangtung province, William L. Parish and Martin King Whyte examine the rural work-incentive system, village equality and inequality, rural health care and education, marriage customs, and the position of women, among other topics, to determine what and how much of the traditional Chinese ways of life is left in Communist China.

436 pages | 6.00 x 9.00 | © 1978

Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology

Asian Studies: East Asia

Sociology: General Sociology

Table of Contents

The Setting
Kwangtung Province
Collective Agricultural Organization
Institutional Arrangements and the Pursuit of Equality
Material Equality and Inequality
Health, Education, and Welfare Policies
Status and Power
The Pursuit of Equality and Peasant Satisfaction
Family Organization and Ritual Life
Household Structure and Birth Control
Marriage and Divorce
Intrafamily Relations
The Changing Role of Women
Life-Cycle Ceremonies and Ritual Life
The Annual Cycle of Festivals
Communities and Change
Changing Patterns of Cooperation and Conflict
Conclusions
Appendixes
Methodological Notes
Village Characteristics and Interrelations
Notes
Index

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