Chinese Marriages in Transition

Reviews / Votes

"This study encourages us to rethink assumptions about the uniformity or linearity of social and demographic change." (Pacific Affairs) "Employing several nationwide social surveys conducted by Chinese academics and think tanks between 1995 and 2018, this study sheds light on how factors such as age, sex, education, and rural/urban residence have impacted contemporary mainland Chinese attitudes and lived realities concerning marriage, divorce, cohabitation, fertility, and women's participation in waged labor, among other topics. The authors also include many useful numbers, graphs, and charts to illustrate their findings." (CHOICE) "Shu and Chen identify a distinctive pattern of 'flexible traditionalism' that reinforces the notion of separate spheres and heightens gender differences in marriage and family life. An important and original book that will further the debate on how and why Chinese women and men are charting a different course than their peers in Europe and North America." - Deborah S. Davis (co-editor of Wives, Husbands, and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban Chi) "The radical transformations in the Chinese system of gender, family, and marriage do not neatly fit the prevailing theories of modern social change, nor are they outside the global transitions of the last century. Shu and Chen masterfully integrate China's uniquely "flexible traditionalist" system into that broader story of social change, providing a powerful introduction to Chinese social change for all gender and family scholars."
- Philip Cohen (author of Enduring Bonds: Inequality, Marriage, Parenting, and Everything Else That Makes Families G)