1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455599903321

Autore

Glosser Susan L. <1961->

Titolo

Chinese visions of family and state, 1915-1953 [[electronic resource] /] / Susan L. Glosser ; foreword by Linda Kerber

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, 2003

ISBN

1-282-75889-6

9786612758898

0-520-92639-0

1-59734-535-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (298 p.)

Collana

Asia--local studies/global themes ; ; 5

Disciplina

951.04

Soggetti

Families - China - History

Family policy - China

Domestic relations - China

Electronic books.

China History Republic, 1912-1949

China History 1949-1976

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-261) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Tables and Figures -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Chronology -- Introduction: Evolve or Perish -- chapter 1. Saving Self and Nation: The New Culture Movement's Family-Reform Discourse -- Chapter 2. Making the National Family: The Statist Xiao Jiating -- Chapter 3. Marketing the Family: You Huaigao and the Entrepreneurial Xiao Jiating -- Chapter 4. Love for Revolution: Xiao Jiating in the People's Republic -- Conclusion: The Malleability of the Xiao Jiating Ideal -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

At the dawn of the twentieth century, China's sovereignty was fragile at best. In the face of international pressure and domestic upheaval, young urban radicals-desperate for reforms that would save their nation-clamored for change, championing Western-inspired family reform and promoting free marriage choice and economic and emotional independence. But what came to be known as the New



Culture Movement had the unwitting effect of fostering totalitarianism. In this wide-reaching, engrossing book, Susan Glosser examines how the link between family order and national salvation affected state-building and explores its lasting consequences. Glosser effectively argues that the replacement of the authoritarian, patriarchal, extended family structure with an egalitarian, conjugal family was a way for the nation to preserve crucial elements of its traditional culture. Her comprehensive research shows that in the end, family reform paved the way for the Chinese Communist Party to establish a deeply intrusive state that undermined the legitimacy of individual rights.