Book contents
- State and Family in China
- State and Family in China
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Ruling the Empire through the Principle of Filiality
- Part II Building the Nation through Restructuring the Family
- 4 Reorienting Parent–Child Relations
- 5 Reconceptualizing Parent–Child Relations
- 6 A Constitutional Agenda
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Reconceptualizing Parent–Child Relations
From Lifelong Parental Privilege to Transitory Guardianship
from Part II - Building the Nation through Restructuring the Family
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2021
- State and Family in China
- State and Family in China
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Ruling the Empire through the Principle of Filiality
- Part II Building the Nation through Restructuring the Family
- 4 Reorienting Parent–Child Relations
- 5 Reconceptualizing Parent–Child Relations
- 6 A Constitutional Agenda
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 5 centers around the concept of legal majority that distinguished not only adults from minors but also Republican law that honored such differentiation from Qing law that upheld parental control over grown-up and minor children alike. Marriage, which had once been conceived as a relationship arranged by parents to continue ancestral worship, was reconceptualized as a union formed by and between mature men and women for the purpose of raising minor children to achieve autonomous adulthood. Parents’ lifelong custodial rights over property and labor of their children were replaced by a maintenance regime that entitled aged parents to request financial support, but that prioritized adult sons and daughters’ needs over parental demands.
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- Information
- State and Family in China , pp. 168 - 202Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021