Continuity and change in Chinese marriage

Abstract

Family change in China over the past few decades has been characterised by a trend towards later marriage, greater marital instability, and increases in non-marital pregnancy and unmarried cohabitation. At the same time, many other features of Chinese marriage patterns have changed very little. Marriage remains near universal, especially among women. And despite the emergence of non-traditional family behaviours, the strong link between marriage and childbearing is unchallenged. This pattern of change and stability in Chinese marriage is the central theme of the present dissertation, which consists of a collection of works aimed at analysing and understanding trends and patterns in a wide range of family behaviours in China, including first marriage formation, cohabitation, non-marital pregnancy and marital dissolution. In doing so, this thesis explores the influences of direct state intervention and socio-structural changes on family ideation and behaviours in China, as well as the resistances and forms of adaption that occur when modern influences meet traditional cultural heritage and family practices. It also examines, on an individual level, how tension arising from changes in some aspects of the family and stability in others affects individual life courses.

Each of the thesis's four substantive chapters addresses a specific knowledge gap in the existing literature on marriage and family formation in China.

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