Between Men: Uxorilocal Marriage Reconsidered in Chinese Western Old Well

This article examines the award-winning Chinese Western Old Well 老井 (1987) with a focus on the marital relationship of uxorilocal marriage 入贅 ( ruzhui ). Drawing on Eve Sedgwick’s (1992) insights on male homosocial bonds, this article sheds light on the workings of two sets of triangular relationships in the film: the first consisting of Sun Wangquan, Zhao Qiaoying, and Xifeng and the second consisting of Sun Wangquan, Sun Wangcai, and Xifeng. Together, these two triangles form an asymmetric square due to the structural communal differences attached to the corresponding gendered placeholders. This article investigates the embedded gender bias in patriarchal kinship and argues that women tend to be either utilized as asset carriers (Xifeng) or banished as destabilizers (Qiaoying) to ensure the formation of a male homosocial bond (Wangquan, Wangcai, and Xifeng’s dead husband) that eventually resolves crises of masculinity through reinforcing male-centered continuity and prosperity. Furthermore, the article suggests how the practice of ruzhui , though seemingly feminizing men and empowering women, serves to reinforce patrilineality based on gender essentialism.