Marriage, Family, and the State in Contemporary China

The conflict between family and state as it has affected family formation in China since the revolution is explored with particular reference to the differences between rural and urban areas. Topics covered include age at marriage age differences between spouses freedom of choice of partner the cost of marriage household composition after marriage and the new marriage law of 1980. The author stresses that although the state has been successful in imposing its concept of marriage on the urban population this is not the case for the rural population where traditional family ways remain strong.