| Fenjia: Household Division and Inheritance in Qing and Republican China Contributor(s): Wakefield, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 0824820924 ISBN-13: 9780824820923 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press OUR PRICE: $35.15 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 1998 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social - History | Asia - China |
| Dewey: 346.510 |
| LCCN: 98-26392 |
| Lexile Measure: 1330 |
| Physical Information: (1.18 lbs) 272 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The division of household property in agricultural societies lies at the center of the transmission of economic control from one generation to the next. In assembling an impressive body of data concerned with fenjia (household division) in Qing (1644-1912) and Republican (1912-1949) China, David Wakefield investigates one of the central topics in understanding how Chinese society functioned and continues to function. Scholars have long been uneasy with the assumption that Chinese family property was divided equally among all brothers. Such a practice seems to be economically "irrational" since it created property fragmentation; further, given the vast historical and geographical variations in Chinese culture, it would seem that inheritance practices might also vary from region to region. In his presentation of case studies of household division as it operated in Qing-dynasty Taiwan and Republican -- era North China, Wakefield determines that equal division was the rule, yet living parents and single siblings had property rights as well. Property could also be taken out of the division process, established as a set-aside or trust, and dedicated to a certain purpose. Variations in inheritance orientations had dramatic and far-reaching effects on landownership patterns, lineage property patterns, lineage strength, class formations -- and even on state efficacy and its influence on village society. Throughout this work, Wakefield brings diverse considerations to bear on the study of inheritance and family. Economic issues, such as family survival strategies, upward and downward social mobility, and the preservation of wealth are weighed; the importance of social class is considered; thewide variety of Chinese family and lineage property practices is carefully examined; women and the nuclear family are studied; family documents, village investigations, and law are analyzed. |