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Neo-traditional child surnaming in contemporary China : Women’s rights as veiled patriarchy
Qi, Xiaoying
Qi, Xiaoying
Author
Abstract
A sparse sociological literature on surnaming reports predominantly western cases. This article examines surnaming practices in present-day China, where married women universally retain their surname as part of a national political project. The one-child policy disrupts the practice of providing to a child his/her father’s surname. Wives from daughter-only families increasingly provide their surname to their child(ren). Various social forms of mother-surname-to-child practices are discussed, including those involving zhao-xu (uxorilocal marriage) and liang-tou-dun (‘two places to stay’). The article reports a gender strategy of mother-to-child surnaming that paradoxically enforces patriarchal inheritance and obligation. A concept, ‘veiled patriarchy’, is developed and applied to surnaming practices in contemporary China.
Keywords
surnaming, gender, veiled patriarchy, power, obligation, inheritance
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Sociology
Book
Volume
52
Issue
5
Page Range
1001-1016
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Arts and Humanities
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as green open access
License
File Access
Controlled
Open
Open
Notes
This record includes an authors accepted manuscript. Qi, Xiaoying, “Neo-traditional child surnaming in contemporary China: Women’s rights as veiled patriarchy”, Sociology, pp. 1-16. Copyright © 2017 Xiaoying Qi. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. DOI: 10.1177/0038038516688613