State and Family in China

In Imperial China, the idea of filial piety not only shaped family relations but was also the official ideology by which Qing China was governed. In State and Family in China, Yue Du examines the relationship between politics and intergenerational family relations in China from the Qing period to 1949, focusing on changes in family law, parent-child relationships, and the changing nature of the Chinese state during this period. This book highlights how the Qing dynasty treated the state-sponsored parent-child hierarchy as the axis around which Chinese family and political power relations were constructed and maintained. It shows how following the fall of the Qing in 1911, reform of filial piety law in the Republic of China became the basis of state-directed family reform, playing a central role in China's transition from empire to nation-state

"In late 1821, Jiang Qishun from Longli county of Guizhou province, coerced (bixie) his daughter-in-law Jiang Yuan Shi into incestuous intercourse. They "renewed their affair" (xujian) once afterwards. Jiang Qishun's son became aware of this sexual liaison when he ran into a flirtatious chat between his father and his wife. He forced his wife into admitting guilt, beat her, and moved with her to a separate residence. He threatened his wife that he would kill her if he once more found her having intercourse with his father. He did not dare to report the incident to the authorities, however. From that time on, Jiang Yuan Shi repented (huiguo), and refused to see her father-in-law (bi bu jianmian). To remove the thorn from his side, Jiang Qishun arranged for five men to forcibly take his son to the county court so that he could have his son punished for rebellious behavior. Jiang Qishun's son resisted arrest and died from his injuries. His death was reported to the authorities by Jiang Qishun as a death in affray committed by an unknown party. After Jiang Yuan Shi overheard her father-in-law drunkenly confessing that he had orchestrated her husband's death to facilitate further sexual contact with her, she killed him to vent her hatred. She tried to hang herself to avoid punishment, but she was saved by her neighbors"--