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Frontmatter -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Preface -- Introduction: The Chinese Family and the Study of Private Life -- CHAPTER ONE The Changing Local World: Political Economy, Public Life, and Social Networks -- CHAPTER TWO Youth Autonomy and Romance in Courtship -- CHAPTER THREE Sex, Intimacy, and the Language of Love -- CHAPTER FOUR Gender Dynamics and the Triumph of Conjugal Power -- CHAPTER FIVE Domestic Space and the Quest for Privacy -- CHAPTER SIX The Politics of Family Property -- CHAPTER SEVEN Support for the Elderly and the Crisis of Filial Piety -- CHAPTER EIGHT Birth Control and the Making of a New Fertility Culture -- Conclusion: The Socialist State, the Private Family, and the Uncivil Individual -- Character List -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Chinese Families Upside Down offers the first systematic account of how intergenerational dependence is redefining the Chinese family. The authors make a collective effort to go beyond the conventional model of filial piety to explore the rich, nuanced, and often unexpected new intergenerational dynamics. Supported by ethnographic findings from the latest field research, novel interpretations of neo-familism address critical issues from fresh perspectives, such as the ambivalence in grandparenting, the conflicts between individual and family interests, the remaking of the moral self in the face of family crises, and the decisive influence of the Chinese state on family change. The book is an essential read for scholars and students of China studies in particular and for those who are interested in the present-day family and kinship in general

A moral crisis can be personal, collective, or national. It is the perception of a critical accumulation of attitudinal changes that disrupt preexisting ethical norms and behavior. Most public perceptions of a moral crisis are not shared by all the people in a society, and the contents of moral crises also shift over time due to ongoing changes in social conditions and subjective perspectives. The differences, tensions, and conflicts underpinning recurrent public discourses over morality constitute the politics of moral crisis. This article first sketches the social conditions and moral premises in the 1970s that set the stage for radical changes in attitudinal perspectives in the post-Mao era, examines in particular the value shift toward a more individualistic morality in the 1980s, and contends that the Chinese understanding of Western individualism as a doctrine of egotism helped plant the seeds of public perceptions of moral crisis. The final section unpacks five perceived types of moral crises and points out the politics in each, highlighting the centrally important role of the Party-state in shaping China's moral landscape. An examination of these moral crises provides a unique angle to understand the complexity of social transformation and political constraints in post-Mao China. (China J/GIGA)