Introduction to Chinese Family culture

1. Joanne Chen
2015
CHINESE
FAMILY CULTURE

2.  Family is the basic unit of society, while individuals
are only one part of the family.
Traditional Chinese Family

3. Chinese character: Family
jiā
Radical
Roof
Pig
http://youtu.be/zUF_B3pN_w8http://youtu.be/00X3QjsHtmU

4. 1) Honor and shame of one single individual were shared
with his family. （集体主义思想）
2) Family relations of Confucianism （儒家思想）
3）Mutual dependence （相互依赖）
4) Shaped by agriculturalism （农业社会思想）
5) Concept of harmony （家和万事兴）
Characteristics of Chinese Family

5. Family Tree
Father side

6. Family Tree
Mother Side

7. 1. Patrilineal
2. Patriarchal
3. Prescriptively virilocal
4. Kinship Group
5. Sharing a common household budge
6. Normatively extended in form
Traditional Chinese Family
http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/familism.html

8. 1) Patrilineal (父系 Fùxì)
 Descent was calculated through men.
 The failure to produce male offspring was considered an immoral
behavior.
 重男輕女 (Man is weighted heavier than woman)
Traditional Chinese Family

9. 2) Patriarchal (宗法 Zōngfǎ)
The family was hierarchically organized.
The senior-most male was considered to be responsible for the orderly management of the
family.
1.Senior generations were superior to junior generation (尊卑長幼)
2. Order people were superior to younger ones
3. Men were superior to women (男尊女卑)
4. Concept of Xiao (孝順, filial piety)
Traditional Chinese Family

10. 3) Prescriptively virilocal (嫁夫隨夫)
 A strongly held preference and expectation that a newly married couple
should live with the groom’s family.
 Uxorilocality (入赘) – sometimes the groom in fact went to live with the
wife’s family, often because the wife’s family had no son.
Traditional Chinese Family

11. 4) Kinship Group (亲属关系)
 Members of the family were
related genealogically; either by
having common ancestors or by
being married.
 They had known boundaries and
shared activities or resources with
each other that they did not share
with outsiders.
Traditional Chinese Family

12. 5) Sharing a common household budge (财产公有）
 The possessions, income, and expenses of all family members were
pooled, and the decisions about resource distribution were the
legitimate business of all family members.
 Family division is a critical event. (分家)
Traditional Chinese Family

13. 6) Normatively extended in form
The family ideally included a descent line of men and their
wives and children.
 三代同堂 Three-generation families
 四代同堂 Four-generation families
Traditional Chinese Family

14. Moderation and harmony
 中 means --to avoid extremes or one-sidedness
 和 means harmony and peace.
 Tendency to compromise is a product of moderation and harmony
 Due to too often willing to sacrifice one’s right for the sake of the
harmonious order, the result is social conformity. (社会一致性）
zhong he

15.  Chinese children are expected to study, work, and live life in a ”proper”
manner. Therefor Chinese people’s personalities tend to be both cautious
and introverted.
 “Family” plays an important role in influencing a person’s decisions in many
aspects of his life.
Proper manner
Kids, Listen to your parents

16.  Smaller family units, usually only with parents and children and
sometimes grandparents.
 Grandparents look after the house and children
 Women work outside the home
 Families gather together in holidays such as Chinese New Year,
Ancestor worshipping day, Moon festival and birthdays.
Life in Modern China

17. • A population control policy of China which was introduced
between 1978 -1980 to avoid over population
 Began to be formally phased out in 2015.
 In rural areas, families were allowed to have two children if
the first was a girl
 Other exceptions included ethnic minorities and - since
2013 - couples where at least one was a single child
 Campaigners say the policy led to forced abortions, female
infanticide, and the under-reporting of female births
 It was also implicated as a cause of China's gender
imbalance
Family Planning – One child policy
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34665539
336 million abortions under China's one-child policy

18. Working away from home
• Rapid economic growth have been drawn people to work away from home.
• Young adults facing the pressure from family to get married and have children.
• Many young Chinese have a hard time to adjust new environment. It is not uncommon
for young workers to decide to leave the job to be free from the stress,
loneliness of the big cities.
Chinese new year traffic

19.  Why are all Chinese employees more likely to resign after the New
Year holiday than at other times of the year?
 Why are Chinese employees passive and not prone to take the
initiative?
 Why do Chinese employees seems to feel an inordinate amount of
pressure?
Impact on Business in China  Understanding the role of the
family in China can help (Western)
business to better manage their
operations in China and maintain
better relationships with their
employees.

20. Chinese Family Quotes
Jiā hé wàn shì xīng
Harmony will bring prosperity into the house.