1
Published in
Sociology
[2017]
First online DOI: 10.1177/0038038516688613.
Neo
-
traditional Child Surnaming in Contemporary China:
Women’s Rights as Veiled Patriarchy
Abstract
A sparse sociological literature on surnaming reports predominantly Western cases. This
paper 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 paper 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.
Key words:
surnaming,
gender, veiled patriarchy, power, obligation, inheritance
Author:
Xiaoying Qi
Affiliation:
Australian Catholic University and Hong Kong Baptist University
Contact details:
Email: [email protected]
