Publication of Negotiations and Compromises
4 December 2024
The phenomenon of internal migration have a major impact on rural China, with people leaving the countryside to work in the cities. In this context, marriage practices are undergoing significant changes.
Contenu central
Through an ethnographic study carried out in a village in northern China in the 2010s, the author examines how the marriage practices of young villagers reflect the search for a balance between their individual desire, particularly for emancipation, and the family and social expectations of their environment of origin: to marry and perpetuate the family line. These changes rarely challenge the patrilineal kinship system. It is this readjustment of practices that enables the institution of marriage to be maintained in contemporary rural China.