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Practising and displaying xiao—young mothers’ negotiations of obligations to elders

Yi Zhang

Published 2016 in The Journal of Chinese Sociology

ABSTRACT

This article explores young Chinese women’s attitudes to and practices of filial piety in northern China. It applies the concept of ‘family practices’ and ‘displaying family’ to the Chinese context through the link between xiao and mianzi. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 34 young mothers, I analyse their narratives to explain how and why filial obligations to their ageing parents matter to them. I first outline how filial obligation is practised through a wide range of activities, before arguing that being filial is not enough: displaying xiao is critical to their own and the elders’ face and establishing themselves as good, filial daughters and daughters-in-law. By bringing western and Chinese concepts into dialogue with each other, this study contributes to evaluating the continued changes in Chinese families.

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