Families

How families in China have changed? |

China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.
China covers about thesame geographic area as the United States, although its population is nearly five times greater. In addition, because of rugged mountains in the west and vast desert areas in central China, thepopulation is concentrated within a surprisingly small area.
Family culture in China has changed significantly over the last few decades. Over time many parts of Chinese culture has become much moresimilar to the western world and this is certainly the case within families.
Traditionally families compromised of large family units sometimes with over one hundred family member living together in onesettlement, although these extremes were much more common in rural areas. Families were ruled by the oldest male with the torch passed down when he died to his first born son. It was very much ahierarchal system. All members of a family worked within the family business, and when people got married the wife would move in with her husband's family, sometimes never seeing her own family again. Thistype of family set up was more common in wealthy families but was still commonplace elsewhere.

As far as family law was considered, divorce was very rare and usually not considered no matter howunhappy a marriage became. An exception may have been if a woman did not give birth to a son, as husbands could divorce their wives on these grounds. Boys were valued significantly more than girls, andsometimes even killed as they were considered useless. They were unable to continue the family name, so were not deemed as being as important. Men made all the decisions and women marrying into a newfamily had no real say.

Now days

Many areas of family life have changed since, although family values are still considered important. Family units are much small often with only parents and...