Social Change and Changes in Marriage and Family in Northern Hebei Rural Areas from the 1930s to the 1990s

Author: Wang Yuesheng / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
3. Before the land reform, rural areas in North China were governed by traditional customs rather than modern laws in important family matters such as property inheritance and family division. Although the new civil code, effective since 1929, granted equal inheritance rights to both men and women, it did not have a significant impact on inheritance practices in rural society. Fei Xiaotong, in his 1936 research on Jiangcun, pointed out: "Regarding this village, although the new law has been in effect for seven years, I have not yet found any actual signs of change in this direction. In fact, it's not just Jiangcun; rural areas in North China largely adhered to the principle of patrilineal and unilineal inheritance. According to Huang Zongzhi's research, in North China, until the 1940s (20th century—editor's note), the principle of property inheritance in villages remained the same. This principle applied to land and almost all other immovable assets, especially residential properties, as well as all movable assets such as farming tools, furniture, and livestock. Only clearly personal property was excluded, such as a woman's dowry, her personal savings, the bedroom items and personal clothing of a married couple. Alternatively, in rural society, true family division still involved brothers dividing ancestral property by 'shares,' while sisters, whether married or not, could not participate in the division as a share. All of this indicates that the widespread legal protection of inheritance rights for both male and female family members was not accepted by rural communities, and the power of customs still dominated. 4. Rural society's management remained primarily traditional. During the Republican era, the governance of rural areas in North China was similar to that of the Qing Dynasty, with rural society largely self-governing or, at most, (civil management) under government guidance—village autonomy. Since the Song Dynasty, Chinese villages had established baojia organizations, which were primarily responsible for social order and census registration but did not participate in economic management activities. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, lijia organizations were also established in villages to investigate land and grain, compile tax rolls, etc. P11