Jia, as in Guojia: building the Chinese Family into a Filial Nationalist Project

Abstract

The Chinese state acts in concert with the patriarchal family to sustain its authoritarian legitimacy, and both institutions are grounded in paternalistic cultural norms. The state also harnesses the “quality” of Chinese families through the law, which often saddles women with more burdens and responsibilities than it does men. From the 1950 Marriage Law to the 2015 Universal Two-Child Policy, the state has directly politicized the family through explicit mandates on marriage and reproductive control as well as repressive deployment of families as a tool for social stability and national security. To unpack this state-family project, this article addresses how the patriarchal state constructs and manages a filial nationalist population in order to secure its authoritarian rule. Through the lens of emerging Chinese feminist and queer scholarship on families, this article also asks how the state-family project has affected people and families that are intersectionally marginalized by gender, sexuality, class, household registration [hukou 户口], and so on. Lastly, this article spotlights new developments in feminist and lgbtq movements as they advocate for marginalized individuals and families.