Love, money and ethnicity: money’s role in polygamous marriages among the Hui in Northwest China

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to understand the role that money plays in polygamous marriages among the Hui ethnic group in Northwest China.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observations based on snowball sampling of individuals who voluntarily agreed to participate from June to December 2010, and during the summer of 2011, in Qinghai in Northwest China. Follow-up interviews and observations were conducted in 2015.FindingsThis study examines how love and money intersect and work together to sustain the participants’ polygamous marriages. The study concludes that material desires unite love with money to make love consumable. With the help of money, love between the sexes is transformed into desirable consumption through economic activities associated with leisure, gift giving and religious beliefs to articulate individualismOriginality/valueThis study is the first to explore money’s role in the experience of polygamy among the Hui ethnic group in China.