Remarriage, Gender, and Life Course in Contemporary Inland Rural China

Abstract

Intending to fill part of the gaps in the scholarship of remarriage, this article focuses on the often neglected question of remarriage probabilities and practices in contemporary rural China. The conclusions drawn by the existing literature show that female widowed/divorced were far less likely to remarry than their male counterparts, and the probabilities of remarriage declined rapidly with age, particularly for women. Both quantitative dataset and qualitative inquiries presented in this article, however, suggest that it is not the case for the contemporary rural Chinese population. In order to explain the discrepancies, this article refers to existing literature and adopts a comparative framework in which remarriage probabilities and practices across time (the past and the present) and regions (rural/urban; China/ non-Chinese societies) are examined, and the changing family dynamics both between and within gender groups and generations in relation to remarriage are explored. It advances, in contemporary inland rural China, despite the support for marriage freedom from the state’s Marriage Law, the decision of remarriage is a complexity which depends on the economic, social, and cultural imperatives, and is affected by the intersectional effects of the gender and life course of the widowed/divorced. Taking the intersectional effects into account, this article encompasses the individuals’ social dimension in relation to remarriage choice, that is, family structure after marriage, household size, the age/ sex composition/number of children and economic situation, and it links the factors at an individual level with those at a social/structural level, particularly the socialist revolution, economic reform and the enforcement of family planning policy in China. By using the comparative framework and the joint methods of quantitative dataset and qualitative inquiry, this article contributes to better our understanding of remarriage in contemporary rural China, the mechanism behind the choice and the changing power relations both between and within gender groups and generations.