Seated at the altar: New Year in rural North China

This article examines cartoons reflecting rural North China created by Chinese collaborationist artists during the Second Sino-Japanese War. I argue that these cartoons showcased a transition in the discourse of rural modernisation. I examine the image of Japanese-occupied rural North China from the perspectives of cultural history and visual culture studies. Analysing cartoons by northern Chinese collaborationist cartoonists, I delineate the transformation of the image of rural North China before and after 1937 and present the process in which rural North China was reconceptualised, reshaped, and visualised by pro-Japanese propaganda after 1937.

Reviewed by: The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China Craig Clunas (bio) James A. Flath . The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China. Contemporary Chinese Studies Series. Vancouver and Toronto: University of British Columbia Press, 2004. xii, 195 pp. Hardcover Can. $80.00, ISBN 0-7748-1034-3. Paperback Can. $29.95, ISBN 0-7748-1035-1. This engagingly written and rigorously argued book on the nianhua, literally "New Year pictures," produced in Shandong, Hebei, and Henan Provinces from about 1880 to 1950, is a welcome and important contribution to the study of China's visual culture. With chapters on "The Production of Print Culture in North China," "Home and Domesticity," "State and Society," "Retelling History through the Narrative Print," "Rural Print and the Cosmopolitan Mystique," "The Politics of the Popular," and "Exorcising Modernity," plus an excellent Introduction, which situates the project methodologically in terms of recent debates on "popular culture," it is a comprehensive and incisive look at this material, images that on grounds of the quantity produced and the audience reached would alone qualify them for a claim on the attention of all scholars of the period. The author's principal disciplinary identification is as a historian, and it is as historical texts that he engages with the seventy-four nianhua reproduced here (forty-three of them in good-quality color). However, his diligence in searching them out in collections in China and Europe, and the scrupulous attention paid to them also as material objects in their own right, with histories of production, [End Page 97] distribution, and consumption practices all given their due weight, is moreover a model of practice to art historians interested in addressing this material. An example would be the discussion of the ways in which the mechanization of the production of nianhua after about 1909 (when lithography began to replace xylo-graphy, or woodblock printing) had a major impact on the social context of production by putting thousands of woodblock printers out of work, but also on the visual culture, more broadly, by promoting a narrower and less diverse visual culture that stuck more rigidly to a set series of themes. The implications of this for an evolving Chinese visual culture as it encountered the shocks of war and then a highly politicized reordering in the middle decades of the twentieth century are profound and will take some working out in further studies. If there are points on which I would wish to suggest modifications of Flath's theses, it is often to stress the longer continuities of some of the visual practices he describes so well. Part of the problem in researching nianhua prior to the late Qing, when this book takes up the story, is that practically nothing survives— these were ephemeral objects that were never subject to the kinds of elite connoisseurship and collecting practices that might have ensured their survival, even if we know from written sources of the Ming and Qing that elites participated in their display and use. But the iconography of the nianhua does survive in other, more durable forms. Thus, for example, the figure of Dou Yujun, an ancient paragon whose five sons all achieved the heights of the jinshi degree, appears in the decoration of porcelain as early as about 1500, while "official and semi-official publications dealing with the subject of moral and customary standards," texts which were often also illustrated with pictures of right and wrong conduct, similarly go back some way before the early Qing period. One of the most widely-discussed sections of the book may well be chapter 5, with its valuable contribution to the vexed question of "modernity" in late Qing Republican history. It directs our attention away from such phenomena as urbanization and the culture of centers such as Shanghai, stereotypically seen as the beating heart of modernity in the period, and directs it firmly back to the inland and the rural. New periodicals of the late nineteenth century, such as the lithographically illustrated Dianshizhai huabao, have been the object of considerable recent study as carriers of an imagery and an imaginary of modernity to new urban audiences...

The elders in rural South China retire earlier than those in rural North China do. Rural elders in South China do not have to do any farm work except taking care of their grandchildren or the cattle. In rural North China, however, the elders are put under unrelenting pressure from field laboring and housework. The elders were the patriarchs who exerted control over the family’s property and production, and they even arranged the marriages of their sons and daughters. The elders’ power in the family had been protected by culture, law and morality. The elders have lost their place of being the patriarchs, nevertheless. The elderly in the lineage-based villages presided over the sacrifices as well as other affairs. The low status of the elderly in family life makes them doubt their self-worth, and they feel awkward in the family.

In rural north China, a cultural taboo known as Bufafang prohibits a woman from having sexual intercourse inside her natal home. This article offers an interpretation of Bufafang in terms of its symbolic significance within Chinese kinship and marriage forms with particular reference to uxorilocal marriages. The article then examines the likely impact of the Chinese one-child-one-family policy on Bufafang and, in the wider cultural context, on kinship, marriage, and gender in China. This article is based on fieldwork in Baifu, a rural village in the northern outskirts of Beijing, from August 2000 to February 2001.

Since the early 1950s, several generations of in rural north China have responded to social changes brought about by state policies and practices, gradually altering their position in the domestic sphere from statusless to new players in family affairs. While favorable conditions in larger social settings are necessary and important, equally important have been the agencies of who took advantage of the new opportunities to challenge the patriarchal order of family life. By focusing on individual women, the previously marginalized members of the family, this article identifies and provides a better understanding of the most active driving force of family change from within. (Young women, agency, family change, China) ********** Although there are still many issues under debate among students of the Chinese family, it is widely agreed that the decline of parental authority and power is the most visible and significant change that has occurred in the domestic sphere in rural China since 1949. Such a trend began in the heyday of socialist transformation during the 1950s (Yang 1959) and continued in both the collective period (Parish and Whyte 1978) and the post-collective reform era (Davis and Harrell 1993; Bossen 2002). Thus far, most studies see the decline of parental power and authority as a result of a set of social changes occurring in larger social settings, such as the implementation of the new marriage law and other government policies, the state-sponsored attack on patrilineal ideology and kinship organization, and public ownership that disabled the family as a unit of production. The contribution of individual agency to the shifting power balance across generational line, especially the role played by women, however, has been by and large underplayed, if not completely ignored. To balance the previous emphasis on external, social causes, this article explores the active role played by to redefine intergenerational power relations in particular and other dimensions of private life in general. Throughout this article the term young women is used to refer to rural between the ages of 15 to 24, or as defined by social terms, those who are going through the transition period from a teenage daughter to a daughterin-law. For a rural woman, this is the most difficult and important period in her life, full of changes and challenges (Wolf 1972). In the areas where this study was conducted, in this age group are referred to as guniang or yatou, which may be translated as in English. But guniang or yatou refer only to unmarried women. Once a woman marries, she is no longer a girl; but has been transformed into a daughter-in-law (xifu) and an adult woman. In a traditional family, were marginal outsiders with only a temporary position, as daughters married out and new daughters-in-law entered the domestic group under the rules of patrilineal exogamy and patrilocal post-marital residence. Thus, daughters were commonly regarded as a drain on family wealth and new daughters-in-law were seen as a potential threat to the existing family order. In comparison to their male siblings, girls were statusless, powerless, and somewhat dangerous; they could acquire a proper place in the domestic sphere only by becoming mothers (Baker 1979; Freedman 1966; Watson 1985, 1986; Wolf 1972; Bossen 2002). As a result of their anonymity in family life, have drawn little scholarly attention thus far and, admittedly, they also constitute the most difficult age group to study for a male researcher. Male informants are the usual sources when conducting fieldwork. When I tried to reach female informants, I found myself more often talking with older women, the supposedly more knowledgeable and certainly more powerful woman in a household, typically the mother (or mother-in-law) who manages the household budget. …

For many hundreds of years, community festivals for the gods in rural north China have had their own forms of leaders, deities and beliefs. It is the villagers who build temples and organize festivals; Daoists, Buddhists and other specialists may be invited to participate if they are available, but only to provide what the people need and want. Chinese local religion is based on family worship of deities and ancestors on home altars but also involves large-scale rituals participated in by members of the whole village or township community on the occasion of what are believed to be the birthdays of the gods or to seek protection from droughts, epidemics and other disasters. This book focuses on these community festivals in all their dimensions-ritual, social and economic-emphasizing their organization and structure and the beliefs and values expressed by them.Keywords: Chinese religions; community festivals; god's birthday; rural north China

People’s diets have changed greatly in the rural north China during the 60 years since the founding of PRC, present the gradual characteristics obviously. In the previous 30 years, people almost continue the traditional way, and they had bland diet but just could barely feed themselves. In the leaner year, people had to allay their hunger with those which could be eaten. More unfortunately, they even had nothing to eat, and always died of cholera. In the later 30 years, their dietary changes speed up further, staple and non-staple foods were becoming more and more abundant, and people’s life gradually improved, especially after implementation of the household contract responsibility system. The proportions of non-staple foods increase gradually, people have pursued not only nutrition, but also good health. They have increased their consumption of meat, eggs. What’s more, security problem about food have aroused widespread concerns. Although their diets have become modern day by day but they have not given up the traditional diet. They began to emphasize the balance of refined food and grains, meats and vegetables, even the nutritional health. There were some new trends in consumer’s needs, including the green consumption, healthy consumption, and civilized consumption.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsGender & Power in Rural North China. Ellen R. Judd Tamara JackaTamara Jacka Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 37Jan., 1997 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2950239 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Previous articleNext article No Access"Gambling for Qi": Suicide and Family Politics in a Rural North China CountyWu FeiWu Fei Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 54Jul., 2005 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/20066064 Views: 69Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Hans Steinmüller The Aura of the Local in Chinese Anthropology: Grammars, Media and Institutions of Attention Management, Journal of Historical Sociology 35, no.11 (Feb 2022): 69–82.https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12359June Sing Hong Lam, Paul S. Links, Rahel Eynan, Wes Shera, A. Ka Tat Tsang, Samuel Law, Wai Lun Alan Fung, Xiaoqian Zhang, Pozi Liu, Juveria Zaheer “I thought that I had to be alive to repay my parents”: Filial piety as a risk and protective factor for suicidal behavior in a qualitative study of Chinese women, Transcultural Psychiatry 59, no.11 (Dec 2021): 13–27.https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615211059708Yanwu Liu, Qiang Fu Changing demographic characteristics and motives for suicide in rural China, 1980–2009, Chinese Sociological Dialogue 2, no.3-43-4 (Sep 2017): 136–148.https://doi.org/10.1177/2397200917729529Yang-Yang Liu, Xin-Ting Wang, Hui-Min Qiu, Ai-Qiang Xu, Cun-Xian Jia Functional and dysfunctional impulsivity and attempted suicide in rural China: A paired case-control study, Psychiatry Research 253 (Jul 2017): 22–27.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.03.025Juveria Zaheer, Wes Shera, A. Ka Tat Tsang, Samuel Law, Wai Lun Alan Fung, Rahel Eynan, June Lam, Xiaoqian Zheng, Liu Pozi, Paul S. Links “I just couldn’t step out of the circle. I was trapped”: Patterns of endurance and distress in Chinese-Canadian women with a history of suicidal behaviour, Social Science & Medicine 160 (Jul 2016): 43–53.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.016Tak Yan Lee, Diego Busiol Promotion of Resilience: The P.A.T.H.S. Program, (Jan 2015): 221–233.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-582-2_18Hyeon Jung Lee Fearless Love, Death for Dignity: Female Suicide and Gendered Subjectivity in Rural North China, The China Journal 71 (Jul 2015): 25–42.https://doi.org/10.1086/674552Xianyun Li, Michael R. Phillips, Alex Cohen Indepth Interviews with 244 Female Suicide Attempters and Their Associates in Northern China, Crisis 33, no.22 (Mar 2012): 66–72.https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000108Hans Steinmüller, Wu Fei School killings in China: Society or wilderness (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate), Anthropology Today 27, no.11 (Feb 2011): 10–13.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8322.2011.00782.xJ. Zhang, W. Wieczorek, Y. Conwell, X.-M. Tu, B. Y.-W. Wu, S. Xiao, C. Jia Characteristics of young rural Chinese suicides: a psychological autopsy study, Psychological Medicine 40, no.44 (Aug 2009): 581–589.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709990808

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsCulture, Power and the State: Rural North China, 1900-1942. Prasenjit Duara Pauline KeatingPauline Keating Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 28Jul., 1992 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2950059 Views: 1Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs (1979-1995), which is continued by The China Journal (1995-present). Copyright Australian Journal of Chinese AffairsPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

(2003). Power, Discourse, and Legitimacy in Rural North China: Disputes over the Village Head Office in Huailu County in the 1910s and 1920s. Twentieth-Century China: Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 73-110.

Objectives: China has already entered the aging society, and its aging population is the largest worldwide. Accordingly, several aging-related conditions including hyperuricemia are becoming a public health concern owing to their increasing prevalence in rural areas. However, the sex-specific differences in the risk factors for hyperuricemia among the middle-aged and elderly in rural North China are unclear. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate sex-specific differences in the prevalence of and risk factors for hyperuricemia in low-income adults in rural North China. Methods: This population-based cross-sectional study recruited participants aged ≥50 years from the Tianjin Brain Study between April and August 2019. After excluding those who had cancer, severe psychiatric disturbances, hepatic failure, and serious renal disease (i.e., an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <30 mL/min/1.73 m2), 3119 (1392 men and 1727 women) eligible participants were included. Basic information and blood samples were collected, and data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Results: Hyperuricemia was prevalent in 14.4% (men, 14.2%; women, 14.5%)of the participants, and the prevalence significantly increased with increasing age in both sexes (male, P= 0.034; female, P< 0.001). In multivariate analysis, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and high levels of total cholesterol, 2 h plasma glucose, and blood urea nitrogen were risk factors for hyperuricemia in both men and women. Physical activity was a risk factor in men, while a high white blood cell count was a risk factor in women. A high eGFR was a protective factor in both sexes. Conclusions: Hyperuricemia was highly prevalent in low-income adults in Tianjin, with men and women showing differences in risk profiles and comorbidities. Early management of hyperuricemia according to sex-specific risk factors should be considered in primary care to reduce the prevalence and burden of hyperuricemia in rural China.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsThe Sacred Village: Social Change and Religion in Rural North China. Thomas David DuBois Andrew KipnisAndrew Kipnis Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 54Jul., 2005 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/20066094 Views: 6Total views on this site Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Zouping in Transition. The Process of Reform in Rural North China. Edited by Andrew G. Walder. Harvard Contemporary China Series, 11. Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard University Press, 1998. xv, 277 pp. 19.95 (paper). - Volume 58 Issue 2

To determine the lipid content and fatty acid (FA) composition of breast milk from fifty-two lactating women between ninth and twelfth lactation weeks in rural North China. The mothers were questioned on their dietary habits. Total milk lipids extracts were transmethylated and analysed using GLC to determine FA contents. The mean lipid content was 40.21 (sd 1.43) g/l. SFA constituted 35.92 % of the total FA. Medium-chain and long-chain SFA presented levels of 10.91 and 25.01 %, respectively. MUFA and PUFA constituted 32.59 and 19.97 % of the total FA, respectively. Oleic, linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) presented contents of 31.26, 17.73 and 1.03 %, respectively. Arachidonic acid had a content of 0.30 %, while DHA content was 0.19 %. Not any form of trans FA were found in human milk samples. A maternal diet transition is proceeding in China. Further investigation on the analysis of human milk FA composition is needed to upgrade the human milk database in China.