220
BOOK REVIEWS
support his thesis about variations in the three components of the chia. But ideally of course — and one is asking too much — we would like to know, if only by some crude measure, the statistical frequency of these variations. Were some variations so rare that they were clearly aberrations evolved by a few families? Thus in Western societies typically most husbands and wives live together; there are however some few cases — they do exist — in which eccentric husbands or wives live in separate households but continue to meet at need. How much attention should one pay to this rare family form? How many cases would make a variation significant in terms of social structure? The question is a worrying one.
The essay by Mrs. Margery Wolf on child training and the Chinese family is brilliantly written: sensitive, perceptive, acute. She shows how the way in which Chinese children are raised — the elder brother having to defer to the younger for some years — helps to develop tensions between them when they become adult. She also traces the process of fen-chia (partition of chia) to the competition that develops between the wives of married brothers; for wives come from stranger families and, unlike brothers, their loyalty lies primarily with their own little tribe of husband and children. Professor Freedman has been accused in a review of cutting the Chinese father down to size: Mrs. Wolf pursues this theme. She argues that the Chinese father, but not necessarily the mother, becomes a lonely and pathetic figure in old age, an authority in decay, with the power to make family decisions gradually eroded as the son or sons reach the plenitude of their vigour and manhood. Mrs. Wolf discusses not only the 'typical' family but variations — the sim-pua (hsin-pao) (little daughter-in-law), the practice of providing sons with wives by adopting an infant girl, and the custom of uxorilocal marriage. The treatment of these variations forms an important segment of her paper and throws much light on the developmental cycle of the family. Reading her paper, I was immediately reminded of the picture presented by Arensberg and Kimball in their classic study of the Irish small farmer and of his destiny when old.* Mrs. Wolf's paper is full of subtleties and insights, as one would expect from the author of The House of Lim.
* Family and Community in Ireland (Harvard University Press, 1940).
220
BOOK REVIEWS
support his thesis about variations in the three components of the chia. But ideally of course- and one is asking too much — we would like to know, if only by some crude measure, the statistical frequency of these variations. Were some variations so rare that they were clearly aberrations evolved by a few families? Thus in Western societies typically most husbands and wives live together; there are however some few cases -- they do exist in which ec- centric husbands or wives live in separate households but continue to meet at need. How much attention should one pay to this rare family form? How many cases would make a variation significant in terms of social structure? The question is a worrying one.
The essay by Mrs. Margery Wolf on child training and the Chinese family is brilliantly written: sensitive, perceptive, acute, She shows how the way in which Chinese children are raised the elder brother having to defer to the younger for some years helps to develop tensions between them when they become adult. She also traces the process of fen-chia (partition of chia) to the competition that develops between the wives of married brothers; for wives come from stranger families and, unlike brothers, their loyalty lies primarily with their own little tribe of husband and children. Professor Freedman has been accused in a review of cutting the Chinese father down to size: Mrs. Wolf pursues this theme. She argues that the Chinese father, but not necessarily the mother, becomes a lonely and pathetic figure in old age, an auth- ority in decay, with the power to make family decisions gradually eroded as the son or sons reach the plenitude of their vigour and manhood. Mrs. Wolf discusses not only the 'typical' family but variations the sim-pua (hsin-pao) (little daughter-in-law), the practice of providing sons with wives by adopting an infant girl, and the custom of uxorilocal marriage. The treatment of these variations forms an important segment of her paper and throws much light on the developmental cycle of the family. Reading her paper, I was immediately reminded of the picture presented by Arensberg and Kimball in their classic study of the Irish small farmer and of his destiny when old.* Mrs. Wolf's paper is full of subtleties and insights, as one would expect from the author of The House of Lim.
* Family and Community in Ireland (Harvard University Press, 1940).
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.