复旦大学：《视觉文化与社会性别》参考文献_Courtship, Love and Premarital Sex in a North China Village.pdf

COURTSHIP. LOVE AND PREMARITAL SEX IN A NORTH CHINA VILLAGE Yunxiang Yan Because the union of a young couple affects the institution of the family, establishes an alliance between two kin groups and can have repercussions on social standing any traditional societies parents control their children's marriage choices, and romantic love normally plays only an indirect role, if at all.' In the modem age, as is well known, there has been a worldwide shift away from arranged marriages. New pattems of courtship based on free choice by young couples have emerged as a consequence of social and economic changes that encompass formal education, urbanization, migration, non-family employment, and individual access to wage incomes. The triumph of free-choice marriages is a global development, and China is no exception The paper is based on fieldwork supported by the National Science Foundation, the Wenner- Gren Foundation, and the International and Overseas Studies Program at UCLA. I owe special thanks to Anita Chan, Jonathan Unger and three anonymous reviewers for their an earlier draft See, e. g, William J. Goode, The Theoretical Importance of Love", American Sociological brary,1959),pp.38-47. william J. Goode, World Revolution and Family Patterns(New York: The Free Press 1963); Michael Mitterauer and Reinhard Sieder, The Europ Family: Patriarchy to Partnership from the Middle Ages to the Present(Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1982). Chs 5 and ntoine Prost, "Public and Private Spheres in France", in Antonie Prost and Gerard Vincent(eds), A History of Private Life, Vol. 5(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991),pp. 1-143: Paul Rosenblatt and Paul Cozby, Courtship Patterns Associated wit Freedom of Choice of Spouse, Journal of Marriage and the family, Vol. 34(1972), pp 689-95; and Arland Thornton and Hui-Sheng Lin(eds), Social Change and the family in Taiwan( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994). Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell, " Introduction: The Impact of Post-Mao Reforms on Family Life", in Deborah Da Chinese families in the Post-Mao berkeley: University of California Also see the essays in Davis and also william Parish and Mart Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978) THE CHINA JOURNAL. NO, 48. JULY 2002

COURTSHIP, LOVE AND PREMARITAL SEX IN A NORTH CHINA VILLAGE* Yunxiang Yan Because the union of a young couple affects the institution of the family, establishes an alliance between two kin groups and can have repercussions on social standing, in many traditional societies parents control their children's marriage choices, and romantic love normally plays only an indirect role, if at all.' In the modem age, as is well known, there has been a worldwide shift away from arranged marriages. New patterns of courtship based on free choice by young couples have emerged as a consequence of social and economic changes that encompass formal education, urbanization, migration, non-family employment, and individual access to wage incomes. The triumph of free-choice marriages is a global development,2 and China is no exception.3 The paper is based on fieldwork supported by the National Science Foundation, the WennerGren Foundation, and the International and Overseas Studies Program at UCLA. I owe special thanks to Anita Chan, Jonathan Unger and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful and valuable comments on an earlier draft. See, e.g., William J. Goode, "The Theoretical Importance of Love", American Sociological Review, Vol. 24, No. 1 (February, 1959), pp. 38-47. 2 William J. Goode, World Revolution and Family Patterns (New York: The Free Press, 1963); Michael Mitterauer and Reinhard Sieder, The European Family: Patriarchy to Partnership from the Middle Ages to the Present (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1982), Chs 5 and 6; Antoine Prost, "Public and Private Spheres in France", in Antonie Prost and Gerard Vincent (eds), A History of Private Life, Vol. 5 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 1-143; Paul Rosenblatt and Paul Cozby, "Courtship Patterns Associated with Freedom of Choice of Spouse", Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 34 (1972), pp. 689-95; and Arland Thornton and Hui-Sheng Lin (eds), Social Change and the Family in Taiwan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994). 3 Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: The Impact of Post-Mao Reforms on Family Life", in Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell (eds), Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), p. 5. Also see the essays in Davis and Harrell; also William Parish and Martin Whyte, Village and Family in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978). THE CHINA JOURNAL, NO. 48, JULY 2002

THE CHINA JOURNAL. NO. 48 Most researchers have taken the approach of analysing Chinas family revolution by examining the extent to which political revolution and social transformation have impacted on the family, or, as in a 1995 study by Martin K Whyte, they have used the changing patterns of courtship to gauge social and economic changes in the larger society. It remains unclear from these studies how individuals feel, experience and exercise the freedom of spouse selection rc. The increasing importance of intimacy in courtship is a major finding of my ecent research on changing patterms of rural courtship in northeast China. While of the trends generalized by Parish and whyte in the 1978 study in rural southern China, particularly the shift from arranged marriages to free choice, my study reveals some important developments in the direction of intimacy, emotionality and individuality that set the present apart from the patterns found in the 1970s. Since the early 1980s, fiances have been able to explore new ways of emotional expression, to cultivate intense attachments to one another and, increasingly, to engage in premarital sex. The focus of change has shifted, in short, from the young people' s pursuit of greater autonomy during the 1950s and 1970s to this new generations experience during the 1980s and 1990s of love and intimacy, which in turn has profoundly influenced the rise of individuality among rural youth In the following pages I will briefly introduce the field site and the changing patterns of spouse selection and courtship from 1949 to 1999. Next I will examine the increasing availability of social space over the past five decades and will explore three aspects of the newly developed intimacy in courtship: the emphasis on emotional expressivity and communicational skills, new images of an ideal spouse, and the phenomenon of post-engagement dating that involves premarital sex in many cases. I conclude the article with a discussion of the implications of the increasing intimacy in courtship See, e. g. Elisabeth Croll, The Politics of Marriage in Contemporary China( Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1981); Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell(eds) Families in the Post-Mao Era: Marion Levy, The Family Revolution in Moder (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949); and Judith Stacey, Patriarchy and m china Revolution in China(berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) s Martin King Whyte, "From Arranged Marriage to Love Matches in Urban China", in Chin Chun Yi(ed ) Family Formation and Dissolution: Perspectives from East and West(Taipei: 6 See Parish and Whyte, Village and Family in Cont 7 For changes in other dimensions of private life in Xiajia village such as the conjuga elationship, gender roles, privacy and sociality, management of family property, support of ne elderly and birth planning, see Yunxiang Yan, Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949-1999( Stanford: Stanford ing in 2003)

30 THE CHINA JOURNAL, NO. 48 Most researchers have taken the approach of analysing China's family revolution by examining the extent to which political revolution and social transformation have impacted on the family,4 or, as in a 1995 study by Martin K. Whyte, they have used the changing patterns of courtship to gauge social and economic changes in the larger society.5 It remains unclear from these studies how individuals feel, experience and exercise the freedom of spouse selection. The increasing importance of intimacy in courtship is a major finding of my recent research on changing patterns of rural courtship in northeast China. While confirming a continuation of the trends generalized by Parish and Whyte in their 1978 study in rural southern China, particularly the shift from arranged marriages to free choice,6 my study reveals some important developments in the direction of intimacy, emotionality and individuality that set the present apart from the patterns found in the 1970s. Since the early 1980s, fiances have been able to explore new ways of emotional expression, to cultivate intense attachments to one another and, increasingly, to engage in premarital sex. The focus of change has shifted, in short, from the young people's pursuit of greater autonomy during the 1950s and 1970s to this new generation's experience during the 1980s and 1990s of love and intimacy, which in turn has profoundly influenced the rise of individuality among rural youth. In the following pages I will briefly introduce the field site and the changing patterns of spouse selection and courtship from 1949 to 1999. Next I will examine the increasing availability of social space over the past five decades and will explore three aspects of the newly developed intimacy in courtship: the emphasis on emotional expressivity and communicational skills, new images of an ideal spouse, and the phenomenon of post-engagement dating that involves premarital sex in many cases. I conclude the article with a discussion of the implications of the increasing intimacy in courtship.7 4 See, e.g., Elisabeth Croll, The Politics of Marriage in Contemporary China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell (eds), Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era; Marion Levy, The Family Revolution in Modern China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949); and Judith Stacey, Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983). Martin King Whyte, "From Arranged Marriage to Love Matches in Urban China", in ChinChun Yi (ed.), Family Formation and Dissolution: Perspectives from East and West (Taipei: Academia Sinica, 1995). 6 See Parish and Whyte, Village and Family in Contemporary China. 7 For changes in other dimensions of private life in Xiajia village, such as the conjugal relationship, gender roles, privacy and sociality, management of family property, support of the elderly and birth planning, see Yunxiang Yan, Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949-1999 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, forthcoming in 2003)

COURTSHIP, LOVE AND PREMARITAL SEX A Sketch of the Field Site This paper is based on information collected during seven fieldwork trips to Xiajia village, Heilongjiang province, between 1989 and 1999. with a population lage remains a farming community, but after decollectivization in 1983, villagers' livelihoods have been increasingly tied to the market. To gain a higher profit from farming, villagers all switched to growing a high-yield maize that is used as animal feed. They sell the commercial maize to the state and to private buyers and then purchase wheat and rice for their own consumption. Despite this market strategy, the village's heavy reliance or agriculture has been a major impediment to better living standards Since the start of rural reform, the average per capita income in Xiajia has een slightly below the national average--it was 528 yuan in 1988 and 616 6n2 bee in 1990, while the national average in these two years was 545 yuan and 62 uan, respectively. Farmers faced hard times in China during the 1990s, and the living conditions of most villagers barely improved from the 1980s. Official figures during the 1990s became less reliable as the rural economy stagnated and village cadres came under pressure to inflate their achievements. For instance Xiajia's reported per capita income in 1997 was 2, 700 yuan, a figure that even the village cadres openly admitted was false. The real average per capita income in the late 1990s, according to the calculations of several key informants, stood at about 1, 000-1, 100 yuan. Since the late 1980s, seeking a temporary job in a city has been an important means to eam a cash income for a large number of villagers. For those who were too young to receive contracted land in 1983, it is a major way to survive. In 1991, 106 Xiajia residents worked regularly outside the village for longer than three months a year. The number had increased to 167 by 1994, and this trend continued throughout the second half of the 1990s. an increasing number of unmarried young women joined the pool of temporary migrant labourers, coming For a discussion of the effects on different he lds livelihoods and status, see Y unxiang Yan, "The Impact of Rural Reform on ec and Social stratification in a Chinese Village" The Australian Journal of Chinese No 27(January 1992), pp 1-23. There was no rural industry in Xiajia village during the collective period, Several grain processing factories were established in the 1990s, all of which were small family businesses. Sidelines are important source of cash income for many villagers, particularly women. By the summer of 1999, more than 30 per cent of Xiajia families were raising dairy cows and selling milk to a joint-venture Nestle factory in the county seat, and several dozer families ran chicken or pig farms. However, these sideline businesses remain small scale 10 For a more detailed account on the history and social organization of the village, see Yunxiang Yan, The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese village (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), pp. 22-42 Villagers'estimations are not accurate either, as they customarily do not consider as income their consumption of self-produced foods, such as grain, vegetables and eggs

COURTSHIP, LOVE AND PREMARITAL SEX A Sketch of the Field Site This paper is based on information collected during seven fieldwork trips to Xiajia village, Heilongjiang province, between 1989 and 1999. With a population of 1,492 in 1998, the village remains a farming community, but after decollectivization in 1983, villagers' livelihoods have been increasingly tied to the market.8 To gain a higher profit from farming, villagers all switched to growing a high-yield maize that is used as animal feed. They sell the commercial maize to the state and to private buyers and then purchase wheat and rice for their own consumption.9 Despite this market strategy, the village's heavy reliance on agriculture has been a major impediment to better living standards. Since the start of rural reform, the average per capita income in Xiajia has been slightly below the national average-it was 528 yuan in 1988 and 616 yuan in 1990, while the national average in these two years was 545 yuan and 623 yuan, respectively. Farmers faced hard times in China during the 1990s, and the living conditions of most villagers barely improved from the 1980s. Official figures during the 1990s became less reliable as the rural economy stagnated and village cadres came under pressure to inflate their achievements. For instance, Xiajia's reported per capita income in 1997 was 2,700 yuan, a figure that even the village cadres openly admitted was false.'? The real average per capita income in the late 1990s, according to the calculations of several key informants, stood at about 1,000-1,100 yuan. " Since the late 1980s, seeking a temporary job in a city has been an important means to earn a cash income for a large number of villagers. For those who were too young to receive contracted land in 1983, it is a major way to survive. In 1991, 106 Xiajia residents worked regularly outside the village for longer than three months a year. The number had increased to 167 by 1994, and this trend continued throughout the second half of the 1990s. An increasing number of unmarried young women joined the pool of temporary migrant labourers, coming 8 For a discussion of the effects on different households' livelihoods and status, see Yunxiang Yan, "The Impact of Rural Reform on Economic and Social Stratification in a Chinese Village", The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 27 (January 1992), pp. 1-23. 9 There was no rural industry in Xiajia village during the collective period. Several grainprocessing factories were established in the 1990s, all of which were small family businesses. Sidelines are important source of cash income for many villagers, particularly women. By the summer of 1999, more than 30 per cent of Xiajia families were raising dairy cows and selling milk to a joint-venture Nestle factory in the county seat, and several dozen families ran chicken or pig farms. However, these sideline businesses remain small scale. 10 For a more detailed account on the history and social organization of the village, see Yunxiang Yan, The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), pp. 22-42. " Villagers' estimations are not accurate either, as they customarily do not consider as income their consumption of self-produced foods, such as grain, vegetables and eggs. 31