| Family Revolution Subjects: HISTORY / Asia / China.; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family.; LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / Chinese.; Family life; Marriage in literature.; Marital conflict; Families in literature.; Chinese literature; As state control of private life in China has loosened since 1980, citizens have experienced an unprecedented family revolution--an overhaul of family structure, marital practices, and gender relationships. While the nuclear family has become a privileged realm of romance and individualism symbolizing the post-revolutionary "freedoms" of economic and affective autonomy, women's roles in particular have been transformed, with the ideal "iron girl" of socialism replaced by the feminine, family-oriented "good wife and wise mother." Hui Faye Xiao is assistant professor of modern Chinese literature and culture at the University of Kansas. |