China's Grandmothers
Gender, Family, and Ageing from Late Qing to Twenty-First Century

A longitudinal study into the role of grandmothers in China over the years from late Qing to the twenty-first century.

Diana Lary (Author)

9781009073622, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 April 2022

250 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.42 kg

'Migrations are Lary's forte, this work covering the beginnings of industrialization at the end of the Qing Dynasty, leading to the reform era … Seamless injection of her own viewpoints save Lary's book from any taint of scholarly stuffiness on the role of grandmothers, who are the glue that holds the text, and indeed the country, together.' Isabel Nanton, The British Columbia Review

Over the past century and a half, China has experienced foreign invasion, warfare, political turmoil, and revolution, along with massive economic and technological change. Through all this change, there is one stable element: grandmothers, as child carers, household managers, religious devotees, transmitters of culture, and, above all, sources of love, warmth, and affection. In this interdisciplinary and longitudinal study, China's Grandmothers sheds light on the status and lives of grandmothers in China over the years from the late Qing Dynasty to the twenty-first century. Combining a wide range of historical and biographical materials, Diana Lary explores the changes and continuities in the lives of grandmothers through revolution, wars, and radical upheaval to the present phase of economic growth. Informed by her own experience as a grandchild and grandmother, Lary offers a fresh and compelling way of looking at gender, family, and ageing in modern Chinese society.

Foreword
Introduction
1. Precious treasures
2. Archetypes
3. Baby seekers
4. Child carers'
5. Ruling the roost
6. Old age
7. Grandfathers
8. Transmitters of culture
9. Absent parents
10. Left behind children
11. Pleasures of old age
12. Leaving this life
13. The future of old age
14. Personal notes
Afterword.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Asian history [HBJF]