Abstract
The one-child policy has dramatically reshaped childrearing in urban China. In particular, the task of childrearing is now frequently shared between two parents and four grandparents: the 4-2-1 phenomenon. Although grandparents in China have always shared in the care of their grandchildren, few studies have examined the roles played by the different parties. This is the focus of Esther C. L. Goh’s book, which makes an important contribution to our current understanding of intergenerational relations in urban China.
Drawing on the results of ethnographic fieldwork among five families and a survey of more than 1,500 respondents in urban Xiamen, Goh presents new empirical data on the extent to which grandparents in China are assisting their adult children in childcare and household chores. The author offers a powerful criticism of the indiscriminate use of global, and in particular Western, conceptions of parenting, which often fail to capture some of the essential elements of Chinese families. She further challenges the implicit assumption of a unilateral, deterministic influence that adult caregivers exert on children, arguing that only-children are not passive recipients of influence from their parents or grandparents but active agents who have their own intentions, are able to set goals, and take actions to achieve those goals.
The book starts with an overview of the socio-political and cultural factors which brought significant change in Chinese families after 1978. This is followed by a discussion of the need to examine the one-child-many-caregivers phenomenon in three-generational families, and the need to reconceptualize the way childrearing is being studied in China as a bidirectional rather than a unidirectional process. Next, the author discusses the results of a survey she conducted in 39 primary schools in Xiamen, which both contextualizes the work and provides concrete evidence of the prevalence of multigenerational parenting in that city. The most illuminating chapters in the book deal with the microdynamics between the grandparents and parents in caring for grandchildren within the five participating families, and those which describe the children’s point of view about being surrounded by multiple adults on a daily basis.
Challenging the simplistic portrayal of multigenerational families as harmonious and shaped solely by the traditional Chinese ideal of filial piety and mutual obligations, Goh shows that while parents rely heavily on the older generation’s assistance, they do not always reciprocate, leaving grandparents feeling exploited and even humiliated, feelings exacerbated by the declining power of grandparents vis-a-vis their children and grandchildren. Men too are finding that the traditional, authoritarian father figure is no longer an acceptable norm.
Both these developments, Goh suggests, have greatly enhanced the only-child’s sense of agency. Contrary to popular assumptions and much of the psychological research on China, Goh’s study reveals that only-children are not passive recipients of ‘spoiling’ from their parents and grandparents, but are ‘lone tacticians’ who engage with their caregivers to bend them to their will and navigate the pressures they face, including a lack of time alone and the need to make peace between adult caregivers.
Drawing on these empirical findings, the concluding chapter proposes a culturally embedded, intergenerational parenting coalition as an indigenous unit of analysis for future research on the Chinese family. It stresses the significance of replacing the focus on children as products of socialization with an equal interest in the dynamic process by which they negotiate their positions within the family, and notes that this process is best captured by ethnographic methods rather than large-scale surveys or self-reported assessments. The author further emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the unique historical and economic factors which have shaped intergenerational relations in contemporary China.
Further consideration of recent shifts in the political and public discourse on family and childrearing in China would have been helpful, along with some discussion on how these shifts may have contributed to some of the changes Goh notes in family practices. For instance, the author observes that a possible source of friction between the two generations is the childrearing books some of the parents currently consult. These offer advice which differs from that provided by the grandparents (pp. 65, 126). However, the author does not describe the specific sources or contents of these ‘expert’ publications or the childrearing models they present. Similarly, there is also no mention of the influential discourse on ‘education for quality’ (素质教育) introduced to the Chinese public around the same time as the one-child policy.
Apart from these caveats, however, the book under review is a significant contribution to the theoretical study of Chinese families. It is a highly readable work which offers original insights as well as a considerable amount of new data on the microdynamics of intergenerational relations within the urban Chinese family. As such, it would greatly benefit students and scholars of Asian studies, psychology, sociology and anthropology, family studies, and social work.