Between Birth and Death: Female Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century China by Michelle T. King

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-325
Author(s):  
Angela Ki Che Leung
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Female Infanticide

scholarly journals Michelle Tien King (2014). Between Birth and Death: Female Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century China.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-150
Author(s):  
Ying-kit Chan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Present Form ◽  
Value System ◽  
Female Infanticide ◽  
Nuclear Families ◽  
Societal Preference ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
Single Child ◽  
And Gender

It seems obvious and trite to discuss female infanticide in China. Female infanticide has long been regarded as a product of backward cultural practices and gender inequities under an authoritarian, patriarchal regime bent on enacting and enforcing a “birth” sub-regime. Along with footbinding, female infanticide becomes a marker of traditional China’s decadent culture and regressive past. This perception of China is reinforced by first a single-child policy and then a prevalent desire to have even smaller, nuclear families in an increasingly affluent society, which have “amplified the effects of a long-standing societal preference for sons, derived from a traditional Confucian value system that still lingers in present form” (p.2).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document