Abstract
The bitter mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship has been portrayed in Chinese literary and historical documents for centuries. There is also evidence of this tense relationship seen in the Chinese women who are experiencing it daily. This notorious in-law entanglement is commonly viewed by Chinese, commoners and intellectuals from ancient to modern times alike, as an inevitable yet unresolvable problem for all married women. Conventionally it is believed that there is a “proper” mode of interaction between mothers-and daughters-in-law in Chinese societies, that is, that the former should be dominant, and the latter submissive. However, it is a difficult situation for daughters-in-law. This type of relationship is a major theme in Chinese literature. The ballad “A Peacock Flies Southeast,” for example, written during the reign of Emperor Hsien at the end of the Han Dynasty (AD 196–219), is the most famous work in Chinese literature portraying this in-law entanglement.
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Kung, HM. (2014). Like Mother Like Daughter? The Effect of Mothers’ Attitudes on Their Daughters’ Interactions with Their Mothers-in-law. In: Poston, Jr., D., Yang, W., Farris, D. (eds) The Family and Social Change in Chinese Societies. The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis, vol 35. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7445-2_8
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