Abstract
Shi was born in 1955, and as a little child, she experienced the famine and grew up in the village commune. Although she attended the village school, she did not achieve the high grades of Shun and even when she was only 11 started working on the land. She was soon apprenticed to a tailor. The chapter explores how Shi was married and how the family sought to retain some of the traditional customs. Marriage, however, was not without its arguments and the one-child policy caused additional problems. Shi responded to new business opportunities and became moderately wealthy. Nevertheless, tensions occurred between her and the rest of the family that caused a marked division.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The number had to be an even number as this signifies good luck.
- 2.
Population Council (1981). “China’s New Marriage Law” Population and Development Review, 7(2), 369–372.
- 3.
A dowry is articles or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage. At this time, many items were rationed and could only he bought if you had a coupon as well as the money. A village would only be allowed one sewing machine coupon a year, and so this coupon was especially prized.
- 4.
The Qingming Festival, also known as “Tomb-Sweeping Day” in English, is a traditional Chinese festival held on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. On this day, tombs are swept and ancestors are venerated with offerings of food and the burning of joss paper.
- 5.
The Kuomintang (KMT) was the Nationalist Party of China founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911. Sun Yat-sen was the provisional president, but he did not have military power and ceded the presidency to the military leader Yuan Shikai. After Yuan’s death, China broke up into areas ruled by warlords, and the KMT was only able to control the south of the country. Later under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT formed the National Revolutionary Army and succeeded in unifying most of China in 1928. The KMT ruled mainland China from 1928 until it was defeated by the CCP during the Chinese Civil War.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Liu, X., Burnett, D. (2019). Shi’s Story: Second Daughter. In: Golden Goose. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3774-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3774-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3773-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3774-1
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)