ABSTRACT
The danwei was more than an economic organization and had encroached upon the framework of the society. It represented individuals to the state, intervened in family planning, organized political studies, carried out state policies and usually provided welfare services, housing and medical care (Bian 1994). As a self-contained and self-serving community, it was considered to be a continuation of thousands of years of family production in an agrarian economy (Wang Jian 1995). The core was a ‘patriarchal clan system that centred on the three major principles of honouring the emperor, respecting the father, serving the family’ (He 1987 quoted in Wang Fei-ling 1998:109).
