ABSTRACT
In an attempt to explore the internal dynamics of family life, this chapter focuses on the increasing importance of the conjugal relationship in a north China village. The traditional Chinese family is characterized by the centrality of the parent-son relationship in family life and the superiority of this relationship over all other family relations, including conjugal ties. The chapter demonstrates that such a traditional family configuration has been altered in the 1990s: the horizontal, conjugal tie has become both the central axis of family relations and the foundation of the family ideal shared by most villagers. It argues that villagers' aspirations for conjugal independence have played a role equally important to their concern for economic interest in the process of household formation. The chapter explores how the current practice of family division promotes the development of conjugality and focuses on family management and the waning of parental power.
