Registered households and micro-social structure in China: Residential patterns in three settlements in Beijing area

Journal of Family History

Volumn 26, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 39-65

  Zhao, Zhongwei ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CHINA; COMMUNITY CARE; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; DEMOGRAPHY; ECONOMICS; EDUCATION; ETHNOLOGY; FAMILY HEALTH; FAMILY RELATION; FAMILY SIZE; FRIEND; HISTORY; HOSPITAL SERVICE; LEGAL ASPECT; POPULATION DYNAMICS; POPULATION RESEARCH; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; REGISTER; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIAL DOMINANCE; STATISTICS;

CENSUSES; CHINA; COMMUNITY NETWORKS; CULTURAL DIVERSITY; FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS; FAMILY HEALTH; FAMILY RELATIONS; FRIENDS; HIERARCHY, SOCIAL; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HOUSEKEEPING; POPULATION DYNAMICS; REGISTRIES; RESIDENCE CHARACTERISTICS; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION; SOCIAL MOBILITY; STATISTICS AS TOPIC;

EID: 0035218995     PISSN: 03631990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/036319900102600103     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. For recent studies see Zhigang Guo, Alice Goldstein, and Sidney Goldstein, "Changing Family and Household Structure, "in China: The Many Facets of Demographic Change, ed. Alice Goldstein and Feng Wang (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996); Michel Cartier, "Nuclear Versus Quasi-Stem Families: The New Chinese Family Model, "Journal of Family History 20 (1995); Yi Zeng, Chunyuan Zhang, and Songjian Peng, eds., Changing Family Structure and Population Aging in China (Beijing: Peking University Press, 1990); Gordon Priest and Edward Pryor, "Household Composition: 1982 Census of China, "in A Census of One Billion People, ed. Chengrui Li et al. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1986).
2. For recent studies see Zhigang Guo, Alice Goldstein, and Sidney Goldstein, "Changing Family and Household Structure, "in China: The Many Facets of Demographic Change, ed. Alice Goldstein and Feng Wang (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996); Michel Cartier, "Nuclear Versus Quasi-Stem Families: The New Chinese Family Model, "Journal of Family History 20 (1995); Yi Zeng, Chunyuan Zhang, and Songjian Peng, eds., Changing Family Structure and Population Aging in China (Beijing: Peking University Press, 1990); Gordon Priest and Edward Pryor, "Household Composition: 1982 Census of China, "in A Census of One Billion People, ed. Chengrui Li et al. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1986).
3. For recent studies see Zhigang Guo, Alice Goldstein, and Sidney Goldstein, "Changing Family and Household Structure, "in China: The Many Facets of Demographic Change, ed. Alice Goldstein and Feng Wang (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996); Michel Cartier, "Nuclear Versus Quasi-Stem Families: The New Chinese Family Model, "Journal of Family History 20 (1995); Yi Zeng, Chunyuan Zhang, and Songjian Peng, eds., Changing Family Structure and Population Aging in China (Beijing: Peking University Press, 1990); Gordon Priest and Edward Pryor, "Household Composition: 1982 Census of China, "in A Census of One Billion People, ed. Chengrui Li et al. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1986).
4. For recent studies see Zhigang Guo, Alice Goldstein, and Sidney Goldstein, "Changing Family and Household Structure, "in China: The Many Facets of Demographic Change, ed. Alice Goldstein and Feng Wang (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996); Michel Cartier, "Nuclear Versus Quasi-Stem Families: The New Chinese Family Model, "Journal of Family History 20 (1995); Yi Zeng, Chunyuan Zhang, and Songjian Peng, eds., Changing Family Structure and Population Aging in China (Beijing: Peking University Press, 1990); Gordon Priest and Edward Pryor, "Household Composition: 1982 Census of China, "in A Census of One Billion People, ed. Chengrui Li et al. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1986).
5. See Yi Zeng, Wei Li, and Zhiwu Liang, "Household Composition, Its Regional Variations and Trends, "in China 's Contemporary Population, ed. Jingxin Sun et al. (Beijing: Census Office under the State Council and the Department of Population Statistics of the State Statistical Bureau, 1992). Yi Zeng, "Family Dynamics in China: The Model and Its Application" (Ph.D. diss., Free University, Brussels, 1986). William R. Lavely, "China's Rural Population Statistics at the Local Level, "Population Index 48 (1982).
6. See Yi Zeng, Wei Li, and Zhiwu Liang, "Household Composition, Its Regional Variations and Trends, "in China 's Contemporary Population, ed. Jingxin Sun et al. (Beijing: Census Office under the State Council and the Department of Population Statistics of the State Statistical Bureau, 1992). Yi Zeng, "Family Dynamics in China: The Model and Its Application" (Ph.D. diss., Free University, Brussels, 1986). William R. Lavely, "China's Rural Population Statistics at the Local Level, "Population Index 48 (1982).
7. See Yi Zeng, Wei Li, and Zhiwu Liang, "Household Composition, Its Regional Variations and Trends, "in China 's Contemporary Population, ed. Jingxin Sun et al. (Beijing: Census Office under the State Council and the Department of Population Statistics of the State Statistical Bureau, 1992). Yi Zeng, "Family Dynamics in China: The Model and Its Application" (Ph.D. diss., Free University, Brussels, 1986). William R. Lavely, "China's Rural Population Statistics at the Local Level, "Population Index 48 (1982).
8. See Demin Yan and Taimiao Li, "The Historical Evolution of the Household Registration System in Ancient China, "Historical Science of Anhui 4 (1988) (in Chinese). Qingwu Zhang, "Basic Facts on the Household Registration System, "Chinese Economic Studies 22 (1988). Fangzhong Liang, Statistics of Household, Land and Tax Registration in Chinese History (Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1980) (in Chinese).
9. See Demin Yan and Taimiao Li, "The Historical Evolution of the Household Registration System in Ancient China, "Historical Science of Anhui 4 (1988) (in Chinese). Qingwu Zhang, "Basic Facts on the Household Registration System, "Chinese Economic Studies 22 (1988). Fangzhong Liang, Statistics of Household, Land and Tax Registration in Chinese History (Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1980) (in Chinese).
10. See Demin Yan and Taimiao Li, "The Historical Evolution of the Household Registration System in Ancient China, "Historical Science of Anhui 4 (1988) (in Chinese). Qingwu Zhang, "Basic Facts on the Household Registration System, "Chinese Economic Studies 22 (1988). Fangzhong Liang, Statistics of Household, Land and Tax Registration in Chinese History (Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1980) (in Chinese).
11. For further details on the development of China's household registration system, see Tiejun Cheng and Mark Seiden, "The Origin and Social Consequences of China's Hukou System, "China Quarterly 139 (1994). Zhang, "Basic Facts." The Public Security Ministry of the People's Republic of China, "Temporary Regulations on City Household Management, "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese). The State Council of the People's Republic of China, "State Council Directive Concerning the Establishment of a Permanent System of Household Registration, "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese). Ruiqing Luo, "Explanation of Regulations on Household Registration in the People's Republic of China (Draft), "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese).
12. For further details on the development of China's household registration system, see Tiejun Cheng and Mark Seiden, "The Origin and Social Consequences of China's Hukou System, "China Quarterly 139 (1994). Zhang, "Basic Facts." The Public Security Ministry of the People's Republic of China, "Temporary Regulations on City Household Management, "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese). The State Council of the People's Republic of China, "State Council Directive Concerning the Establishment of a Permanent System of Household Registration, "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese). Ruiqing Luo, "Explanation of Regulations on Household Registration in the People's Republic of China (Draft), "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese).
13. For details on how household registration should be, and has been, conducted, see National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, "Regulations on Household Registration in the People's Republic of China, "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese). Zhang, "Basic Facts."
14. For a recent discussion, see Yu Zhu, "China's Urbanization: In Search of More Balanced Patterns" (Ph.D. diss., Australian National University, 1999). Hein Mallee, "China's Household Registration System under Reform, "Development and Change 26 (1995).
15. For a recent discussion, see Yu Zhu, "China's Urbanization: In Search of More Balanced Patterns" (Ph.D. diss., Australian National University, 1999). Hein Mallee, "China's Household Registration System under Reform, "Development and Change 26 (1995).
16. Qingwu Zhang and Weizhi Wang, "Household Registration, Population Statistics and Computer Management in China" (paper presented at the 23rd IUSSP General Population Conference Symposium on Demography of China, Beijing, 1997).
17. Guangsheng Zhou, "On the Role Played by Household Registration Materials in China's 1982 Population Census, "Population Research 6 (1984) (in Chinese). Jixian Wang, "On the Role of the Household Registration System in the Third Population Census" (paper presented at the National Conference on the Third Population Census, Beijing, 1983) (in Chinese).
18. Guangsheng Zhou, "On the Role Played by Household Registration Materials in China's 1982 Population Census, "Population Research 6 (1984) (in Chinese). Jixian Wang, "On the Role of the Household Registration System in the Third Population Census" (paper presented at the National Conference on the Third Population Census, Beijing, 1983) (in Chinese).
19. Chengrui Li, "On the Result of China's 1982 Census, "Population and Development Review 9 (1983): 337.
20. As suggested by the post-enumeration survey, in the 1982 census enumeration double-counting occurred at a rate of 0.71 per thousand and omissions of 0.56 per thousand. These error rates were exceptionally low in comparison to those recorded in most other countries. Li, "Result of China's 1982 census, "337. See also Yuanjie Ma, "Analysis and Verification of the Error in Data Processing of the Third National Population Census, "Population Research 5 (1985) (in Chinese). Rizhang Yang, "The Post-Enumeration Survey about the Quality in the Population Census, "Population Research 3 (1982) (in Chinese).
21. As suggested by the post-enumeration survey, in the 1982 census enumeration double-counting occurred at a rate of 0.71 per thousand and omissions of 0.56 per thousand. These error rates were exceptionally low in comparison to those recorded in most other countries. Li, "Result of China's 1982 census, "337. See also Yuanjie Ma, "Analysis and Verification of the Error in Data Processing of the Third National Population Census, "Population Research 5 (1985) (in Chinese). Rizhang Yang, "The Post-Enumeration Survey about the Quality in the Population Census, "Population Research 3 (1982) (in Chinese).
22. According to the 1982 census, domestic households accounted for more than 99 percent of the total, and the people living in domestic households consisted of 97 percent of the population. Collective households made up less than 1 percent of the total, and about 3 percent of the population lived in such households. For the definition of domestic household and collective household, see State Council of the People's Republic of China, "Statute of the Third National Population Census, "in Almanac of China's Population 1985, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986) (in Chinese), 128.
23. Hein Mallee, "China's Household Registration System under Reform, "Development and Change 26 (1995). Tiejun Cheng and Mark Selden, "The Origin and Social Consequences of China's Hukou System, "China Quarterly 139 (1994).
24. Hein Mallee, "China's Household Registration System under Reform, "Development and Change 26 (1995). Tiejun Cheng and Mark Selden, "The Origin and Social Consequences of China's Hukou System, "China Quarterly 139 (1994).
25. Zeng, "Family Dynamics in China, "42-43.
26. Chengrui Li, "Reliability of China's 1982 Census Data, "in Almanac of China's Population 1986, Population Research Centre, CASS (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1987) (in Chinese).
27. If the number of households was not overcounted or undercounted in the census, the above procedure might be justified. But because about two thirds of those under-recorded people were registered elsewhere rather than in collective households and some of them were likely to have been registered as living in independent households, the total number of households recorded by the census might be an overestimation. Xia Ma, "An Analysis of the Size and Structure of Chinese Households" (paper presented at the International Symposium on Population Census, Beijing, 1984) (in Chinese), 3-4.
28. That some people live together but are registered separately of course could also be a result of housing shortage. This is to say that in some domestic groups, the members are registered in different households and want to live separately, but they cannot do so because there is no house available to them. Nevertheless, their residential patterns are similar to those mentioned above, although the underlying cause is somewhat different.
29. After her field research in China, Hareven reported the following example. There were "six separate nuclear families living in the same flat, but they consisted actually of parents and five married children. Such families maintained close ties, and the children supported their parents." Tamara Hareven, "Reflections on Family Research in the People's Republic of China, "Social Research 54 (1987), 680. In their study, the researchers of the Dongheyan Survey Team found similar cases in some urban districts of Beijing. Dongheyan Survey Team, "Family and Marriage in Dongheyan, "in Households in Urban China, Five Cities Household Study Survey Team (Jinan: Shandong People's Publishing House, 1985) (in Chinese), 11-12. In a village in Jiangsu province, Guanbao Shen and Youmei Li also found that some kin-related persons, most of them being parents and their children, adopted the following living arrangement. They lived in a house but were registered as two or more households. According to them, two factors were responsible for this pattern. The first was related to employment opportunity. Facing the difficulty of creating enough jobs for local people, the local government adopted a form of rationing by stipulating that if there were insufficient vacancies in local factories, only one person from each household could be employed. This inevitably impelled people to register separately. From 1983 to 1987, the total number of households in the village increased from 570 to more than 700. A large number of the "new" households were created for the purpose of increasing the opportunity of occupants becoming factory workers. The second factor was related to house construction. As has been said, when peasants wanted to build a house, they applied for a piece of land from the village committee. In this village, two elements determined the amount of land given to the applicants. In addition to the land that was allocated according to the number of household members, each household was also entitled to a plot of land. Given the difficulty of getting a house and land, this policy apparently stimulated people to divide their households. These examples were provided by Shen and Li in a personal discussion in Cambridge, United Kingdom, in October 1990. Residential patterns of this kind were also found in the three settlements studied in this article.
30. A mu is a Chinese unit of area. One mu is equal to 0.0667 of a hectare.
31. For example, the kinship networks observed in these communities are mostly likely to be very similar to those existing in many parts of rural China. From the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, high fertility, relatively low mortality, and strictly controlled migration widely existed, which considerably increased the density of village kinship networks in China's rural areas.
32. The census result showed that the mean size of households in these villages was 3.55 in the year 1982. See Wenmei Cai, Peiling Qiu, and Jingan Song, "A Survey Report: The Changes in Family Structure in Three Villages of Changping County, "in Zeng, Zhang, and Peng, Changing Family Structure. This was extremely close to what derived from the household survey (3.6) carried out in that year.
33. The household classification scheme adopted here was developed by Hammel and Laslett and has been widely used by family historians. In this scheme, the main criteria used for classifying household structures are the number of conjugal family units in a household and the presence of relatives who are not included in these conjugal family units. Households are classified into the following categories. Single-person (or solitary) households are persons living alone. No-family households include persons who do not live with their spouses and their unmarried children but who live with one or more relatives of other types. In this type of household, there is no conjugal family unit. Simple-family households consist of only one conjugal family unit in the absence of other relatives. Extended-family households are those in which there is one conjugal family unit and other types of kin are present. Multiple-family households include two, or more than two, conjugal family units and perhaps other relatives as well. For further explanation of the classifications of household structure, see Peter Laslett, "Introduction: The History of the Family, "in Household and Family in Past Time, ed. Peter Laslett and Richard Wall (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 31, 41-42.
34. Recent surveys suggest that family support for old people is still important in China. The majority of old people live in households with three generations. Monetary support from their children makes up a major part of their total income. See Xueyuan Tian, "The Report of the 1987 Sample Survey of Aged Population, "in 1987 Aged Population over 60 Years Sampling Survey Data (Computer Tabulation), Special Issue of Population Science of China 1, Population Research Institute, CASS (Beijing, 1988) (in Chinese), 22-24.
35. Simulation studies have suggested that because of high mortality, the proportion of old people living with their children was not very high in historic China. It was most likely to have been lower than those recorded in contemporary China. See Zhongwei Zhao, "Demographic Conditions, Microsimulation, and Family Support for the Elderly: Past, Present, and Future in China, "in The Locus of Care, ed. Peregrine Horden and Richard Smith (London: Routledge, 1998).
36. Xiaotong Fei, Peasant Life in China (London: Lowe and Brydone Printers, 1939). Chia is a Chinese term for household or family. For the description of chia, see p. 27 of the same book.
37. Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: The Impact of Post-Mao Reforms on Family Life, "in Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era, ed. Deborah Davis and Stevan Harrell (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 8.
38. The distinction between close kin and distant kin is an arbitrary one. It is not necessarily a measure by which the importance of a certain type of kin relation can be determined, although in most cases people have more contact with relatives of the first category. Furthermore, because of the complexity of the analysis, some types of kin relations, for example, cousins, which could be more important than some of those specified above, have not been presented and discussed in this article.
39. In this study, the distant kin of an individual are linked through his or her close kin. If the close kin have not been found in the village, that person's distant kin could not be easily traced, even if they lived within the village.
40. This figure is greater than that indicated by the proportion living within the village. The difference is related to the following fact. By the late 1980s, Bajie, one of the villages being studied, already became a part of the town of Changping due to urban expansion. The village is, therefore, an administrative unit rather than a residential area with a clear geographic boundary. People living on the next street or registered as urban inhabitants might be recorded as living in the county on the grounds that they belong to other administrative units. Accordingly, the number of close kin reported living in the same village would be somewhat lower than the actual number of close kin living within an area that is the same as living within the village. This has some effect on measures of the kin density and the kinship networks of Bajie. If we treated the persons who live within the "village distance" as being in the village, the proportion of close kin within the village would be higher.
41. Other possible explanations include that sex ratio at birth is normally in favor of males and that mortality in the female population might have been higher in the past in these villages.
42. Detailed discussion of the marriage patterns in these villages is presented in Zhongwei Zhao, "Household and Kinship in Recent and Very Recent Chinese History" (Ph.D. diss., Cambridge University, 1993).
43. The actual number of nephews and nieces for people age 60 and older would be higher. Since many of their siblings might have already died, some of their nephews and nieces have not been linked.
44. In addition to those reported earlier, it has been found that in Changping County, where the three villages are located, the mean size of registered households was just above three in 1988. This is slightly lower than that found in these villages. See Statistical Bureau of Changping County, Economic Statistics of Changping County 1988 (Changping: Statistical Bureau of Changping County, 1989) (in Chinese). In my fieldwork, I was told that the phenomenon discussed in this article widely existed in Changping. In many parts of China, particularly in some suburban areas, the mean size of households recorded in the 1982 census was even smaller than that found in Changping. As for the household composition, the 1982 One-Per-Thousand-Fertility-Survey showed the proportion of single-person and no-family households was 9.9 percent, which was the same as that derived from the registered households in the three villages in 1988. See Kaiti Zhang, "An Analysis of the Household Types and Its Composition in China, "Population and Economics 6 (1988) (in Chinese). Muzhen Li et al., eds., China's Population, Beijing Volume (Beijing: Financial and Economic Publishing House of China, 1987) (in Chinese). These could be indications of the widespread nature of the aforementioned problems.
45. In addition to those reported earlier, it has been found that in Changping County, where the three villages are located, the mean size of registered households was just above three in 1988. This is slightly lower than that found in these villages. See Statistical Bureau of Changping County, Economic Statistics of Changping County 1988 (Changping: Statistical Bureau of Changping County, 1989) (in Chinese). In my fieldwork, I was told that the phenomenon discussed in this article widely existed in Changping. In many parts of China, particularly in some suburban areas, the mean size of households recorded in the 1982 census was even smaller than that found in Changping. As for the household composition, the 1982 One-Per-Thousand-Fertility-Survey showed the proportion of single-person and no-family households was 9.9 percent, which was the same as that derived from the registered households in the three villages in 1988. See Kaiti Zhang, "An Analysis of the Household Types and Its Composition in China, "Population and Economics 6 (1988) (in Chinese). Muzhen Li et al., eds., China's Population, Beijing Volume (Beijing: Financial and Economic Publishing House of China, 1987) (in Chinese). These could be indications of the widespread nature of the aforementioned problems.
46. In a recent article, Yi Zeng and his colleagues pointed out that in China's census results the proportion of single-person households is higher than its actual proportion. This is largely caused by the facts discussed in the present article. Their results show that, in comparison with some small-scale surveys, the census has reported a larger proportion of single-person households and a smaller proportion of households with three generations. Zeng, Li, and Liang, "Household Composition."
47. In Britain, when the 1951 census was conducted, Households were defined as single persons living alone or groups of individuals voluntarily living together in the same menage, in the sense of sharing the same living room or eating at the same table. However, in 1961 the definition was made narrower, so that those sharing a living room were not counted as members of the same household unless they also shared common catering arrangements. This definition with minor amendments was used until 1981 when the concept of a household including those who shared living rooms, even if they did not share catering arrangements, was reintroduced. After the census of 1981, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys conducted a household definition checking study, in which the above two definitions were used to classify households. It was found that according to the old definition (sharing both living room and catering arrangements) there were 17.228 million households in Britain, while according to the new one (sharing living room) the total number of households decreased to 17.120 million. The fall of 108, 000 households was due to the change in household definition. Because those who shared living rooms but not catering arrangements were primarily single persons living with others as tenants, the change in household definition also led to a considerable reduction in the number of single-person households. For details, see Jean Todd and David Griffiths, Changing the Definition of a Household (London: Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, 1986).
48. To study complicated residential patterns in Taiwan, Ronald Freedman and his colleagues used two criteria to classify domestic groups. These criteria were economic basis, whereby pertinent relatives ate and lived together, and associative basis, whereby pertinent relatives ate and/or lived together. Their study demonstrated that, when the household definition was shifted from the economic basis to the associative basis, household structure changed noticeably. Nuclear-family households decreased from 60 percent to 49 percent, and joint-stem and joint-family households increased from 7 percent to 17 percent. Ronald Freedman et al., "Household Composition and Extended Kinship in Taiwan, "Population Studies 32 (1978). Ronald Freedman et al., "Household Composition, Extended Kinship and Reproduction in Taiwan: 1973-1980, "Population Studies 36 (1982).
49. To study complicated residential patterns in Taiwan, Ronald Freedman and his colleagues used two criteria to classify domestic groups. These criteria were economic basis, whereby pertinent relatives ate and lived together, and associative basis, whereby pertinent relatives ate and/or lived together. Their study demonstrated that, when the household definition was shifted from the economic basis to the associative basis, household structure changed noticeably. Nuclear-family households decreased from 60 percent to 49 percent, and joint-stem and joint-family households increased from 7 percent to 17 percent. Ronald Freedman et al., "Household Composition and Extended Kinship in Taiwan, "Population Studies 32 (1978). Ronald Freedman et al., "Household Composition, Extended Kinship and Reproduction in Taiwan: 1973-1980, "Population Studies 36 (1982).
50. Sulamith Potter and Jack Potter, China's Peasants: The Anthropology of a Revolution (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 216.
51. A similar phenomenon has been reported in some European countries, but generally speaking, the density of local kinship networks has been noticeably higher in rural China. For discussion, see Zhao, "Household and Kinship."
52. Xizhe Peng, Demographic Transition in China: Fertility Trends since the 1950s (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1991).