Chinese Kinship systems

It would be impossible to disagree with the statement that “Chinese kinship is based on male predominance”. In fact this statement may even be under-emphasizing the control and absolute power that males wield across all levels of Chinese society. Of course, where their power initially comes from though, is through the family or termed differently the “jia”. It is this extended or ideal family that cultivates the consistent patrilineal form of control/descent and dictates …

…a residential and economic unit composed primarily of males. And in order to reproduce itself it would still be forced to import women as brides, and dispose of females born into it by marrying them off to other families. Finally, it would continue to lay heavy stress on relationships through males, and tended to play down those through females, while there was an accompanying stress on the importance of men as opposed to women (Baker, 1979).