Chinese Family Feuds: Tradition Eroding From Within | eChinacities.

com

12/02/2016 12:35

Personal: Login Register |

>>

Employer: Login Register | Help

ALL Site | Articles | Listings | Jobs | Classifieds

Listings, Events, Articles, Jobs, Housing

Choose
City

NEWS & ARTICLES

Around China

JOBS

Articles

ANSWERS

CITY GUIDES

CLASSIFIEDS

Add Listing

Post Ad

Post a Blog

Community Blogs

Home Articles Expat Corner

You are reading an article in

Chinese Family Feuds: Tradition Eroding From Within

Apr 17, 2012

By Jessica A. Larson-Wang, eCh, eChinacities.com

Comments (4)

Add your comment

History & Culture

Newsletter

Browse other categories

News & Current Affairs

Print this article

Practical Tips

Facebook

News & Current Affairs

Twitter

Biz & Economy

More sharing

News & Current Affairs

Biz & Economy

Email

MORE CATEGORIES

Editor's Choice:

Do you know more about this topic?

Share your experience with other readers
and earn points and rewards.
How can I earn points?

Post Blog

Photo: 8asians.com
Chinese New Year is usually a time of family unity of gathering
Creative Crops: Urban
Farming in China

around the dinner table for a home cooked feast, of toasting the new
year, of red envelopes, of fireworks. But for one family in Hunan,
Chinese New Year's eve ended in tragedy when a man showed up to
his cousin's dinner table with explosives strapped to his body. The man
detonated a homemade bomb, killing himself and four others, including
his cousin and his cousin's parents. What could have caused this man
to turn what is usually one of the happiest times of the year into a

Vacuum-Packed Curiosity:
Taste Testing Chinese Snacks
Youre Too Afraid to

tragedy? A family feud involving a land dispute.

This week

This month

1 Lazy Shanghai Student Shocks Peers

with Early Admission to Oxford
2 Three Hubei Men Detained for Orgie
with Prostitutes
3 Kunming Locals Call Police on
Foreigners Pretending to Shoot Birds
4 Shanghai Disneyland Ticket Prices
Announced

Strong family ties, equally strong family feuds

5 Safety Tips: How to Avoid Thieves and

The Chinese are known for the strength of their family ties. The ancient
ideal was five generations under one roof

(and if you

couldn't make it to five, four would do too ?

) and families

often lived together in large compounds. Adult children did not move

5 Tips for Succeeding in

Chinas Changing Job Market

Most Read in eChinacities

Scammers during Spring Festival

Living in China

away from the family home, instead they stayed on and took over the

Bring on the Monkey!

care of their parents when they became too old to care for themselves.

Chinese New Year

This ideal carried on to some degree into the present day, and although
Chinese families are smaller than they used to be, they are generally
just as tight-knit.

Celebrations in
Shanghai
Satisfy Your Sweet

That is, until something happens to tear them apart. Perhaps it is the

Tooth: 8 Dessert
Spots in Shanghai

fact that Chinese families are normally so close that makes their feuds
all the more bitter. Chinese families have the ability to wage some epic
battles, as evidenced by the massive family dispute over Hong Kong

Juicing Your Way To

A Healthier New Year

gaming tycoon Stanley Ho's fortune. Another battle, several years ago,
was similarly high profile a father-son dispute between business
magnate Li Ka-Shing and his son Richard. Richard denounced his
father publicly after Li senior interfered in the sale of Richard's Cable
TV and telecom company.

Select City
Find more things to do

Featured Comments

While both of these cases took place in Hong Kong, and, due to the

It looks like you married too fast

participants and the large amounts of money involved, are particularly

without knowing your gf or

epic, middle class mainland families are by no means immune to the

understanding Chinese people enough.

devastation that wealth and success can bring to a clan that lets money

kasen667 on Dealing with Negative

come between them. Chinese families of modest means often come to

blows over the division of its joint property (

), which is sometimes

http://www.echinacities.com/news/Chinese-Family-Feuds-Tradition-Eroding-From-Within

Stereotypes of Cross-Cultural Dating

There's not enough information here

Page 1 of 4

Chinese Family Feuds: Tradition Eroding From Within | eChinacities.com

12/02/2016 12:35

done when a family member leaves the family registry and sets up his

but it looks like the family found a nice

own household, and is sometimes also done to skirt property laws that

way to pick up some ...

restrict property ownership to one unit per household. When a family is

divided there is often dissention regarding who gets what, especially in
the countryside when some members of the family might have gone to
the cities to work, leaving the remaining family members feeling like
they have more rights to the land or property in question.
Feuding over love and marriage
Perhaps the only issue that is just as likely as land and property to

bill8899 on Fined & Shamed: Foreign

Teacher Who Threw 5 Year-Old in Pool
Pays the Price
Did he actually throw her in the pool or
was she already in the pool? It says she
...
derek on Fined & Shamed: Foreign
Teacher Who Threw 5 Year-Old in Pool
Pays the Price

cause dissention in a Chinese family is love. Chinese parents usually

Hot Jobs

have a degree of say in who their children choose to date and marry,

Hot Classifieds

and when their wishes are ignored the fallout can be catastrophic. In

#08Native Mathematic Physic

February a couple who wished to marry but were denied permission by

Chemistry Biology Subjects teachers

their families attempted suicide by lying down on the train tracks near

wanted ...

their hometown. Luckily, the train was able to stop before it ran over the

Feb 06 Shanghai English Teaching

pair and they fled the scene.

A-LEVEL chemistry teacher wanted in

Wuhan

Many parents successfully put an end to relationships they deem

Feb 09 Wuhan Other

unsuitable, but if the couple goes through with the marriage anyhow,

Teaching/Training

the family relationship can become less than harmonious. Many

Kindergarten teaching in Suzhou,

Chinese parents will pull out all of the stops, using emotional and

Wujiang district

financial manipulation in order to get their children to cease and desist

Feb 08 Suzhou English Teaching

with an unsuitable partner, often to the detriment of the parent child

Zhejiang Taizhou training school need

relationship.

native Engish teachers

Children of the 80s and 90s have grown up in a more modern era
where one's hukou status or monthly salary might not be as important
as whether or not that person is a kind and loving partner. Parents, who
have experienced perhaps more ups and downs in life, as well as some
true tragedy, tend to be more pragmatic. Still, while few parents want to
see their child marry someone they deem unsuitable, fewer still can
predict the outcome of taking a hard line regarding their child's spouse.

Feb 10 Taizhou English Teaching

TEACH full time English in beautiful
China for 5500-10000rmb+food+ FREE
...
Feb 10 Chengdu English Teaching
TEACH full time English in beautiful
China for 5500-10000rmb+food+ FREE
...

Sometimes victory comes at a cost.

Feb 10 Hangzhou English Teaching

Has modernization upped the stakes?

TEACH full time English in beautiful

Family feuds, of course, are not limited to China. Many Western stars,

...

like Jennifer Aniston or the singer Adele have troubled relationships

China for 5500-15000rmb+food+ FREE

Feb 10 Beijing English Teaching

with their parents, and family estrangement is no new concept in

12,000RMB/month,accommodation,10,000RMB

countries like America and the UK. China does not necessarily have

bonus, work visa, Zhaoqing, ...

any more feuding now than it did in days gone by, but certainly now,
with increased wealth and prosperity, the stakes are higher.

Feb 10 Guangzhou English Teaching

All jobs

Post a job

With the rise of privately owned family businesses there is certain to be

a rise in conflict. More and more Chinese own property, or multiple
properties, and with legal waters often murky (courthouses cannot
always be counted on to settle disputes fairly), Chinese families should
take precautions to make sure that they protect themselves, and
protect their families, from the battles that can tear families apart.
One way to do this is to make sure that, even when going into business
with family, everything is done through official channels and that proper
contracts are drawn up and adhered to. Elderly family members should
leave clear cut wills rather than just leaving things up to the court.
Farming families who have members moving to the cities to look for
work should discuss beforehand what will happen to the family land,
and get any agreements in writing.
And, as for love, both parents and children should keep their heads and
not make any rash declarations or engage in emotional blackmail
which, while it might result in short term success, can damage
relationships in the long run. The traditionally strong family ties that
typify Chinese society can endure through the modern era as long as
people do not lose sight of what is truly important.

http://www.echinacities.com/news/Chinese-Family-Feuds-Tradition-Eroding-From-Within

Page 2 of 4

Chinese Family Feuds: Tradition Eroding From Within | eChinacities.com

12/02/2016 12:35

Related links
Smile on Your Brother: Marrying into a Chinese Family
Foreigner Vs Chinese Tradition: Relationship Roles in a Chinese
Family
Tiger Mothers and Chinese Parenting: Is Strict Discipline Really
Superior?
Warning The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without
written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement,
and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: family feuds China influence of money on China China traditional social roles
Chinese families

4
Comments >>
Write a Comment

Share this
Article:

More

Back to Expat Corner list>>

You might also be interested in

Scoot in Style: Life with a Scooter in China
Scooters may be the best and most affordable ways to get around in China. Here's what you need to know before
buying one yourself.
How to Rent a Fake Girlfriend for the Spring Festival
Hiring fake girlfriends for Chinese New Year is the newest option to appease parents pushing for marriage.

Quiet, Please! Noise Polllution in China

eChinacities.com blogger vents about China's blaring soundscape.

Just a Job: Are Teachers Settling?

eChinacities blogger considers the motivations of teachers in China. Some think of teaching as a way to keep the
lights on, while others put their all into their job.
How to Find a Job in China as a Non-native Expat
If you follow job ads in China closely, you will soon find there is no lack of work in sight for native
teachers/writers/consultants, provided, of course, they come from the US, Canada, Australia or another Englishspeaking country. But what about the non native expats in China?
Spring Festival Travel Guide to Destinations and Buying Train & Airline Tickets
If you fancy trying your hand at dicing with travel death during the notorious Spring Festival rush, this article offers
advice on where to go, what to do and most importantly, how to get there this upcoming Chinese New Year.

4 Comments ( Add your comment )

Isaac

(1)

(1)

Nice article
Apr 17, 2012 14:38
2

Report Abuse

casy

(0)

(5)

One may post no more than 10 comments per day.

Apr 18, 2012 05:45
3

Report Abuse

Alain

(1)

(1)

Leave it to the stupid Americans ruining good traditional family values.

Apr 21, 2012 01:59
4

syoung108

Report Abuse
(2)

(0)

Leave it to stupid people to blame the Americans for everything.

May 01, 2012 17:26

http://www.echinacities.com/news/Chinese-Family-Feuds-Tradition-Eroding-From-Within

Report Abuse

Page 3 of 4

Chinese Family Feuds: Tradition Eroding From Within | eChinacities.com

12/02/2016 12:35

Add your comment

All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive
dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and
subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of
expression itself is inappropriate. Please use the Classifieds to advertise your business and unrelated posts made merely
to advertise a company or service will be deleted.
Please login to add a comment. Click here to login immediately.

About Us | Contact Us | Careers | Privacy Policy | Site Map | Help New | Newsletter
Copyright 2008-2016 echinacities.com All rights reserved.

http://www.echinacities.com/news/Chinese-Family-Feuds-Tradition-Eroding-From-Within

ICP

150339

Page 4 of 4