Journal article
Wealth stratification and reproduction in Northeast China, 1866–1907
The history of the family, Vol.15(4), pp.386-412
2010
DOI: 10.1016/j.hisfam.2010.10.001
PMCID: PMC2992971
PMID: 21127716
Abstract
Although the importance of material wealth to population growth is the core of Malthusian theory about population dynamics in pre-transitional societies, our understanding of the relationship between wealth and reproductive success in China is still limited. Until recently, there was little in the way of relevant data. In the absence of empirical evidence to the contrary, conceptions of the Chinese demographic regime were largely Malthusian, in that they did not account for the possible role of a fertility-based preventive check. In this study, we examine wealth differentials in reproduction in historical rural China by using newly available longitudinal individual level demographic and household level land holding data for 108,100 immigrants and their descendants living in 120 villages in Shuangcheng, Northeast China, between 1866 and 1907. Our study demonstrates a positive correlation between land holding status and marital fertility among the population under study. In addition, there is also a clear pattern of fertility differentials according to household context and other measures of socioeconomic status. Our findings suggest that these fertility differentials are not only results of certain social institutions and customs but also the consequences of couple's behavior of fertility control in response to socioeconomic and other household conditions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Wealth stratification and reproduction in Northeast China, 1866–1907
- Creators
- Shuang Chen - University of Iowa, Department of History, 280 Schaeffer Hall, Iowa City, IA 52245, United StatesJames Lee - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Room 3361, School of Humanities and Social Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, Hong KongCameron Campbell - UCLA, Department of Sociology, 264 Haines Hall - Box 951551, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551, United States
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The history of the family, Vol.15(4), pp.386-412
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.hisfam.2010.10.001
- PMID
- 21127716
- PMCID
- PMC2992971
- NLM abbreviation
- Hist Fam
- ISSN
- 1081-602X
- eISSN
- 1873-5398
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2010
- Academic Unit
- History
- Record Identifier
- 9984011837902771
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