Professor Yu Xie (Princeton University)

The Chinese family has been undergoing a rapid transition in the past few decades, with many of its traditional functions and practices fundamentally changed. We find that union formation in China has trended increasingly towards patterns commonly observed in the West, including delayed ages of marriage and common practices of premarital cohabitation. Despite below-replacement fertility, childlessness remains rare among married Chinese couples. In addition, almost all children are born and raised within marriage, with a virtual absence of non-marital childbearing in China. Although we observe a slight increase in divorce across cohorts, the divorce rate within 10 years in China was much lower than in other East Asian societies. Our research suggests that the Chinese family has been changed by modernization and economic development, but it is still influenced by a Confucian culture.