Study On The Uxorilocal Marriage In The Rural Area In Central Hebei

Since the1980s, rapid economic growth and social change, together with the strict birth control policy in China have reduced the fertility to below replacement level, resulting in a very rapid demographic transition. However, sustained low fertility elicits behavior related to the traditional son preference that produces an abnormally high sex ratio at birth and excess female child mortality. The resulting demographic and social problems have become crucial issues to be dealt with in the21st century.In the absence of substantial social security for the elderly in rural China, the current and potential demand in rural societies for uxorilocal marriage(a form of matrilineal residence, in which a couple resides with the wife’s parents after marriage) might expand with population aging and the increase in on-son families following sustained low fertility.Son preference is deeply rooted in the traditional patrilineal family system in wich virilocal marriage (newlyweds move in with the husband’s parents after marriage) is the norm. Our findings indicate that uxorilocal marriage helps to stabilize low fertility, Our findings indicate that uxorilocal marriage helps to stabilize low fertility, alleviate son preference, decrease male bias in the sex ratio at birth, and improve female child survival and women’s social status. It also contributes to security for elderly parents of on-son families. Uxorilocal marriage and its ramifications are likely to become an increasingly important factor in Chinese social demography.The sthsis provides a systematic study od uxorilocal marriage and its social and demographic consequences. It first focuses on uxorilocal marriage itself, such as its spatial and temporal distribution, its economic and social determinants and how such marriages are arranged. Then it focuses on the demographic consequences, including age at first marriage, fertility and birth interval, and social consequences including son preference, post-marital co-residence and family division with the parents, and old-age support for the parents. Finally, it also addresses the potential approaches to increasing acceptance of uxorilocal marriage in Chinese rural communities in a context of the son preference norm.