FOR THE SAKE OF KINSHIP: THE OVERSEAS CHINESE FAMILY

Much of the anthropological literature on Chinese kinship, marriage and the family comes from descriptions of people who lived for generations in the same agrarian community. How useful are these concepts when people no longer live in the same locale for many generations?;My research found that the pattern of immigration, separation and reunion contributes to changes in both the structure and interpersonal dynamics of the Overseas Chinese family. While the value of kinship remains very strong, new ways of defining "family" and "marriage" and new expressions of kinship ties emerge.;The family (chia), defined in terms of a corporate property-holding unit in agrarian Chinese society, shifts in the Overseas community to a meaning which stresses the morality of kinship. The Overseas Chinese family is bound by ties of expectation and feelings of obligation to provide a better life for those family members left behind. In addition, the "female-managed" household is the primary family life experience among Overseas Chinese and the basis for change in the power and influence of a Chinese woman. The relationships affected are mother and son, mother and daughter, and mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. A woman, as a daughter, also becomes an important resource to members of her natal family who desired to emigrate to the U.S. Marriage is a viable emigration strategy.;Finally, the salient expressions of kinship in agrarian society declines in their significance and new expressions--remittances, sponsorship for emigration, and continued financial support for elderly parents--emerge among the Overseas Chinese in San Francisco.;The Overseas Chinese in San Francisco was studied because their experience of family life is punctuated by separation of family members. A total of 40 first-generation Overseas Chinese (20 males & 20 females) were extensively interviewed between February, 1979 and July, 1980. These Cantonese Chinese came from Hong Kong and/or from villages in or around the delta region of Kwangtung Province. Their ages ranged from 25 to 69.