Chinese Families Cultural Changes (1949-1966)

Family culture which is created by all family through social practice and life practice happened in the family. It is the sum of characteristic ethics, value, ideology, modern of action, civilization which are connected with some kind of science knowledge. As family culture, it can show its characters showing person's value by matter or norm. At the same time, the family culture has the dynamic characteristic, it may changes while something takes place in our society. This paper's aim is to study the varieties of family cultural in our country from 1949 to 1966, investigating changes of person's value, and the influences from the changes of social condition during the period.Chapter 1 mainly elaborates what varieties showed in family scale. Land reform in 1950 directly lead to the disintegration of big family and the number of linear family and nuclear family increasing. On the other hand, person no longer got bad impression with family division which became widespread, personally to the families' property rights benefits the process. During the period, another characteristic that the family scale appeared was the decreasing of family number, compared to the feudalistic society and modern age, however, it increasing during this time. It may be caused by the simplification of family structure and the rising of family number, anyway, the improvement of national medical condition made family population rising possible.Chapter 2 mainly shows how our country leaded on the birth policy, and how families made their family planning. Although birth policy is known by common person after the Cultural Revolution, it is offered in 1950s first in out country. This was the first time controlling the family birth by policy. However, the practices of this time lead to failure, family birth was still out of control. The preference of boy baby and owning many children became most families' choices.Chapter 3 mainly elaborates the relation changes of woman with their husband, mother-in-law, and their issue under the background that our country called for woman going out of the family to pursuing their liberation. The fact proved that women position in their family was not improved immediately. Most of them didn't make decision and still compromised with their mother-in-law in their family. Thus, we have to introspect, it seems that sexual division of labor, the man-at-politics andthe woman-at-home, had totally changed, but this variety brought the liberation to household women or put them to another being controlled situation on earth.