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Researching China’s Lucky Generation: The Post 80s

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Embodying Middle Class Gender Aspirations

Part of the book series: Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia ((GSCA))

Abstract

This chapter includes the author’s reflection on her choice of the research topic, the research design and methodology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The word wai signals distance compared to the paternal grandmother, according to patrilineal custom.

  2. 2.

    I use the term ‘substitute son’ here to highlight the parental expectation on the only daughter to do well in life, as traditionally it was the son’s duty to bring honour to his patrilineal family, and took care of aging parents. This by no mean implies that parental expectations on their only child are not gendered, as research has suggested otherwise, see more in Wang and Fong (2009), Evans (2010), and Liu, F. (2006).

  3. 3.

    Hukou is China’s residence permit or household registration system, which gives the government the power to decide its citizens’ mobility between village and city.

  4. 4.

    The bing gui policy was a substantial reform in recruitment, fee-charging, and job assignment in higher education in China. A direct effect of this policy was an increase in the number of students enrolled in higher education.

  5. 5.

    According to Yang (1994), the larger one’s guanxi network and the more diversely it connects one to people from different occupations and positions, the better one will become in general manoeuvring in Chinese society and obtaining resources and opportunities.

  6. 6.

    Wechat: the most popular phone app that is used by most Chinese people for communication purposes.

  7. 7.

    The idea of quality population derives from the popular shuzhi discourse, which regards people with high education and high income as high-quality population, in contrast to poor, less-educated rural migrants who often work in low-paid jobs. A recent example is the mass eviction of rural migrants from their accommodation in Beijing after a fire when the government used the term ‘low-end population’ to justify its action (Huang 2017).

  8. 8.

    In these three cases, my participants referred to their parents as peasants who had rural residence. I also had participants whose parents are successful self-made entrepreneurs through migration to the city.

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    Kailing Xie

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Xie, K. (2021). Researching China’s Lucky Generation: The Post 80s. In: Embodying Middle Class Gender Aspirations. Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1139-1_1

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