In the People's Republic of China the redefinition of the procedures and symbols of marriage formed one of the main means by which the State has attempted to create major changes in the relations between the sexes, the generations and between domestic and kin groups. In this detailed anthropological study, first published in 1981, Dr Elisabeth Croll examines the changes which have taken place with the institution of marriage between the early 1950s and the late 1970s. She observes the changes in the criteria governing choice of spouse, negotiation procedures, the age of marriage and its ritual and ceremonial forms. This book is based on both documentary sources and research visits to the People's Republic. As an anthropological approach to marriage it raises broader conceptual questions on the relations of marriage to kinship structures, and the interaction of economy and ideology in processes of social change.

Elizabeth Croll is Professor Chinese Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. For more than twenty-five years she as conducted field studies in China and is a world authority on social development and gender issues in historical and contemporary China.