Urban Chinese Daughters

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 1-20

3. Framing the Issues Through Historical Context

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 21-64

4. Core Perspectives and Theoretical Framework Underpinning Chinese Daughters’ Support and Care of Elderly Parents

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 65-126

5. The Typology of Support and Care™

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 127-154

6. Support of Ageing Parents

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 155-195

7. Temporary Care of Ageing Parents

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 197-224

8. Caregiving of Ageing Parents

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 225-253

9. Outsourced Care

   • Patricia O’Neill

   Pages 255-288

10. Discussion and Conclusion

    • Patricia O’Neill

    Pages 289-309

11. Back Matter

    Pages 311-338

    PDF

The lives of urban Chinese daughters have changed. Education and employment have propelled them from dependency to self-sufficiency, resulting in new attitudes and lifestyles. However, traditional filial obligation has remained. This book asks why it continues and how it is currently discharged, focusing on the emotion work daughters do to sustain the parent relationship, deal with conflict and maintain their self-esteem.


Based on interviews with women living in Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China, the book further explores whether the structural or relational motivations underpinning support and care may be less important than the standards daughters impose on themselves; why care may be discontinued or not undertaken in the first place; why care provided to parents may be different from in-laws, and the importance of domestic helpers to the modern caregiving paradigm.


To undertake this exploration, a typology of supportand care was created, allowing for the first time to distinguish between what daughters do for healthy parents and in-laws versus parents who require temporary or full time care, specifically addressing how providing support and care affects the daughters’ well-being.

• China studies
• Chinese women
• Ageing population in China
• filial obligation
• Confucianism
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• caregiving
• social epidemiology
• family and intergenerational studies
• social policy

“Juxtaposing the Confucian norm of filial piety against the modern Chinese culture, this book provides an in-depth examination of Chinese daughters’ lives, the kinds and frequency of care they provide, the conflict they experience and the impact of caregiving on them. Dr. O’Neill’s scholarly work is a major contribution to the fields of aging and rapidly changing Asian cultures.” (Cheryl M. Svensson, Ph.D., Director of Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies, USA)

• Visiting Academic, Contemporary China Studies (SIAS), University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

  Patricia O'Neill

Patricia O’Neill is currently a visiting academic at Contemporary China Studies, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Oxford University, UK and an Associate in Research, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, USA. She received her DPhil from Oxford University, Department of Sociology and is an alumnus of St. Antony’s College and the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing. She is a licensed attorney and member of the California Bar.

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