Cameron Campbell (UCLA) and
James Lee (Univ. of Michigan)
ABSTRACT
To assess claims about the role of the extended family in
late imperial Chinese society, we examine the influence of
kin network characteristics on marriage, reproduction, and
attainment in Liaoning Province in Northeast China in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We compare the
influences on outcomes of the number and status of different
types of kin, as well as the seniority of the individual
within each type of kin group. We find that the
characteristics of kin outside the household did matter for
individual outcomes, but that patterns of effects were
nuanced. While based on our results we concur that kin
networks were important units of social and economic
organization in late imperial China, we conclude that their
role was complex.
