The Breakdown of Family Duty in China

China is becoming more like the United States, and not in good ways. 

I remember back in the 1990's, people like Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew argued that "Asian Values," which for him were always rooted in Chinese culture, contrasted sharply with the breakdown in social order in the United States.  The family, he argued, was the basic building block of ""Eastern" society, unlike the wanton individualism of America.  From this, we might have expected that the fulfillment of familial obligations would be more prevalent in China than the US.  And that might have been true historically.  But in recent decades, economic and social change, which in various ways have hastened a kind of cultural individualization, have weakened family ties.  Two stories in the past couple of days illustrate this transition.

NPR reports on the soaring divorce rate in China:

One in every five Chinese marriages now ends in divorce, double the rate a decade ago.

Beijing has the highest divorce rate nationwide, with 39 percent of all marriages ending in a split.

This trend is sparking concern. Experts fear that the divorce rate will continue to soar, particularly among the younger generation of Chinese born under the country's one-child policy and during China's explosive economic growth.

My sense is that this is a reflection of the hyper-materialism and competitiveness of contemporary Chinese society, as suggested further on in the piece:

Some experts blame financial considerations — and the rising price of housing — as factors behind the surge in lightning marriages, and lightning divorces.

Given these money worries, young people may see economic benefits of moving in together as soon as possible, to get out of the parental home and to save money. Even after marriage, many couples remain financially dependent on their parents, causing more problems.

Confucius and Mencius would be appalled at how far China has fallen from their moral visions.   Indeed, Confucians would take marriage very seriously: it is a publicly stated obligation to care for another person and, through that care, carry on the great project of enacting Duty according to Ritual to advance toward Humanity.  It is not about apartment prices and paychecks.  It is about sincerity, standing by our words, living up to our vows.  Divorce might not be impossible for a Confucian, but certainly marriage should not be taken as lightly as seems to be the case in China now for many people.

Another story is more anecdotal, a single young boy, but tragic: he is six years old, an orphan with AIDS, who no one will take in for fear of the disease.  He lives in a dilapidated shack with his dog.  His grandmother comes around occasionally, but she says she cannot take him in, and his uncle seems unwilling to:

This reporter asked the grandmother if she was able to live here and raise A-Long until he is big? She hesitantly said that she herself is a little afraid of living here. Could she take A-Long to his uncle’s place to live? The grandmother did not answer, lowered her head, and sorted the cabbage she had just picked.

This is a single family, and we cannot generalize.  People in the village keep an eye on him, but clearly this boy needs a better situation.  On the face of it, it is the kind of familial breakdown that Lee Kuan Yew deplored.  Family values are just not working here.  Unfortunately, there are many, many AIDS orphans in China, perhaps as many as 250,000 .  There is a lot of great work going on to help them.  But there are also too many failures of family support networks:

They also  have to live with ,the fear of losing their loved ones, and isolation from relatives and friends.

All of which makes the recent government-enforced closing of an AIDS activist organization unconscionable...

Here's A-Long, the six year-old orphan, with his dog Blackie:

Comments

[Alexus McLeod]

I think you're right about the breakdown of family values in China due to increasing materialism. Sad indeed. Another growing trend in China, I hear, which would have been absolutely unthinkable not too long ago (and through most of Chinese history), is the adoption of the "nursing home" concept. What could be less filial than failing to personally take care of one's aging parents? Yet it seems to be slowly catching on in China.

[Chris Waugh]

Surely a serious Confucian would be just as condemning of certain causes of divorce, such as domestic violence and infedility, as of divorce? And hopefully likely to take the view that divorce would be the lesser of two evils in such cases if there were no hope of a correction of the offender's ways and reconciliation?

And Alexus, "What could be less filial than failing to personally take care of one's aging parents?" Many elderly people have health and disability issues requiring professional care. I would say there are situations in which it is more caring and more filial to place one's elders in a nursing home or similar institution.

Just trying to play Devil's Advocate.

[woaizhongguo]

Is it just part of the general breakdown of values in China? I just was made aware of the disgusting rabbit crushing videos that seem to be enormously popular

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/stories/rabbit-crush-fetish-video-chinese-netizens-investigate.html

From a philosophical point of view, I am wondering if there is any Chinese tradition of animal rights, if Mencius, Confucius or anyone would have anything to say about this, or if someway the lack of historical concern for animal rights might be a contributing factor here

[Sam]

I despise those videos and will not link to them...And I don't think we can make broader cultural generalizations based on such depraved behavior - depravity is expressed in all cultures, unfortunately.
I have written on the human treatment of animals in Chinese thought. Generally, Taoism would afford all things, human and non-human, equal status in Way and, thus, would look askance on cruelty generally, to the extent that such cruelty would impede the natural unfolding of things, especially the animals upon which the cruelty is visited. Confucians would clearly see humans as morally superior to animals. But Confucius himself fished with hooks not nets and never shot roosting birds (7.27); in other words, he respected animals in their nature habitats. He would, certainly, deplore the senseless killing of innocent animals for no purpose but depravity.

[nicole.babe]

i think these are general issues..the materialism, the divorces, domestic violence and infidelity, the adoption of the "nursing home" concept, and so on. if Confucius and Mencius would be appalled at how far China has fallen from their moral visions, God would be dismayed of all the rest of us.