Holding Up Half the Family
Women in the Villages of South China
能顶半边家庭的华南村庄妇女
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Abstract
The Chinese diaspora seen as a movement, at least in the years before the mid-twentieth century, is characterised largely as one of men. But the majority of these men stayed in close connection with an equally great, if not larger, group of women who remained at home in their south China villages. It is argued here that the role and significance of these women of the villages in the Chinese diaspora has been greatly under-researched. It is also argued that such neglect has meant that too great an emphasis has been put in the literature on leaving and settlement, as opposed to remaining and returning. Life for these women in the villages was one dependent on remittances, which in turn was a mixture of relative wealth and poverty, dependence and independence, authority and anxiety, and loneliness and freedom. It is concluded that the integration of half the participants in the Chinese diaspora – in so far as our largely male-based sources allow – into the literature of the Chinese overseas has much to offer in terms of our interpretation of the impact of the restrictive laws of the white-settler nations and of the motivations of those who returned to the villages and of those who did not.
摘要
二十世纪初至中叶，华人散居海外被视为是以男人为主体的活动，而这些男人大多与留守在华南村庄的妇女保持着密切的联系。这些妇女在散居海外华人历史中扮演的角色与意义，却极缺学者的研究与关注，也因此造成已发表的文章有人认为，过于偏重男人离乡背井与安顿异地，而轻忽留守的女人与最终男人的返乡。这些住在村庄的妇女主要仰赖海外汇款，而汇款引发出混杂的相对因素如财富与贫困、依赖性与独立性、权威与焦虑以及孤独与自由。结论是虽然大量的海外华侨资料来自于男性，在可发掘范围内把华侨历史轨迹中女性角色彰显出来，再融会解读如白人国家限制性法律对海外华人的影响、返乡团聚男人的思绪与流落异乡耆老，力图了解不论身处何方，散居海外带给侨民，留守妇女以及整个家庭的影响。
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Holding Up Half the Family
Women in the Villages of South China
能顶半边家庭的华南村庄妇女
Search for other papers by Michael Williams (韋邁高) in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The Chinese diaspora seen as a movement, at least in the years before the mid-twentieth century, is characterised largely as one of men. But the majority of these men stayed in close connection with an equally great, if not larger, group of women who remained at home in their south China villages. It is argued here that the role and significance of these women of the villages in the Chinese diaspora has been greatly under-researched. It is also argued that such neglect has meant that too great an emphasis has been put in the literature on leaving and settlement, as opposed to remaining and returning. Life for these women in the villages was one dependent on remittances, which in turn was a mixture of relative wealth and poverty, dependence and independence, authority and anxiety, and loneliness and freedom. It is concluded that the integration of half the participants in the Chinese diaspora – in so far as our largely male-based sources allow – into the literature of the Chinese overseas has much to offer in terms of our interpretation of the impact of the restrictive laws of the white-settler nations and of the motivations of those who returned to the villages and of those who did not.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1384 | 403 | 33 |
| Full Text Views | 28 | 10 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 44 | 12 | 2 |