Brides, Bachelors and Brokers: The Marriage Market in Rural Anhui in an Era of Economic Reform

Abstract

After a decade in which the social science research environment in China has improved dramatically, a detailed mass of information is now becoming available on the impact of the changing economy on the social structure of the rural areas. Generalizations based on secondary sources and interviews with migrants to Hong Kong have given way to detailed case studies based on longer-term fieldwork. Much of this has so far centred in Guandong Province, fanning out to Sichuan, Shandong and even as far north as Hebei and Liaoning. The picture which is emerging is one of quite considerable local variation. As Whyte and Harrell have recently suggested, the changes over large parts of the country remain unmapped, and what we need is more case studies to fill in the gaps (Whyte, 1992; Harrell, 1992).