SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Floating Clouds and Feudal Commodifications: Family, Law and Reform in the Contemporary PRC

Abstract

This talk explores some of the key issues surrounding the principal changes in family law in the People's Republic of China that have occurred during the post-Deng period.  It also contextualizes various family law developments in the social transformations and cultural continuities of contemporary China. The developments that have occurred during the period under review have been notable both for their pace and for their contribution to a growing legal sophistication in China's corpus of family law. They expand on a series of major reforms in family law that commenced in 1980. At the same time, a number of the reforms have been criticized for their backward tenor -- for example, for the manner in which they infringe the personal interests and undermine the social status of women, and give insufficient space for children's rights. This presentation covers a wide range of problems and concerns where the dramatic changes that have taken place in family law and Chinese society over the past fifteen years or so have resulted in significant tensions and strains, creating in turn very serious difficulties for law reformers and many others.

Speaker Biography

Professor Michael Palmer is also currently a Professorial Research Associate in the Centre of Chinese Studies (CCS), and a former Chair of the CCS as well as a former Director of the Centre of East Asian Law (CEAL) at SOAS.