Transformation of the Chinese family in the legal aspect: towards individualism or familism?

In this paper, I investigate the change in the term of a family in the context of modern Chinese family law, with a consideration of its historical- cultural context. The article concludes that the changes in family law in the recent four decades presents both a individualization tendency and familistic tendency. However, the two tendencies appear in laws and regulations concerned with different family relationships. Between the spouses, an obvious individualization inclination was gradually introduced. Whereas, facing a social reality of aging society and highly mobile life style, which causes providing for elders more difficult than before, the law intends to support intergenerational ties, and in this way promote a familistic outlook.