Leftover Women in China

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Presss Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.Leftover Women in Chinaoffers an intimate empirical and theoretical analysis of the lived experience and legal consciousness of Chinas leftover women, women who remain unmarried in their late twenties and beyond. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus groups, Qian Liu examines how leftover womenincluding women who prefer to remain single, those who are waiting for the right husband, and queer womendeal with parental and social pressures, as well as the denial of their right to have children outside of heterosexual marriage. Sensitively exploring the distinctive patterns of parent-child interactions in Chinese families, Liu invites readers to understand leftover womens observance, evasion, and manipulation of the law in the context of intergenerational relationships and obligations.