Kin Outside the Household and Demographic and Social Outcomes in Rural Liaoning, China, 1774-1909

Cameron D. Campbell, University of California, Los Angeles
James Lee, University of Michigan

We make use of a uniquely detailed and voluminous longitudinal, individual- and household-level dataset from rural Liaoning in northeast China during the eighteenth and nineteenth century to examine the role of kin networks beyond the household in determining individual social and demographic outcomes in late imperial China. We examine how individual chances of attainment, fertility, marriage, and mortality were affected by measured characteristics of the household, an administrative unit known as the household group, the descent group, and the village. We assess the role of kin networks beyond the household by examining whether characteristics of the household group and descent group affected individual outcomes once characteristics of the household and village were controlled for. Results indicate that the household group and descent group were important units of organization in late imperial Chinese society, as reflected in the importance of their characteristics in determining individual social and demographic outcomes.