PART IV INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS IN CHINA AND TAIWAN
The three chapters in Part IV focus on a comparison of intergenerational relations in Baoding and in urban Taiwan. Chapter 9, by Martin Whyte, Albert Hermalin, and Mary Beth Ofstedal, is an extended consideration of the contrasting development paths of these two Chinese societies. As indicated earlier, portions of the Baoding survey design and questionnaires were based upon a series of surveys that Albert Hermalin and colleagues conducted in Taiwan beginning in 1989. Although the Baoding survey was not an exact replication of those Taiwan surveys, enough common or similar questions were used to permit limited comparisons of results. Since Taiwan and the PRC share a common cultural heritage but have had very different recent histories and possess quite disparate contemporary institutions, this comparison presents a rare opportunity to explore the extent to which current attitudes and behavior regarding intergenerational relationships are rooted in cultural traditions versus the nature of the current social order. Chapter 9 reviews the recent history of these two Chinese societies in order to highlight contrasts that might be expected to influence the nature of parent-child relations.
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