20 Modern China (Cherlin,2004).In the United States,where marriage rates are still noticeably higher than in Europe(see Figure 3),sociologist Andrew Cherlin has hypoth- esized that marriage now functions as a prestigious form of symbolic capital to which a majority of both men and women aspire but which only an advan- taged minority (usually college educated whites)achieve,an interpretation recently confirmed by demographer Averil Clarke's analysis of differential marriage rates among American women(Cherlin,2004;Clarke,2011).Few would go as far as Anthony Giddens (1992)and predict that marriage will become"just one life-style among others"(1992:154).But many agree that the economic,legal,and cultural shifts that have privileged private prefer- ences and individualized property rights since 1970 have changed the expec- tations and experience of marriage (Cherlin,2004;Cohen,2002;Coontz, 2004;Lesthaeghe,2010;Stacey,2011). But should we expect that the recently more privatized Chinese marriages will be similarly deinstitutionalized?Certainly,party-state policies on divorce and property as well as citizens'expectations of marriage and sexual inti- macy have substantially shifted.Barriers to divorce are minimal,prenuptial property agreements have gained legitimacy,communal property claims have been weakened,and premarital and extramarital sexuality are rarely punished(Farrer,2002,2006;Farrer and Sun,2003;Shen,2008;Pei,2011; Yan,2011).Yet,in other essential dimensions,changes in marital experience in China do not resemble the recent shifts in capitalist democracies of Europe or the Americas but rather resemble behaviors prevalent in China's past. For example,in terms of the most recent SPC interpretation that privileged claims of a husband's parents over the wife,we observe both a break with the socialist past and a possible return to earlier traditions that privileged familial over conjugal claims to property.On the other hand,the trend to delink sexual intimacy and marriage suggests only a partial return to the norms of the 1920s and 1930s.In those pre-socialist decades,men but never women could legiti- mately experience premarital and extramarital sexual relationships,and men of wealth often took secondary wives (Mann,2011;Hershatter,1997).Thus the new freedom of women as well as men to de-link sex and marriage marks a sharp break from the high-socialist years but only a partial return to or rein- stitutionalization around pre-1949 behaviors. Turning to issues of childbearing,we immediately confront the most fun- damental distinctions between marriages in China and those in Europe and the Americas.In China,as in other Asian societies,marriage and parenthood are tightly linked and sequenced and there are few births outside marriage (Jones and Gubhaju,2009).Thus even as women match or exceed male enrollment in tertiary education and most mothers work outside the home,the rate of non-marital births remains very low.Explanations for the low rates of Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12,201420 Modern China (Cherlin, 2004). In the United States, where marriage rates are still noticeably higher than in Europe (see Figure 3), sociologist Andrew Cherlin has hypoth￾esized that marriage now functions as a prestigious form of symbolic capital to which a majority of both men and women aspire but which only an advan￾taged minority (usually college educated whites) achieve, an interpretation recently confirmed by demographer Averil Clarke’s analysis of differential marriage rates among American women (Cherlin, 2004; Clarke, 2011). Few would go as far as Anthony Giddens (1992) and predict that marriage will become “just one life-style among others” (1992: 154). But many agree that the economic, legal, and cultural shifts that have privileged private prefer￾ences and individualized property rights since 1970 have changed the expec￾tations and experience of marriage (Cherlin, 2004; Cohen, 2002; Coontz, 2004; Lesthaeghe, 2010; Stacey, 2011). But should we expect that the recently more privatized Chinese marriages will be similarly deinstitutionalized? Certainly, party-state policies on divorce and property as well as citizens’ expectations of marriage and sexual inti￾macy have substantially shifted. Barriers to divorce are minimal, prenuptial property agreements have gained legitimacy, communal property claims have been weakened, and premarital and extramarital sexuality are rarely punished (Farrer, 2002, 2006; Farrer and Sun, 2003; Shen, 2008; Pei, 2011; Yan, 2011). Yet, in other essential dimensions, changes in marital experience in China do not resemble the recent shifts in capitalist democracies of Europe or the Americas but rather resemble behaviors prevalent in China’s past. For example, in terms of the most recent SPC interpretation that privileged claims of a husband’s parents over the wife, we observe both a break with the socialist past and a possible return to earlier traditions that privileged familial over conjugal claims to property. On the other hand, the trend to delink sexual intimacy and marriage suggests only a partial return to the norms of the 1920s and 1930s. In those pre-socialist decades, men but never women could legiti￾mately experience premarital and extramarital sexual relationships, and men of wealth often took secondary wives (Mann, 2011; Hershatter, 1997). Thus the new freedom of women as well as men to de-link sex and marriage marks a sharp break from the high-socialist years but only a partial return to or rein￾stitutionalization around pre-1949 behaviors. Turning to issues of childbearing, we immediately confront the most fun￾damental distinctions between marriages in China and those in Europe and the Americas. In China, as in other Asian societies, marriage and parenthood are tightly linked and sequenced and there are few births outside marriage (Jones and Gubhaju, 2009). Thus even as women match or exceed male enrollment in tertiary education and most mothers work outside the home, the rate of non-marital births remains very low. Explanations for the low rates of Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12, 2014