Model Letters Declining Arranged Marriages: Changing Formulas for Family Correspondence in Modern China

Abstract

This paper examines model letters declining arranged marriages exchanged between young people and their elders in Republican China. These new models deserve special attention for creating a subtle tension in the family hierarchy during the early twentieth century. Notwithstanding their common purpose, model letters declining arranged marriages produced by different publishers differ in format and tone. While certain model letters reinforced Confucian patriarchy and positioned the elders superior to the young, other model letters provided the standard lines of appeal that sought to ease tensions between the younger and older generations as the young consciously appropriated the emergent discourse to legitimize their dissent. The marital negotiation thus allows us to glean insights into the changing dynamics of family letters under the influence of new ideals about family and marriage in modern China.