A Historical and Demographical Analysis of Uxorilocal Marriage in Hsin-chu Area
During Japanese Colonial Rule in Taiwan
Wen Shan Yang
Institute of Sociology & Program for Historical Demography
Academia Sinica
The purpose of this study is to examine the cause of uxorilocal marriage inTaiwan during the period of Japanese colonial rule by utilizing the household
registration data from six villages in Hsin-chu area. These data make it possible toreconstruct the life histories of husbands who lived continuously in their wife’s nativevillages and townships. In colonial Taiwan, there are three types of marriages
exemplified by the household registration database. They are the traditional ‘majormarriage’; a minor marriage which is adopted daughter turn daughter-in-law (childbride); and uxorilocal marriage by which the husband is being“call in”, or recruit, tothe wife’s family. When a daughter calls in a husband to her own family is called zhou
xu [招婿]; when a widow calls in a husband to her late husband’s family is called zhao
fu [招夫].
According to our database, uxorilocal marriages are equally distributed thenorth and the south, while other types of marriage, minor marriages, are moreprevalent in the north. Uxorilocal marriage existed in all parts of Taiwan because it isinfluenced by regional environment and household backgrounds. According tofamous Chinese anthropologist Fei’s field study in the lower part of Yangtze River, hefound if any local family had only female children, the parents would request theparents of their daughter’s fiancé to allow their daughter to bear a heir for theirfamily. In other words, they had the right to request one son from their daughter
after the family name and preserve the familial lineage. It was common for adaughter’s son to become the heir of a family.
In Arthur Wolf’s field study in Northern Taiwan, he argues that uxorilocal
marriage can be divided into two types: contingent and institutional reasons. The
former usually associates with family lineage in which families that have no maleheirs use uxorilocal marriage as a way to continue family lineage; while the latter iscaused by natural or economic reasons in which emphasizes on practical reasons.
Pasternak, a Columbia anthropologist doing field work in the west-central part ofTaiwan, observed that due to lack of the infrastructure for the irrigation system, small
agriculture families because in need of extra hands to calling in a husband as a meansto obtain additional domestic labor.
In our field study village sites of the northern part of Taiwan, there were 391
women in uxorilocal marriages. Among them, 373 had no older brothers. Out ofthese 373 women, 48 had younger brothers. Approximately 83% women who
intended to marry uxorilocally in our field sites usually had no male siblings
preserving the familial lineage is the major goal of uxorilocal unions; while only 12%of them were for the demand of domestic labor.
Among men in uxorilocal marriage, about 46% had elder brothers while the rest
54% don’t. Although the colonial law prohibits single son to enter uxorilocal marriage,
many of them were the only son in the family. Observing the occupation of the headsof their households, their families were of lower social ranks, for example; labors,peasants, and maids. Poverty might be the force to drive to opt for uxorilocal
marriage as a way out of poverty. By examining the age of first marriage, that of men
in uxorilocal marriages are usually older than that of those in major or minor
marriages. The reason was that poverty may delay the age of first marriage entering
into uxorilocal marriage. We may argue that uxorilocal marriage was the last andunfavorable choice for a man to form his own family. In the research field sites of
Hsin-chu area, women’s choice of uxorilocal marriage was mainly driven by thedesire to continue the family lineage; men’s choice of uxorilocal marriage is largely
due to poverty as the limitations of family resources prevent all the sons of the samefamily to be able to celebrate the formal ritual of traditional major marriages. To
avoid ‘losing face’ by contracting uxorilocal marriage, 74.8% geographical radius ofuxorilocal marriage partners was mainly of inter-town/inter-village marriages. Theinter-regional uxorilocal marriages might be the cause as well as the result of thehigh divorce rate. Because the geographical distance between the potential couple,
the less chance they had to understand each other prior to the marriage. As a result,the lack of understanding increases the risk of marital stability.
Since uxorilocal marriage was a way to make up for men’s inabilities to pay for aproper wedding and a means to social mobility for lower class males, many of themmight want to be called-in because they covet women’s family wealth and property
as well. Our study indicates that both men and women were aware that uxorilocal
marriage was a sort of contract or ‘transaction’, and It was established on the groundof mutual benefits or interests which might bring elements of destabilizing factors tothe marriage itself.