This paper examines the persistence and transformation of the practice of bride price (caili) in rural Shandong. Originating in early dynasties as ritualized gift exchange and later evolving into monetized transactions by the Ming and Qing, bride price has long embodied both cultural symbolism and the commodification of marriage. While the 1950 Marriage Law sought to abolish the practice as a remnant of “feudalism,” the endurance of bride price reveals the limits of legal reform in reshaping deeply embedded traditions. Drawing on oral testimonies collected in Shandong, this paper shows that bride price remains central to marital negotiations across generations. Older villagers encourage its continuation, while many young women regard it as an essential test of sincerity and a safeguard of economic security within marriage. Far from being backward or obsolete, bride price has been reinterpreted as a rational adaptation to contemporary anxieties over unequal protection in divorce, gender inequality, and domestic abuse. Despite officially prohibiting the practice, the state has largely turned a blind eye, reflecting an uneasy balance between ideological intrusion into family life and the preservation of personal autonomy. The persistence of bride price thus illuminates how historical practices have been reinterpreted in ways that both resist and accommodate state power, revealing the complexity of marriage in China as a site of negotiation between law, economy, and lived experience.

Authors:
Karen Shi, Duke University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Karen Shi is a Master's candidate in East Asian Studies at Duke University.Her academic interest is contemporary Chinese history through the lens of gender and oral history.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-shi-574a45225/

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