Marriage and Family are the Enemies of Liberty: Implications of the Idea of Family Revolution from Chinese Anarchism
Author: Shinsuke Yasui
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
Originating in the modern era, marriage and family have become important topics for all of mankind. The appeal for women’s liberation sparked numerous discussions in both the West and in China. Among the topics discussed was the unique argument proposed by Chinese anarchists to abolish marriage and family altogether. They took woman’s liberation one step further by offering a structural criticism of both marriage and family. Their points of view can still enlighten us to some extent today. This essay aims to analyze the statements made by the Chinese anarchists about marriage and family, carefully interpreting and elucidating the implications.
This essay finds that human relationships existed universally in marriage and family were promoted to an ideological level in Chinese political culture, in which authoritarian and permanent relationship networks caused massive oppression. To oppose these relationships, Chinese anarchists insisted that free love become the new model for human relationships, and regarded free union and separation as the ideal. They provided the possibility of a future order that could exist society.