Cooking, cleaning and caring for the kids during the day, Chen Hualiang takes on household tasks many Chinese fathers tend to leave to their wives, bucking a deep-rooted patriarchal tradition and even inspiring a hit TV show.
The former project manager gave up the rat race to join a growing number of “full-time dads,” as they are known in China.
“When you work, you dream of a great career and that this money will help your family,” he said from a villa in the suburbs of Shanghai, his four-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son playing nearby. “But nothing is certain, and a salary is not necessarily what your family needs the most.”
Photo: AFP
Social norms in China have for centuries dictated that men are the breadwinners, while women take care of the household and children.
“My father was just a father. I never felt like he could help me, except financially,” Chen said. “I want to be like a friend to my children, so they can share things with me.”
Over half of Chinese men now say they would agree to become a stay-at-home dad, a 2019 survey cited by state media suggested — up from just 17 percent in 2007.
That has coincided with a broader recognition of women’s rights and their access to higher education, though they are still under-represented in senior roles.
“The increase in the number of stay-at-home dads is due to the fact that women have a higher status today,” said Pan Xingzhi, founder of an online psychological counseling platform.
People also see “value for money” — for a couple, foregoing a salary and taking care of their baby themselves is often less expensive than hiring a nanny or a childminder, Pan said.
‘SUPER HELPFUL’
For Chen, his decision to stay home frees up time for his wife Mao Li, author of a bestselling book on stay-at-home fathers.
“At the beginning of our marriage, I wondered about his helpfulness as a spouse,” she said. “He worked a lot, so he didn’t help me with the children and didn’t pay me much attention. But now he takes care of the children and stays at home, I find him super helpful,” she said.
She gives him “9.5 out of 10.”
On Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent of Instagram, other young stay-at-home dads proudly promote their lifestyle choice.
Chang Wenhao, 37, a content creator and education entrepreneur from the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, is one convert.
He adjusted his working hours to be available 80 percent of the time for his seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son, taking them camping, horse riding, cycling and hiking.
“In terms of educational methods, encouragement, how to build self-confidence, develop their skills, their independence in life, I bring them things they don’t learn at school or from other adults,” he said.
Mao’s book has inspired a 36-episode television series called Husband and Wife on the theme of full-time dads, rekindling the sometimes-heated debate about the role of men in the home in China. “My parents are a little concerned that I am a stay-at-home dad,” Chen said. “Some people, especially on social media, say that I live off my wife.”
‘YOU HAVE TO WORK’
Plenty of other stay-at-home dads also report pushback from their families.
Xu Xiaolin, 34, from the eastern Chinese city of Xiamen, has been a stay-at-home dad since the company he worked for went bankrupt.
“In the beginning, my parents and grandparents often said: you have to work,” Xu said. “Elderly neighbors sometimes make comments to them. It bothers them, so they put pressure on me.”
Passers-by sometimes make fun of him when he walks his two-year-old son alone, he said.
“But people under 35 no longer have that mentality.”
Chang, the entrepreneur, also said he has noticed the beginnings of a change in recent years.
“Many fathers are starting to value the company and education of their children” and listening to their needs. This will continue to develop,” he said. “But profound change will still take time.”
If you are a Western and especially a white foreign resident of Taiwan, you’ve undoubtedly had the experience of Taiwanese assuming you to be an English teacher. There are cultural and economic reasons for this, but one of the greatest determinants is the narrow range of work permit categories that exist for Taiwan’s foreign residents, which has in turn created an unofficial caste system for foreigners. Until recently, laowai (老外) — the Mandarin term for “foreigners,” which also implies citizenship in a rich, Western country and distinguishable from brown-skinned, southeast Asian migrant laborers, or wailao (外勞) — could only ever
Sept. 23 to Sept. 29 The construction of the Babao Irrigation Canal (八堡圳) was not going well. Large-scale irrigation structures were almost unheard of in Taiwan in 1709, but Shih Shih-pang (施世榜) was determined to divert water from the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) to the Changhua plain, where he owned land, to promote wet rice cultivation. According to legend, a mysterious old man only known as Mr. Lin (林先生) appeared and taught Shih how to use woven conical baskets filled with rocks called shigou (石笱) to control water diversion, as well as other techniques such as surveying terrain by observing shadows during
In recent weeks news outlets have been reporting on rising rents. Last year they hit a 27 year high. It seems only a matter of time before they become a serious political issue. Fortunately, there is a whole political party that is laser focused on this issue, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP). They could have had a seat or two in the legislature, or at least, be large enough to attract media attention to the rent issue from time to time. Unfortunately, in the last election, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) acted as a vote sink for
About 130 years ago — as New Zealand women celebrated their world-first right to vote, athletes competed in the first international Olympic Games, and the first motion pictures were flickering into view — a tiny mottled green reptile with a spiny back was hatching on a small New Zealand island. The baby tuatara — a unique and rare reptile endemic to New Zealand — emerged from his burrow into the forest floor, where he miraculously evaded birds, rats and cannibalistic adult tuatara to reach his full adult size — nearly one kilo in weight and half a meter in length —