Before and after Death:Elderly Support for Widowed Women of Huizhou in the Qing Dynasty
It is clear from the documents of family partition of Huizhou families in the Qing dynasty that elderly support for families of widowed women mainly included supply of goods,money and food.Supply of goods was the most commonly seen way of support.Property structure and the economic model of the household influenced the type of supply of goods.The rations for widowed mothers mainly came from two sources:by cultivating a share of the farmland of the divided family property or by taking the rations directly from their children.The farmland could be cultivated and harvested by widowed mother herself or she could let the son manage it on her behalf or she could collect the rent herself.In the case of money,it was given by all the sons or by the earners and managers of the property.Food was provided in turns by sons directly.The share of the widowed mother was between 5％to 30％of the total family property,which was not equal to that of all the children.The expenses of formalities after death of the widowed mother came from the cultivated farmland or public property.In the cases of families without cultivated farmland or public property,all sons or a particular son bore the expenses.After the death of the widowed mother,the remaining property was equally divided among the sons.The elderly support of widowed mothers also followed the principle of equal distribution.The documents of family partition were the guarantee of the widowed mother's elderly support.
Qing DynastyHuizhouDocuments of Family PartitionWidowed WomenElderly Family Support
万方数据
维普
