e husband-wife relationships presume male superiority and sexual options, female fidelity, and female acquiescence in and confinement to the home sphere.
American husband-wife patterns increasingly have both partners working in and outside the home, and marriages tend to be structured around providing for children.
In both the US and China, some changes in marriage and living patterns have taken place in the 20th century.
In America, the rise of divorce and unmarried cohabitation fosters insecurity among children about the stability of family.
Highly traditional Chinese marriage norms may restrict spouses' options but have the virtue of stability.
Class is a matter of social and civic status in China and of wealth in the US.
Confucian traditions of aristocracy continue to position the literati-bureaucrat at the top of society.
In the US, there is ambivalence about intellectualism and wealth as the defining feature of high class.
The ethos of social equality is leavened by the class mobility implied in economic advancement.
Privileged classes in America tend to protect their exclusive position in a variety
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