More Shanghai babies given mother’s surname as China’s old patriarchal traditions start to fade
- Official figures from city suggest almost 10 per cent of newborns took their mother’s name as women start to enjoy more independence and higher status
Almost one in 10 newborns in Shanghai last year were given their mother’s surname, marking a sharp departure from society’s patriarchal norms.
The Shanghai Population Management Office announced this week that among the 90,000 babies born to the city’s permanent residents in 2018, 91.2 per cent had their father’s surname and 8.8 per cent their mother’s. Some 2.5 per cent had both parents’ family names.
Yang Juhua, a professor of demographics from the Centre for Population and Development Studies of Renmin University of China in Beijing, said the trend was related to the new policy of allowing families to have two children.
“In many families in big cities, the first child now carries the father’s surname and the second one the mother’s,” Yang said. “This arrangement is considered fair to both families.”
China’s Marriage Law stipulates people can choose either their father or mother’s surname.
“It was my father’s desire to give my second child my surname and my husband’s family agreed,” said Tina Wu, whose four-year-old carries her surname.
The 43-year-old said her eldest, a 10-year-old boy, had the same surname as his father, Chen.