The Effect of Chinese Lineage on China’s Education DisparitySPEAKER: FRED ZHAN

PEKING UNIVERSITY

JUNE/10/2014

Session C2: Schooling, Education and Work Presentation: 2

Ouline 1.Background

2.Motivation

3.Objective

4.Data and methodology

5.Results

6.Conclusions

1.Background---what is a Chinese lineage

A Chinese lineage is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home

From the same ancestors

Usually has an ancestral memorial hall or a family tree book

1.Background---what Chinese lineage does

Building an ancestral memorial hall---to worship their ancestors

Organizing activities during festivals---dragon boating competition on Duanwu Festival

Publishing family tree book—recording every member that has been born into this family since the first generation of the lineage sorted by the order of Chinese characters

Improving education among its children◦ Building schools for children of the lineage◦ Organizing gatherings for who do well in college entrance exams◦ Printing the names of those doing in college entrance exams onto the wall of the ancestral shrines◦ Offering scholarships or financial aids for those promising but poor children

1.Background---the Chinese lineage of Ding in Henan Province

An ancestral memorial hall Family tree book

1.Background---the Chinese lineage of Ding Village

Population: less than 2,000

Bachelor degree holders: 90

Master degree holders:20

Doctor degree holders: 23

Professors:18

First doctor degree holder in Henan Province

Some of the top professors and political leaders in China

2. Motivations Migrant Opportunity and the Educational Attainment of Youth in Rural China(John Giles and Alan de Brauw, 2008)

◦ Test :the effect of the increasing opportunity brought by migrant networks on the enrollment decision on the high school

◦ Conclusion: the effect is negative for migrant networks make the opportunity costs for attending a school more expensive

Chinese lineage networks and the income distribution within villages(Guo Yunnan, Yao Yang, Jeremy Foltz, 2014)

◦ Test: the effect of Chinese lineage on the income distribution among villages ◦ Conclusions: the income disparity is smaller where there is a Chinese lineage◦ Rationale: the Chinese lineage lowers the migrant costs of the members. Meanwhile the people from

poorer families benefit more from the networks, thus narrowing the income gap with their peers.

2. Motivations The Chinese lineage networks and the migrant labor

◦ Test: the effect of Chinese lineages on the likelihood that a villager migrate to urban areas◦ Conclusion: the Chinese lineage networks increases the likelihood a villager move to the urban area◦ Rationale: the social networks increases the expected opportunity of finding a job and the migrating

costs

3. Objectives Investigate the effect of Chinese lineage’s effect on the education attainment

4. Data and methodology A. Model and hypothesis

◦ 1) ◦ 2)◦ 3) ◦ 4) _ ^ = ^ ( _ , _ , _( ), _ _( _ ^ 1 ) ( ), _ _( _ ^ 1 ) 𝐸 𝑡 ∗ 𝐸 ∗ 𝜎 𝑡 𝜇 𝑡 𝜑 𝑡 𝜃 𝑡 𝐹 𝐿 𝑡 𝑐 𝑡 𝜃 𝑡 𝐹 𝐿 𝑡 𝑎

( ), ( _( )^ , _ ), ( _ ^ , _ ), _ ^𝑡 𝑤 𝐻 𝑡 𝑎 𝑀 𝑗𝑡 𝑤 𝐻 𝑡 𝑐 𝑀 𝑗𝑡 𝑃 𝑡 𝑒◦ 5)

4. Data and methodology B. Data

◦ 1) China Family Panel Survey 2010 (CFPS), conducted by Peking University◦ Community observations: 635◦ Family member observations: 57155◦ Family observations: 14960◦ Topics including: income, employment, education, medical services and health, child development, migration, housing, marriage

and family, etc.

◦ 2) the adults who were born after 1970

4. Data and methodology C.Hypothesis

◦ The existence on Chinese lineage will have positive impact on the education attainment for children in rural area

5.Results

Table 1 average education attainment by urban-rural divison

Average education attainment by region

Average(year) Standard deviations Observations (person)

Urban 8.03 4.92 15,574 Rural 4.78 4.49 18,016 Overall 6.28 4.97 33590

Source: China Family Panel Survey (CFPS), by Peking University

5.Results

Average education attainment in a rural community

observations mean

With a family tree book Without a family tree book

4,237 13,632

5.18 4.65

Total 18,016 4.78

Resource: CFPS

5.Results Descriptive results

Average education attainment in a rural community

observations mean

With a family tree book Without a family tree book

4,237 13,632

5.18 4.65

Total 18,016 4.78

Resource: CFPS

Average education attainment in a urban community

observations mean

With a family tree book Without a family tree book

3,260 12,164

8.08 0.01

Total 15,574 8.02

Resource: CFPS

5.Results Figure1 the proportion of having a family tree book among families by region

Source: CFPS

5. Results Table1 determinants of education attainment conditional on having a family tree book

Model Born after 1970 (general)

Born after 1970 (rural)

Born after 1970 (urban)

Born before 1970 (rural)

Born before 1970 (urban)

Having a family tree book(1=yes)

0.22 (0.008)

0.31 (0.001)

0.04 (0.804)

0.16 (0.348)

-0.26 (0.484)

Year of birth 0.02 (0.007)

0.05 (0.000)

0.02 (0.133)

0.07 (0.000)

0.09 (0.000)

Father’s education attainment

0.38 (0.000)

0.34 (0.000)

0.33 (0.000)

0.26 (0.000)

0.17 (0.000)

The number of siblings

-0.746 (0.000)

-0.57 (0.000)

-0.82 (0.000)

-0.17 (0.000)

-0.07 (0.427

The label of class in Great Cultural Revolution

-0.019 (0.027)

0.01 (0.090)

-0.17 (0.05)

0.26 (0.410)

0.02 (0.075)

Gender(1=male)

0.403 (0.000)

0.63 (0.000)

0.01 (0.992)

2.08 (0.000)

0.29 (0.287)

Number of observations

10,197 8063 2012 5045 548

Resource : CFPS

6. Conclusions The effect of having an ancestral hall will lower one’s education attainment in rural area

The effect of having a family tree book will increase one’s education attainment in rural area

The effect of having a family tree book is reported to be insignificant in urban area

Due attention should be paid to the informal local organizations in rural China in terms of education

Thank you for listening