This study aims to explore the changing dynamics of traditional kinship culture in rural western China. The interview-based data collection method provided a good deal of additional information about family characteristics and kinship network interactions - making it possible to identify economic and cultural factors associated with different spatial patterns, and their implications for both utilitarian and non-utilitarian relationships. Using the Kinship Network Questionnaire (KNQ) software system , a computerized version of Rivers's genealogical method, we conducted field surveys in the rural areas of Sichuan Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Western China, and collected the data for kinship research on practical cooperation, demographic behavior, inheritance, residence, social interaction, and ritual participation.
Our findings show that the influence of labor migration and land transfer in rural areas of western China has led to a gradual weakening of intergenerational ties in terms of living arrangements. Additionally, there has been an increase in the aging of the agricultural labor force, a decrease in mutual assistance between relatives, and a shift in the traditional culture of raising children to provide safeguards against old age. These findings raise the possibility of future challenges, such as the need to improve rural social security systems, especially the rural social endowment insurance system.
