Between God and Government: Intersections of Marriage, State Law, Customary Law, and Gender in Northwest China

In China, marriage laws have changed in tandem with social relations, affording protection to women and men, promulgating monogamy and discouraging patriarchal privilege. The state has also accommodated to ethnic and religious customs, but within broader state laws. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Hui minorities, we examine how legal pluralism operates in this context, where individuals and couples navigate relations at the intersection of state law and ethnic customs. Our specific focus on a criminal case involving a clash between “polygyny” and “bigamy” illustrates the conflict when two legal cultures come to the fore around gender, marriage and law.