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China's 'full-time dads' challenge patriarchal norms
Chen Hualiang (right), his wife Mao Li (left), and children posing at their home in Shanghai. Chen takes on household tasks many Chinese fathers tend to leave to their wives, bucking a deep-rooted patriarchal tradition and even inspiring a hit TV show. | AFP-JIJI
by LUDOVIC EHRET
September 19, 2024
SHANGHAI – Cooking, cleaning, caring for the kids during the day, Chen Hualiang takes on household tasks many Chinese fathers tend to leave to their wives, bucking a deep-rooted patriarchal tradition and even inspiring a hit TV show.
The former project manager gave up the rat race to join a growing number of "full-time dads," as they are known in China.
"When you work, you dream of a great career and that this money will help your family," he told reporters from a villa in the suburbs of Shanghai, his four-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son playing nearby.
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