Power triangle: Power dynamics and children’s agency in Chinese liushou (left-behind) families

Journal article

This study explores power dynamics in Chinese liushou (left-behind) families from the perspective of children. Drawing on 9 months of ethnographic fieldwork in rural Sichuan, it demonstrates that intergenerational authority is reconfigured into a “power triangle” linking migrant parents, co-resident grandparents, and children. Children’s agency emerges not only through forms of resistance such as concealment, humouring, and selective compliance, but also through retreat, shaped by guilt, sacrifice, and compassion. The analysis conceptualises power as ambivalent, intimate, and negotiated, offering new insights into how migration reshapes family life and generational orders.

Authors: Guo, K; Xue, K

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Childhood: A journal of global child research
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 32-49
• Publication date: 2025-12-23
• Acceptance date: 2025-12-15
• DOI: 10.1177/09075682251411780
• EISSN: 1461-7013
• ISSN: 0907-5682
• Language: English
• Keywords: children’s agency; intimate power; power triangle; social relational theory; intergenerational dynamics; migration; left-behind families