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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Conflict & Security

Former Anchor Chang Yu Shares Her Views on In-Law Conflicts Three Years After Divorce

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Chang Yu, who divorced in November 2023 and has two children, wrote that mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts often reflect sons’ failure to set boundaries.
  • She said future daughters-in-law should not have to call her “mother” and could use her name or a nickname instead.
  • Chang Yu supports flexible holiday arrangements, maternal surnames and a respectful relationship in which the daughter-in-law remains the head of her own household.

Former television anchor Chang Yu says she hopes the cycle of hostile mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships will end with her generation. In a social media post, she described the issue as an enduring family problem and questioned traditions that place unequal expectations on daughters-in-law.

Chang, 40, divorced her former husband in November 2023 and has two children. She wrote that many conflicts involve fathers failing to perform their role, leaving sons to become their mothers’ emotional partners. She also said some mothers-in-law treat their sons’ wives as imagined enemies and subject them to disrespect and tests of obedience from the start of the marriage.

She said she would reject customs she considers outdated if she becomes a mother-in-law. If a future daughter-in-law wants to spend the Lunar New Year with her own parents, Chang said the families could visit separately or take turns on New Year’s Eve. The important thing, she wrote, is to meet willingly and enjoy the time together, regardless of the date.

Chang also said she would not object if her grandchildren took their mother’s surname. “My son doesn’t even have my surname, so what difference does it make whose surname my grandchildren have? I will love them all the same. Blood ties never change because of a surname,” she wrote.

She believes a daughter-in-law should not be required to call her “mother,” saying the word carries too much weight because the woman did not grow up eating her food or being raised by her. Chang said she would not visit her son’s home to assert authority and that the daughter-in-law should be the head of that household. She described an ideal relationship as one with comfortable distance, where the two women might shop, cook or complain about Chang’s husband together.

My son doesn’t even have my surname, so what difference does it make whose surname my grandchildren have? I will love them all the same. Blood ties never change because of a surname.

— Chang YuChang explained why she supports allowing grandchildren to take their mother’s surname.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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