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Five Changes in Chinese Marriages

More Freedom in Marriage

In the new century, Chinese people care more about individual happiness. Most people believe that they can choose their own lifestyle and that their marriage is none of anyone else's business. They neither follow suit to get married nor reluctantly maintain a marriage without love. Getting married or not depends on personal careful consideration.

Emerging new lifestyles also provide more freedom and choices for Chinese people. Some people decide to lead a single life, some may be bachelor mothers, some give up their rights of reproduction, some divorced people refuse to get married again, and others may live together with their partners before marriage. Public opinion never bothers those people. Freedom becomes one of the most important elements for everyone's life.

International Couples Emphasize Love

In the last decade, some people married foreigners not for love, but for going abroad to enjoy a better life. According to an investigation by Shanghai Bureau of Civil Affairs, before the 21st century, 13 percent of the international couples in Shanghai had a disparity of 20 years in age. Some of the blindfold international marriages ended up with a short lifespan.

In the latest few years, international couples make more careful decisions about marriage. With love functioning as the activator for international marriage, the number of international couples has increased rapidly. The same investigation in Shanghai reported that, among registered couples in the former half of 2003, 80 percent were within five years of one another's age. The international couples cared more about each other's educational background, interests, personalities, etc.

However, the divorce rate of international marriage is increasing gradually. The increasing divorce rate, on the other hand, might also prove that international couples emphasize the quality of marriage and expectation of love.

Generally speaking, the changes in marriage reflect the changes both in Chinese society and the concepts of Chinese people individually. In the 21st century, Chinese people's concept about marriage has become more rational, more progressive, and more international. Marriage is no longer only a social mechanism for family, reproduction, and children, but a vehicle for freedom, love, harmony and happiness.

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