Arranged+Marriages+in+China

= China = toc

History of Arranged Marriages in China
China’s history of arranged marriages developed along with its very collectivist culture. Most marriages were entirely arranged by parents and older family members. In 1949, however, the Communist Party rose to power, and in 1950 the Marriage Law was passed, banning arranged marriages. Couples would come to a registration office in order to get married, where they would be asked if they were entering into their marriage freely, not forced by family members to wed ( Xu, Xiaohe, & Whyte, 1990) .

//Jiehun dengji// (结婚登记) - Marriage Registration Designer: Lei Zhengmin (雷正民) - 1950

With this political shift, parent-dominated matches declined from their peak of 60-70% down to less than 10% overall ( Xu, Xiaohe, & Whyte, 1990). Rural China, however, still has much higher percentages of arranged matches than urban China. Though there was a huge bump in non-arranged marriages after the Marriage Law was passed, the growth of “love matches” leveled off in the 1970's and has not risen much since (Xiao, 2006).

Xingfude hunyin (幸福的婚姻) - A happy marriage Designer: Jiang Feng (江峰) - 1953

Benefits of Arranged Marriages in China
Frequently, young people in China will get good favor through the people that they know. Interpersonal connections, or //guanxi//, can mean friends and family work as a network to gain benefits for all members of a community. Usually it involves the older members of a family using their own social ties to place their younger relatives in fortunate positions, like at a good job or school, though it is also helpful when just getting a good price for something, or getting help in an unfamiliar setting. //Guanxi// heavily influences younger people to stay close to their parents and to listen to their advice or instructions, so they will have an easier time competing for scarce resources (Riley, 1994).

media type="youtube" key="s2GBL-IfY3Q" width="560" height="315" align="center"

 As a collectivist culture, many decisions are made for the good of the family unit, rather than the good of the individual. There is a strong positive correlation between arranged marriages and the income of the married couple - parents will take the income of a potential spouse into account when arranging a marriage, hoping that more money will help their family as a whole in the long term ( Huang, Jin, & Xu, 2012). Affection and commonalities are less shareable, but money can benefit an entire family unit; parents are thus motivated to look at income before social compatibility. Chinese parents will usually move in with their children when they are too old to live alone, and a higher income makes that transition and living arrangement much less financially stressful. Not taking social compatibility into account unfortunately plays out - arranged marriages also have a negative correlation with marital harmony ( Huang, Jin, & Xu).

Why It Continues
A “dating culture” involves having venues or situations in which young people can engage in romantic relationships that will not necessarily lead to marriage. China does not have much of a dating culture; there is a limited scene in urban areas, but it is practically non-existent in the rural parts of China ( Huang, Jin, & Xu). . Despite this, not all young adults meet their partners through their parents - the ways young people meet can include being introduced by friends or meeting by chance at work or school, as well as being introduced by parents and older relatives. Regardless of how a couple meets, they will likely spend a lot of time together in their homes, due to the lack of dedicated space for young people to socialize. This means that their parents will spend a lot of time with their partners, getting to know them. Their parents will then indicate approval or disapproval of their potential spouse - because of the influence of // guanxi // and respect for parents, that opinion will strongly affect whether or not the relationship continues at all, let alone leads to marriage.

Most Chinese young adults do not resent this interference from their parents; because of the lack of dating culture and the worry of not finding a spouse, they are thankful for the assistance (Riley, 1994).

Over 70% of married women in China have only ever dated the person who became their spouse, and 90% of women say that they only ever considered marrying their current spouse. Additionally, up to half of Chinese women say that they only went on dates with a man after they had made the commitment to marry him ( Xu, Xiaohe, & Whyte, 1990). .

Partner Selection
Chinese women and men over the age of 30 are considered to be unmarriageable and failures, respectively. Because of this and the collectivist push to form a marriage and have children, parents will spend a lot of energy trying to find spouses for their children. “Love Markets” are spaces in public parks where parents will gather with short biographies of their children to try and match them up (Chao, 2014; Gu, 2006). Some parents will organize dating events where they will send their children, or (in some cases) bring their children and have match-making discussions with other parents while their children stand with them (Chao, 2014).

media type="youtube" key="B9hNHe7fdrQ" width="560" height="315" align="center"

Some young adults, in an effort to find a partner before (or after) they reach unmarriageable ages, use dating websites. The most popular dating websites in China allow users to be extremely selective when looking for a partner. Though only 10% of unmarried men in China own a house and car, over 75% of women on dating websites list owning a house and car as mandatory for their potential spouse (Xiao, 2006). Some websites also organize singles events in urban areas. These are different than the events which parents organize - the young adults attend on their own, and there tends to be a bump in attendance before major holidays (because they want to be able to bring a partner home to their parents) (Xiao).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline;">References
Chao Kin, C. (2014). An Ethnographic Study of the Marriage Matchmaking Corner in a South China City. International Academic Conference On Social Sciences, (42), 212-226.

Gu, X. J. (2006). China's love market: traditions of arranged marriage and the old faith in communism are merging with consumer choice. This has brought romantic freedom--which comes with its own problems. New Statesman (1996), (4796). 36.

Huang, F., Jin, G. Z., & Xu, L. C. (2012). Love and Money by Parental Matchmaking: Evidence from Urban Couples in China.American Economic Review, 102(3), 555-560. doi:10.1257/aer.102.3.555

Riley, N. E. (1994). Interwoven Lives: Parents, Marriage, and Guanxi in China. Journal Of Marriage & Family, 56(4), 791-803.

Xiao Jia, G. (2006). China's love market. New Statesman, 135(4796), 36-38.

Xu, Xiaohe, and Martin King Whyte. 1990. "Love Matches and Arranged Marriages: A Chinese Replication." Journal Of Marriage & Family 52, no. 3: 709-722. SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 30, 2016).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline;">Galia Godel