Abstract：Average family size has decreased ；The first marriage age has raised and average expenditure on getting married has increased； Divorce rate keeps on going up； The cases of marriage involving foreigners have frequently occurred while problems have also arisen； People hold very different ideas about marriage and family now； Marital problems have increased；
Key words： family size；marriage；Divorce rate
Since China’s reform and opening up policy， many changes have taken place in china， among which variety in marriage and family is very impressive. What’s the general situation of Chinese Marriage and family in 1990s？ Compared with that in 1980s， has there been a change in the situation of Chinese Marriage and family？
Average family size has decreased.
Since Chinese government successfully implemented the family planning policy and the tendency of forming nuclear family was reinforced， the family size has decreased obviously. From 1985 to 1997， the numbers of family members have declined from 4.79 to 3.64.In recent years the numbers of family with only 1 to 3 members have increased while the numbers of medium-sized and large-sized family have declined.
The first marriage age has raised and average expenditure on getting married has increased.
Because Chinese Marriage law has been revised and Chinese people have different ideas about marriage， their first marriage age has raised. Chinese first marriage age averaged 22.66 years old in 1982 and 24.02 in 1996， which displayed a growing tendency.
In recent years young people have spent much more money in getting married， which worries both young people and their parents. According to a survey of wedding expenses conducted by Zero Inquisition Company in Beijing， Shanghai， Wuhan and Guangzhou， the average expenses of newly- wed couples was more than 20，000 Yuan in 1990s which was four times greater than in 1980s. The survey also found that 75% of young people asked covered the expenses themselves or met most part of the expenses and 19% entirely or mainly depend on their parents. Compared with that in 1950s， the proportion of wedding expenditure coming from young people’s income to the whole expenditure increased by 40% in 1990s.
Divorce rate keeps on going up.
Nowadays， many people are in favor of divorce. In addition， the revision of China"s regulations governing marriage will give more privacy to individuals in divorces， which will also make the procedure quicker and cheaper. In recent years many people have paid special attention to divorce rate that has risen continually. Chinese divorce rate has continually increased from 1980 to 2000. The divorce rate in 1997 is 2.3 times higher than in 1982. Remarriage rate in 1997 is 2.6 times higher than in 1982. 4. More and more divorced people remarried.
Recent years have seen a change in attitudes to divorced people， the fact that divorced people get remarried is considered socially acceptable by more and more people. More and more divorced or widowed people have overcome the usual obstacles to remarriage， for they do not fear they will become a laughing stock or be the subject of gossip. According to the statistics released by Ministry of Civil Affairs， only 500，000 people got remarried in 1985， this figure added up to 788，000 in1990 and 922，000 in 1997.Another official statistics released in 1996 showed that there were 18 million remarried people， among which 47.66% were over 50 years old， 45.72% were from 30 to 49 years old and only 6.62% were under the age of 29.
The cases of marriage involving foreigners have frequently occurred while problems have also arisen.
Chinese marriages involving foreigners have their unique characteristics as follows： Rapid development. More and more Chinese and foreigners enter into marriage since 1982. In 1982 Ministry of Civil Affairs had an enrollment of 14，193 couples， one of them being a foreigner. The figure was 50773 in 1997.
Up to now 53 foreign countries have involved. Chinese got married with foreigners who were mainly from U.S.A.， Canada and Australia during the past years whereas they are chiefly from the East Asia with Japanese being in the majority in recent years.
Chinese married foreigners， 70% of which were overseas Chinese.
Mostly， Chinese young women are marrying foreigners. It is much more common that a Chinese girl marries a foreigner than a Chinese young man marries a foreigner. 90% of marriages involving foreigners are that Chinese young women marry foreigners.
Most people related to marriages involving foreigners have received less education； it is especially a case in point that Chinese get married with Japanese， both Chinese and Japanese not well educated. By contrast， Chinese who have had good education， some of them are doctorate holders， managers and presidents in corporations， get married with Europeans and Americans.
Many problems have occurred.
1）. they get married not for the sake of love. 2）. some husbands are much older than their wives.
3）. they get married at lightening speed. After some of them know each other for a very short time， they have got married.
4）. some foreigners deceive Chinese young women into getting married with them.
5）. Divorce rate is very high. In recent years， the speed of divorce increases more rapidly than that of marriage. Divorce rate in 1995 is 2.8 times higher than in 1990. The people who divorced only accounted for 20% of those who got married in 1990 and it was 26% in 1995.
People hold very different ideas about marriage and family now.
1）. Changing ideas about choosing one’s spouse. People paid special attention to “political background” while they chose their spouses during Chinese Cultural Revolution. Nowadays， public interest centers on a person’s moral character and looks instead of political standards. More important， people begin to focus their minds on a person’s income while choosing future fiancée or fiancés. To sum up， moral criterion， economical criterion and cultural criterion are three significant criteria for choosing spouses， among which economical criterion far outweighs the others.
2）. People have developed the idea that everyone in the family should be equal. Many public opinion surveys have showed this change. Family property rights and the allotment of power on home economics can reflect family relationships and positions of husbands and wives in families. According to a survey carried out among 620 couples in Anhui province in 1998， 70% of couples asked solved problems of family expenditure through consultation. The idea that personal property should be notarized before marriage has gradually been formed. Although many young people do not have their personal property notarized， there are still some that accept this idea and it is especially the case in point when there is a great difference between personal property before marriage. On such occasions it is a good choice for both parties.
3）. People have a great variety of ideas about sex. What’s more， people have showed more and more tolerance towards illicit cohabitation. It seems that people have forgotten the history of they would be terrified at the mere mention of “sex”. The notional change in Chinese human nature may be unprecedented. Although the illegal cohabitation is now prohibited according to the revised China"s Marriage Law， many people still offer different views on the amendments. Mr. Zhao， who is a university teacher， made such comments： in view of the traditional planned economy， marriage is the foundation of our society. Actually， in accordance with the current market economy， marriage should be a kind of contract between individuals. The amendments， however， try to solve marital problems by protecting the original social ties instead of personal relations， which cannot fit in with the needs of the market economy. He doesn’t agree with the prohibition on illicit cohabitation. He thinks the punishment for bigamy is quite necessary， but it is much more difficult to define illicit cohabitation and even to investigate the various reasons of this phenomenon. According a statistics made by Chinese Academy of social sciences among 2000 Beijingers in 1995， one sixth of asked are in favor of premarital cohabitation and extramarital cohabitation. In addition， some young white collars do not have sex with their spouses within a month just because they are too busy to arrange it.
Marital problems have increased.
With the development of China’s economy and more freedom enjoyed by Chinese and under the influence of the foreign trend of thoughts， marital problems， such as premarital cohabitation， pregnancy before marriage， extramarital cohabitation， bigamy and family violence， etc， have increasingly arisen， and some brutal murders have been committed.
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