Post Date December, 03 2023
On January 11, Baihe.com released the 2014 Chinese Marriage Survey Report, which is the 8th time that the website has released the survey report of Chinese marriage. This year's report focuses on the life status, emotional needs and marriage outlook of single people. The respondents covered 34 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and a total of 73215 valid samples were collected.
According to the results of this survey, more than 40% of single people will decide to marry because "they are very suitable in all aspects". The obvious difference between men and women is that 26% of men marry because they "give the person they love" (marry because of love), and more women (23.2%) decide to marry because they "love me".
Once upon a time, we were obsessed with "whether to marry the person I love or to marry the person who loves me". With the change of social concept of marriage and love, nearly half of single men and women now give the third answer: marry the person with the right conditions. This means that in the view of marriage and love of contemporary people, love is no longer the only passport to enter marriage. More pragmatic, they are highly rational in the face of marriage, and both conditions must match one by one.
It is particularly noteworthy that in terms of material conditions, more than 70% of women think that men are suitable for marriage only when they have a house, and more than 70% of women also hope that the income of their marriage partner is more than twice that of themselves.
Emotional interpretation
"Supermarket marriage" is too utilitarian
Marriage depends on the conditions. Some people describe this kind of marriage as "supermarket marriage", which means "take money to choose goods and shop around". A scholar once wrote that since the middle and late 1990s, China has entered the fourth marriage revolution, an important sign of which is that the concept of marriage and love is increasingly diversified. According to the survey report on the status of marriage and love, the concept of "true love first", which has been widely talked about in the past, is facing challenges. Whether it is "more than 40% of single men and women prefer to marry with the right conditions" or "more than 70% of women think that men are suitable for marriage only when they have a room", it can be seen that the concept of marriage and love in modern society is becoming more and more utilitarian. It is no wonder that some people say "cry on a BMW rather than laugh on a bicycle".
Marriage is an important contract between social individuals, and family is a social factor. The concept of marriage and love held by people in each era must be inseparable from the shaping of social forces, and then affect the development of the whole society. When more and more people show an increasingly realistic and utilitarian trend in the issue of marriage and love, it is inevitable that today's society is experiencing a utilitarian crisis.
A prominent example is that while the overall view of marriage in society is evolving towards openness and pluralism, some very realistic factors have become important indicators to measure marriage. The utilitarian concept of marriage and love tends to distort social interpersonal relationships, and will significantly increase the pressure of young people. Tens of millions of older single young people are afraid of marriage and dare not face it squarely, which will lead to more social problems. It can be predicted that in a long period of time in the future, the modern concept of marriage will continue to be pulled between conservative and open, family and individual. How to avoid the utilitarian concept of marriage and love that brings "negative energy" to society and creates new problems is undoubtedly an important topic that must be considered during the social transformation period.
Expert opinions
Don't let "supermarket marriage" become the mainstream
Li Jianxue
"Love is the basis of marriage. Love does not need to be a door-to-door marriage, but love is a matter of two people, and marriage is the connection of two families. Generally speaking, door-to-door marriage is relatively easy to manage, and the possibility of happiness is higher. Of course, it is not to say that all non-door-to-door marriages are not happy. If you love each other, you can learn to respect and understand the differences between the two sides, truly accept the other party and their families, and adjust Your own expectations, put yourself in the other's shoes, and marriage will also have a different sweetness. "
Zhou Xiaopeng (chief marriage expert of Baihe.com)
"The data shows that half of the single men and women choose to marry a person with the right conditions, rather than marry a person I love or a person who loves me, which means that the number of 'supermarket marriage' is increasing, and the negotiation of conditions must be two-way. You should also provide what the other person needs. Take money to buy, and also want to shop around. The disadvantage of supermarket marriage is lack of love, and the advantage of supermarket marriage is clear, But I don't want this to become a social phenomenon. "
