Marriages After the Cultural Revolution

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In late 1970s，China entered into a period of“opening to the outside world.”With the great change in the fields of politics，economy and culture，people’s standards of marriage have also witnessed a tremendous and amazing change.

In 1977 and 1978，when colleges and universities resumed the recruit of students after ten-year interruption，it could be seen that all media started a new call for the respect of knowledge.As a result，a large proportion of girls started to think a lot.of educational diploma when they were seeking their boyfriends.

Advertisements for husbands and wives began to appear on newspapers，television and magazines.Matchmaking services could be found indifferent places.People had a broader range of choices than ever，which enabled them to make better decisions on their own wil.

In the end of 1970s and the beginning of 1980s，girls in towns and cities put physical height in a very important place when they were seeking their boyfriends.

After 1982，a large number of wealthy people were born.They were mostly owners of self-employed workshops and shops or private busines-ses.These people，together with enterprise managers and those with foreign relatives，soon drew girls’attention.

It was common in this period to find someone who could help to go abroad. Some pursued the postgraduates who had acquired qualifications for going abroad, desiring for a chance to leave China. Some managed to marry foreign businessmen, technicians or students in China with the hope of immigrating into foreign countries. Others even attempted to get close to foreign tourists or post advertisements on foreign media wishing to run into their life pariners.

From 1980s, young men started to think more of girls’ exterior appearance. So did girls.

With the economic and cultural development, people, first from coastal cities and then from small towns and villages, had more open mind. Consequenitly, pre-marriage sex became increasingly common. When they were seeking their life partners, it was no longer the most important factor to think about whether he or she was a virgin.

In 1990s, government officials received great attention from girls. As a great many owners of individually owned or private businesses fell in the tide of market economy,a considerably large number of girls turned to government officials and administrative ofice workers. In their advertisements, some girls straightly stated that they only consider candidates from. govern-ment offices. There is a saying that girls seek to marry military officers in 1950s, workers in 1960s, military officers again in 1970s, bosses in 1980s, and public servants in 1990s.

Wedding ceremonies organized generally fall into three categories: Chinese-style, Western-style and a Chinese-Western combination. Of the three, the most popular is the Chinese-Western combination, which accounts for about 80 per cent of all weddings.A typical combination-style ceremony will have the bride, dressed in white, escorted by her father along a red carpet to the waiting bridegroom where rings are exchanged in front of family and friends. This is followed by a wedding banquet at which the bride switches to wearing a traditional red cheong-sam,a gown with side slits, and her husband at her side toasts the guests.