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The rapid social and
economic change was found to have much impact on the behavioral and value system
of young people. Young people's
views on courtship and marriage would not be exceptions. The aim of this study is to assess the views of young people
in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong on this issue.
Major findings
1. Attitudes towards courtship
A majority of young people in the four
cities opted for "moral character, personality and temperament" as the
main criteria in choosing a marriage partner. It reflected that young people paid more attention to
integrity than to external factors, such as "income" and "family
background" as criteria in choosing a marriage partner.
2. Attitudes towards sex and ways to handling love affairs
The survey demonstrated that the young
people in the four cities did not entirely object to premarital sex.
58.2 per cent of young people in Hong Kong said that they would accept
premarital sex between lovers, and another 42.2 said that they would still marry
even if their marriage partners had children.
A majority of young people in the other three cities said that it
depended on the situation. With
regard to the concept that women should be chaste, around 43 per cent of young
people in Hong Kong Quite agreed that this concept was out dated.
The percentage of that young people in the other three cities stating the
same opinion was also significant, representing 11.1 per cent, 14.4 per cent and
9.9 per cent of young people in Guanzhou, Shanghai and Beijing respectively.
In conclusion, young people in the four cities nowadays tended to adopt a
more open-minded attitude towards sex.
3. Attitudes towards marriage
The survey revealed that a majority of young people in the four cities was confident that they would be a devoted couple till the end of their lives. Although the survey found that quite a lot of young people would consider "divorce" as a reasonable decision, if they found that the spouse was having extra-marital affairs, young people tended to keep calm when they first confronted with the situation.
Comparative Youth Study
No.7
