Chinese And Western Views of Marriage
Imagine, you had married with a foreigner and have a lovely baby. How’s your feeling at that moment? Happiness? Or anxious? If I was in that situation, I would think it was a very difficult process. Because there so many impediments and differences between Chinese and Western marriage.
The cultural backgrounds between China and Western. In China, Confucianism has become leadership for a long time. The Chinese people has always put the doctrine of mean thought as the principle. Chinese culture reflect the cultural characteristic of the group. This group of cultural characteristic are not allowed to put the value of personal interests above the group. In Western countries, the formation of value can be traced back to at least the renaissance. The guiding ideology of Renaissance is humanism, which is to advocate the individual as the center, to promote individualism oriented, to develop their own self-expression. Therefore, Western culture reflect the individual characteristics of the culture. The culture identity of individuals advocating the value of personal interests above the group. So, the nuclear family accounts for the majority of family structure in the west. And in the family relationship, the husband and wife are equal. Both of them can have a job and have duty to bring up the children and educate
them. On the contrary, in China is the extended family. The bread winner is always the husband. Wife is responsible for doing housework or taking care of children and elders.
Marriage is an eternal topic which people have to face when they grow up. It may be regarded as one of the most important things in human’s life. However, different countries have different custom. Take the Chinese and Western as an example.
Firstly, the purpose of marriage. Chinese traditional marriage is based on family rather than love. It means that: Marriage can make two families bigger than before. Whether in money or social status. In Western countries, love and sexes are the foundation of marriage. They put more emphasize on the personal feeling, mental , physical and social requirements. They believe that marriage without love is immoral and law-quality.
Secondly, the standard of choosing a lover. For Chinese, the first element to consider is the family’s background. The second is the social status between the two families should be equal. The last is to think about the person’s appearance. For Westerners, the most significant factor is the two person’s feelings. The rest condition such as the family background or education background , they may not take it into account.
Thirdly, the wedding ceremony . Compared to the Chinese wedding ceremony, the Western’s wedding ceremony is quite different. The
Chinese wedding ceremony is more joyous and lively, but the Western wedding ceremony is more dignified and holy, which is overspreading flowers and overflowing with pure beauty without cross-cupped wine.
The purpose of marriage , the standard of choosing a lover and the wedding ceremony is the most remarkable differences between Chinese and Western’s view of marriage . It’s well known to all of us. Now, we’re going to talk about something special .
About divorce. Chinese always think marriage is a life-long issue. We all know collectivism is in most important position in China and we have been taught to pursue steady and harmonious lives. Once they get married , they will try their best to keep martial relations, unless the marriage gets beyond their toleration. In fact , divorce is often regarded as something shameful. They will not easily divorce because they put family value into priority and children are their biggest concern. In the Western countries, people regard individualism as an important part in family life. They all believe that marriage without love is cruel. Whenever love is no longer exists, they will break up calmly. So divorce is quite normal.
About homosexuality . Nowadays, some western countries acknowledged homosexual marriage in law such as Netherland , Germany and so on .Those countries give more freedom and rights to them. In China, homosexual marriage isn’t acknowledged until now
Chinese And Western Views of Marriage - 副本
