Survey: 45% of Shanghai Couples Date Less Than 1 Year Before Marriage

Survey: 45% of Shanghai Couples Date Less Than 1 Year Before Marriage
Apr 09, 2015 By eChinacities.com

Editor's Note: This translated article discusses a survey recently done in Shanghai on young married couples. Many young married couples in Shanghai have the same type of career, and income and tend to live alone rather than with parents. A number of couples only dated for a short period time before getting married. The article concludes that the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau and neighborhood committees should get more involved with (and possibly meddle in the affairs of?)  young married couples.

On April 2, the China Communist Youth League's Shanghai Committee released a survey on married Shanghai youth. The survey was conducted by researchers at East China Normal University and was commissioned by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. The survey focused on youth under the age of 35 who were registered as married in Shanghai. The survey was conducted randomly and included couples living in eight different districts of Shanghai.

“Flash Marriages”

Researchers said that age differences between couples, and differences in education, occupation and income are generally relatively small. The largest age differences included a man who is 12 years older than this wife, and a woman who is 7 years older than her husband. Generally, men in Shanghai are older than their wives. 250 couples surveyed, or 27.4% are the same age, and 756 surveyed, or 82.8% have an age difference of less than three years.

“Flash marriages,” still seem to be a phenomenon in Shanghai. In the 1980s and 1990s these kind of marriages were quite popular. A flash marriage happens when a couple gets married within a year of meeting each other. 403 couples or 45.2% fell in love and got married in about one year, and 117 got married within less than a year of meeting each other.

20% of Young Married Couples Live With Husband's Parents

Young married couples are often both clerks, tech personnel or corporate white-collar workers. 10.6% of men surveyed are clerks, 27.7% are tech personnel and 24.7% are white-collar workers. 67.2% of women surveyed also work in one of these three professions.

17 married couples were childhood friends or 1.9%, and 186 or 20.5% of the couples were high school classmates. 141 or 15.5% couples were colleagues when they met, and 32 or 3.5% met online. 487 or 53.6% of the couples met through friends, and 17 couples or 1.9% met through a matchmaker. 28 couples met in other ways not listed, accounting for 3.1%.

20% of young married couples in Shanghai live with one of the couple's parents, but only 2% of couples live with the wife's parents. 5% of couples living with their parents see it as a long term arrangement. About 69% of young married couples choose to live independently.

On the topic of divorce, 60% of couples surveyed do not agree with the statement, “An increasing numbers of divorces is a manifestation of social progress.”

A Center for Young Married Couples

The Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau proposed the idea of the establishment of a service center for married youth in which volunteers would provide counseling and advice for young married couples. The bureau also hopes to begin supporting regularly scheduled lectures on marriage policy.

In addition, the bureau stated that neighborhood committees should also help to serve Shanghai's young married couples by providing information and services, and should keep themselves updated on issues that young married couples face. 

Source: The Paper

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Keywords: Shanghai couples survey Shanghai marriage

8 Comments

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Guest2239322

So romantic!!! As long as you show the money, they will jump for it!!! So sweet!!!

Jun 23, 2015 15:40 Report Abuse

Guest2781358

Some foreign men with chinese gf's rush into marriage too fast as well

Apr 12, 2015 12:21 Report Abuse

Guest2781358

This can only lead to higher divorce rates

Apr 10, 2015 17:47 Report Abuse

Nessquick

you questioned 400 couples in a city of at least 10 mil. native shanghaineese ? and call it survey ?

Apr 10, 2015 13:32 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

The fact that so many couples marry so quickly after meeting confirms what I already thought about many Chinese marriages - they are often quasi-arranged marriages intended to give the family face. Sure, some of these people might have really fallen in love and wanted to marry right away but I'm guessing more of them were afraid of becoming leftover and bowed to family pressures to marry someone arranged for them by the family. I've known various Chinese women who married guys they barely knew and certainly didn't love because the women had reached their late 20's and couldn't stand the family pressure anymore. It was hardly about love - more about being obedient and saving face for the family.

Apr 09, 2015 13:51 Report Abuse

Guest2301262

China marriages seamlessly combine FIFO (flash in flash out) with GIGO (garbage in garbage out) to become FIGO (flash in garbage out) and GIFO (garbage in flash out). Well done, both cases, China. LOL

Apr 09, 2015 08:49 Report Abuse

sunderlandt

Surveyed 908 people. What a absolute definitive survey. I will absolutely get all my information I will ever need from here. Thanks. One thing, biggest age gap a man who is 12 years older. Ha! Stopped giving any shits at that point.

Apr 09, 2015 06:56 Report Abuse

Robk

Divorces has gone up dramatically. Most Chinese couples would stay together for face in the past... (and have separate lovers). But now, tons of young people are getting a divorce... perhaps China should start teaching some social skills at school and letting kids date in high school rather than punishing their curiosity.

Apr 09, 2015 00:11 Report Abuse