Naked Marriage Issues in China - Report Example

Unit name: Exploring china and East Asia Student number: 15637972 Student name: Wanqing Huang Assignment topic: Marriage (Luohun) Tutor Name: Grace Zhang What are the factors leading to naked marriage? Introduction Marriage presents one of the most fundamental aspects of human life. The quality and type of marriage relationship continues to be redefined by mutual parties in the union and offers them varied experiences about family life based on how the approach used. Depending on financial capabilities, the modes under which marriages are conducted vary across societies. Naked marriage according to Chinese culture defines as a type of marriage where cars are not bought, rings, a house or even holding wedding party; the marriage only conducted at the registry office and that is all. Since time immemorial, Chinese people have treated marriage as a cardinal issue, and according to them, wedding is a symbol of high social status (Watson, Ebrey, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & Conference on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, 1991). On the contrary, over the past few decades, naked has continued to prevail. The Chinese considers Luo Hun Shi Dai as the most fashionable weeding approach especially to those who were born after 1980. The research report will focus on the literature review in order to review on what has been done by other scholars. The literature review will help the research in reaching at the conclusion on naked wedding, the researcher will the use a survey in conducting its research to compare the literature review and the actual findings, afterwards, the research will carry out a detailed discussion in analyzing the findings of the research thus giving a conclusion. Hypotheses 1. Naked wedding is a replacement of traditional wedding 2. Lack of money and other resources has resulted to naked wedding Literature review This paper seeks to get a deeper insight into Luo Hun Shi Dai in Chinese Culture known as Luo Hun Shi Dai (Kleinman & Lin, 1980). According to Wolf & Huang (1980), naked marriage does not specifically imply conducting marriage while nude but rather without money, home or other requirements to start a new family. It refers to a socially acceptable culture among the youth which tends to oppose the ancient concepts and views about marriage. Naked marriage Luo Hun Shi Dai has been necessitated by an increasingly competitive Chinese economy especially among the post-80’s generation (Lim et al., 2004). It is important to note that some young couples upon completion of university education rush into marriage (bihun) with a belief that they would get jobs and be able to take care of their families (Ebrey, 1993). This sometimes may not be the case and as such some wait until they hit the job market before attaching themselves to family roles. These disparities of marriage behaviors among the youth across the Chinese society have aggravated the number of single women (women who have passed their marriage age and have been forced to remain single) often referred to as shengnv (Tong, 2005). This has highly been contributed by the hash economy owing to increased population. In the Chinese context, the patterns of marriage have continued to become more normative causing a drastic change in priorities especially among the Chinese Hou (post 80’s generation) bringing about Luo Hun phenomenon in family relations where individuals marry whenever they are emotionally ready regardless of the financial status or any other necessity a family requires. These marriages have had an adverse influence on both the social and cultural systems among the Chinese community (Kleinman & Lin, 1980). Wolf & Huang, (1980) while exploring marriage options among the Chinese communities found that a greater percentage of Luo Hun couples (58%) believe that the most vital base for marriage is emotional readiness while a small percentage of 30% believed on economic stability. In regards to bearing children, it was evident that most Luo Hun couples believe in a ‘free wait approach’ where they prefer to stay without children until they achieve some economic improvement (Lu, 1993). It appears from the research that Luo Hun is becoming more accepted not only amongst the young population but also among the old folks who believe that Luo Hun could sometimes be an alternative to curb delays in marriage (Giskin, 2001). Luo Hun has continued to receive much recognition as a marriage culture which does not only show commitment to mythic principles of love but also compliments marriage institution (Chan & Schultz, 2002). Further, Luo Hun has gone a long way towards curbing unacceptable marriage behaviors ‘attempt marriage’ where couples are prohibited from moving together before official marriage (Giskin, 2001). In summary, promoting the ideals of romance as highly valued baseline for marriage has never been a Chinese style of upholding marriage cultures from time immemorial (Gunde, 2002). However, modern economic challenges has made it difficult for young people to acquire apartments and jobs making it essential to save the little capital acquired for purposes of careful utilization in acquisition of targets that may not be possible before marriage (Ebrey, 1993). Finally, the fact that Luo Hun promotes the idea of romantic love and upholds permissive behavior in the society has made it. Increasingly popular among the Chinese culture (Huang, 2007). Methodology In this section, the researcher will focus on the population and research tools of research that will assist in giving good results on the factors contributing to naked wedding. According to the researcher, survey was the most convenient research design. Data was collected using questionnaires. As a matter of fact, the youth age between 22 and 30 years who are mostly affected by naked wedding were selected for the interview. In order to give credible research findings, the researcher decided to include people who are aged above 40 years of age. The main reason for including adults were to give a detailed analysis of the Chinese culture and customers in respect to marriage and wedding ceremony. The research selected 3500 respondents most of which were youth. Additionally, the respondents had experienced a naked wedding either by themselves or through a colleague. Experts from the social science department of the university were also interviewed in order to give their version of the story concerning the evolvement of naked wedding. Discussion Social Background of Naked Marriage In this section, the research report will be aimed at discussing the real issues surrounding Luo Hun Shi Dai such as social background of naked wedding, causes of naked wedding, social pressure, factors and influences of Luo Hun Shi Dai. Global financial crisis has influenced the Chinese culture of Luo Hun Shi Dai because since 2008, Luo Hun Shi Dai has become popular in china. It is evidenced from the literature review and survey that Luo Hun Shi Dai went higher after two college students from Tsinghua University conducted a naked wedding, streaked the streets, and later went for the naked bathing beach of Sanya and afterwards to the naked anchor for push-ups; hence the people of china have named it Luo Hun Shi Dai. The young people considered modern demand for independence and freedom in marriage contrary to the traditional Chinese family which concept towards marriage. In this case, therefore, importance of wedding is negatively affected. On the same note, marriage status of a person is considered a private affair for people in white collars. In such situation, naked marriage is in its early stages, and it not only shows the new understanding of modern people new towards marriage, although it reflects new notions of the people toward materialism in the current world. The Causes for Naked Marriage The question as to why do young Chinese people prefers naked marriage in these modern times to other form of weddings is because of two reason two most important ones. First is because of social pressure, and secondly is because of pursuance of pure love. Social Pressure Marriage of people who were born around 1980s is at the peak time for love and marriage. Contrary, the competitive social surrounding leaves majority of them without a car, a house or savings, therefore, they will be left with no other option other that a naked marriage. According to a survey, over 50% of the young populations who are aged 30 years old and below do not own cars and houses, and the high costs of renting a house makes them powerless and frustrated. Pursuing Pure Love Youth born after 1980 term naked marriage (Luo Hun Shi Dai) as a manifestation of true pure love, whose facts entails: happy marriage not connected in any way to a ceremonious wedding party, and it determined by two individuals who have decided to live as one. The decision made by an individual to love will not be determined by the having a wedding party, happiness in marriage is because of choosing the right partner to live with and not by wedding ceremonies or a honeymoon trip. The Social Influence of Naked Marriage Basing on an argument brought forward by sociologists, naked marriage is increasing and not considered a helpless choice. The socialist on the other hand, have termed men who go for Luo Hun Shi Dai to be brave in respect to boomerang men. In respect to the comparison, young population have advocated naked marriage and termed it worthy in their generation, since it fully reflects the psychological characteristics of modern population, who are brave to oppose the traditional marriage issue and go for their practical lifestyles independently ((Watson, Ebrey, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & Conference on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, 1991)). The elders have shown respect and understanding on the way naked marriage is conducted, which shows that the social issue of Chinese people is increasingly free; the Chinese population has more options in regards to marriage, and hence there is a noticeable improvement in the modern society. According to a Chinese drama that has gained popularity over the recent years, it gives a real picture of what entails the population that was born in the 1980s in China admitted into the institution of marriage with a sense of uncertainty and insecurity. The 30 episode TV series on Luo Hun Shi Dai illustrates how a young couple is working hard with the newly wedded marriage to make ends meet, the TV series is revolving about what has been happening after 1980. The older population considers the lack of financial stability as something unusual that is different from the young generation. The old fear that the young generation will lose everything if they do not conduct a naked wedding. According to the old people therefore, Luo Hun Shi Dai is a tool for securing their wealth. Critiques and much attention are mainly directed to the generation that grew up when china experienced high economic growth. The population is aged beyond thirty years, the society consider this group as anti-social and irresponsible. Luo Hun Shi Dai phenomenon demonstrates how young population is searching for stability at the time when miracles have ceased to happen, given material desires. In another interview, three women who got involved in a naked marriage gave the kind of challenges currently facing young couples. According to one of the women (Liu Jing) she pointed out that, she was following her heart; she also further added that she was with her current husband because she had rejected the efforts her parents had made in finding her a man with better economic prospects (Watson, Ebrey, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & Conference on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, 1991). According to her, she tolerate living in a rented house together as a couple despite challenges of shifting from one house to another given that they had already moved three times, as part of their efforts to buying a home. The second woman (Xie Mingming) decided with her husband to go for a Luo Hun Shi Dai in order to be able to buy a discounted home offered by her company. Xie said that the sudden proposal of her husband touched her as was tempted to agree for the proposal thus leading to marriage. Xu Xiaojia the third woman interviewed said that her parents were not supportive; the parents bought a home for the couple when the husband who was jobless for a long time secured a stable job (Clark, 2012). In respect to the three interview women, the interviewer concluded that it is both best of times and at the same time worst of times. It is a fact that people do dream in order to have a better material life, it is, yet a reality that in order to achieve the dreams the path is quite harsh.　 Naked weddings are the latest craziest activities in China. Nowadays, naked weddings are quite popular. The Luo Hun Shi Dai is mainly associated with the younger population. The question is why young people opt for Luo Hun Shi Dai despite opposition from their parents about this latest marriage trend; it is quite difficult to avoid it. The kind of invited guests are invited and who are required to attend is very surprising. The reality is that no guests are neither needed nor dress code because reservations not needed at all. Additionally, speeches, crashers, awkward re-union or bachelor’s parties are not included during a Luo Hun Shi Dai ceremony. The two lovers are demanded to report to the registry office to acquire a marriage certificate (Bate & Watt, 2013). According to marriage in china, the man was required to provide a house as well as a car to the new family but due to economic difficulties, things have changed. The reason for a man not providing a home is that, house rent in china is increasing at the rate of 10% annually which is difficult for every man to afford hence calling for a naked in order to save more money in order to purchase a home and a car (Watson, Ebrey, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & Conference on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, 1991). One should therefore get excited, upset, or nervous when Luo Hun Shi Dai Luo Hun Shi Dai Luo Hun Shi Dai is brought to discussion because it is a reality in the Chinese modern context thinking that maybe their marriage as been delayed. The super-rich groups and new rich, are enjoying themselves by buying property around the country, this is the reasons that increase prices for the averaged couples who only want to live a happy and better future. Unfortunately, it may take their entire life to get them there (Nunn & Russett, 2007). Newlyweds in China with a newly acquired apartment and car are part of the prerequisites for getting married. Although in recent years since the cost of living went up a new notion called a "naked marriage" came up. It has become a new trend for many contemporary young people in China. A certificate according to young people is not comparable to the life commitments and responsibilities that await them will be of more importance. According to naked weeding, a marriage certificate entails other hidden meanings. According to an interviewee (Yang Ling),proposed that two individual because of the love they have for one another in order to strive as one in order to have a better life as an ultimate goal. Yang Shijin a second interviewee, in his view believe that because their parents cannot afford to buy them cars and new apartments, it is through their hard work that they can achieve their goals (Watson, Ebrey, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & talks on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, 1991). Sun Wenkui studies biology in the University of Siachuan for his doctorate degree. He stays in a rental house with his wife who they got engaged in the year 2011. Sun used eight tricycles during his wedding to minimize the expenses unlike other luxurious individuals who had luxurious weddings. They live in the rented small room without owning any car contrary to other couples who own luxurious cars because of education they possess. Sun argued that their relationship is well cemented and simpler than those couples who have well prepared material foundation (Yang, 2011). In group interview, majority of the couples get married due to love that they feel for one another, thus the living condition is something that can get better gradually after marriage. According to one of the group’s members, Luo Hun Shi Dai came up contrary to the already established marriage customs in china. The customs demands that parents should prepare a good foundation for their children before they get married. The increase in the cost of living has encouraged Luo Hun Shi Dai and further expected to increase in the future (Juan & Matsumura, 1991). According to a professor of social sciences in Sichuan academy, Prof. Hu Guangwei, the living standards of those beyond 40 of age have achieved a stable life and can buy whatever they feel like, but for the young generation are still working on a difficult path hence forced to go for naked wedding (Lustig, 2001). However, not everyone has a good opinion for the naked wedding. In a survey conducted, out of 3500 people surveyed, 40 percent liked Luo Hun Shi Dai and supported it as a nice idea. According to the research, 80 percent were in support of Luo Hun Shi Dai and 70 percent of women surveyed were not in support of the idea of naked wedding. According to the women, naked marriage was a helpless marriage and will not be successful in the future if the opt for it. Another group of women simple said that marriage is all about love and striving as one in order to achieve a better future (Watson, Ebrey, Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & Conference on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, 1991). Conclusion Experts termed naked marriage as a better way of finding happiness unlike traditional marriage customs that has challenges especially to the young generation. Luo Hun Shi Dai according to the experts is a new ways of achieving happiness given that financial factors are not favorable. In order to have a stable marriage, financial stability ought to play a key role yet love drives a happy marriage (Dodson, 2011). Naked marriage in most cases done at the back the parents thus upsetting them when they find out especially if they were not in support of it. In china, parents force their children to have a delayed wedding in order to help them acquire the necessities. In one of the cases, a couple was forced to hold their marriage to a later date in order to have a grand wedding ceremony, the couples were later taken to a new apartments by their parents and given a car from the bride’s parents. Some parents do not like a marriage where rituals not done and an apartment given to the new couple (Roorda, 2004). Generally, it is costly to get married after saving for a long time to spend on a wedding especially to the bridegroom’s family. The savings can be used in buying a home or a car. Although the bride’s parents may come in to assist, the entire procedure is quite expensive to carry out yet the future life of the couple is uncertain. References Bate, J., & Watt, G. (2013). Dress, Law and Naked Truth: A Cultural Study of Fashion and Form. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Chan, M., & Schultz, W. R. (2002). Excursions in Chinese culture: Festschrift in honor of William R. Schultz. Hong Kong: Chinese Univ. Press. Clark, P. (2012). Youth culture in China: From Red Guards to netizens. New York: Cambridge University Press. Dodson, B. (2011). China inside out: 10 irreversible trends reshaping China and its relationship with the world. Singapore: John Wiley. Ebrey, P. B. (1993). The inner quarters: Marriage and the lives of Chinese women in the Sung period. Berkeley i.e.: Univ. of California Press. Giskin, H. (2001). An introduction to Chinese culture through the family. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press. Gunde, R. (2002). Culture and customs of China. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Huang, X. (2007). Power, entitlement, and social practice: Resource distribution in North China villages. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. Juan, F., & Matsumura, M. (1991). Sex in China: Studies in sexology in Chinese culture. New York: Plenum Press. Kleinman, A., & Lin, T. (1980). Normal and abnormal behavior in Chinese culture. Dordrecht: Boston. Lim, S. K., Li, X., Han, Y. N., & Chua, W. L. (2004). Chinese culture pack. Singapore: Asiapac Books. Lu, T. (1993). Gender and sexuality in twentieth-century Chinese literature and society. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press. Lustig, A. (2001). The house of returned echoes. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press. Nunn, D., & Russett, D. (2007). Faces of China: From Mao to now : teaching and living in Kunming, Nanchang, Guangzhou and Shijiazhuang. New York: iUniverse, Inc. Roorda, J. (2004). Naked in the sanctuary. Toronto: Guernica. Tong, D. (2005). Chinese marriage traditions: What's right for the Christian? Singapore: Genesis Books. Watson, R. S., Ebrey, P. B., Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), & Conference on Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society. (1991). Marriage and inequality in Chinese society. Berkeley: University of California Press. Wolf, A. P., & Huang, C. (1980). Marriage and adoption in China, 1845-1945. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. Yang, C. (2011). Performing China: Virtue, commerce, and orientalism in eighteenth-century England, 1660-1760. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Zhao, G. Q. (2008). Marriage as political strategy and cultural expression: Mongolian royal marriages from World Empire to Yuan dynasty. New York: Peter Lang Pub. Read More

It appears from the research that Luo Hun is becoming more accepted not only amongst the young population but also among the old folks who believe that Luo Hun could sometimes be an alternative to curb delays in marriage (Giskin, 2001). Luo Hun has continued to receive much recognition as a marriage culture which does not only show commitment to mythic principles of love but also compliments marriage institution (Chan & Schultz, 2002). Further, Luo Hun has gone a long way towards curbing unacceptable marriage behaviors ‘attempt marriage’ where couples are prohibited from moving together before official marriage (Giskin, 2001).

In summary, promoting the ideals of romance as highly valued baseline for marriage has never been a Chinese style of upholding marriage cultures from time immemorial (Gunde, 2002). However, modern economic challenges has made it difficult for young people to acquire apartments and jobs making it essential to save the little capital acquired for purposes of careful utilization in acquisition of targets that may not be possible before marriage (Ebrey, 1993). Finally, the fact that Luo Hun promotes the idea of romantic love and upholds permissive behavior in the society has made it.

Increasingly popular among the Chinese culture (Huang, 2007). Methodology In this section, the researcher will focus on the population and research tools of research that will assist in giving good results on the factors contributing to naked wedding. According to the researcher, survey was the most convenient research design. Data was collected using questionnaires. As a matter of fact, the youth age between 22 and 30 years who are mostly affected by naked wedding were selected for the interview.

In order to give credible research findings, the researcher decided to include people who are aged above 40 years of age. The main reason for including adults were to give a detailed analysis of the Chinese culture and customers in respect to marriage and wedding ceremony. The research selected 3500 respondents most of which were youth. Additionally, the respondents had experienced a naked wedding either by themselves or through a colleague. Experts from the social science department of the university were also interviewed in order to give their version of the story concerning the evolvement of naked wedding.

Discussion Social Background of Naked Marriage In this section, the research report will be aimed at discussing the real issues surrounding Luo Hun Shi Dai such as social background of naked wedding, causes of naked wedding, social pressure, factors and influences of Luo Hun Shi Dai. Global financial crisis has influenced the Chinese culture of Luo Hun Shi Dai because since 2008, Luo Hun Shi Dai has become popular in china. It is evidenced from the literature review and survey that Luo Hun Shi Dai went higher after two college students from Tsinghua University conducted a naked wedding, streaked the streets, and later went for the naked bathing beach of Sanya and afterwards to the naked anchor for push-ups; hence the people of china have named it Luo Hun Shi Dai.

The young people considered modern demand for independence and freedom in marriage contrary to the traditional Chinese family which concept towards marriage. In this case, therefore, importance of wedding is negatively affected. On the same note, marriage status of a person is considered a private affair for people in white collars. In such situation, naked marriage is in its early stages, and it not only shows the new understanding of modern people new towards marriage, although it reflects new notions of the people toward materialism in the current world.

The Causes for Naked Marriage The question as to why do young Chinese people prefers naked marriage in these modern times to other form of weddings is because of two reason two most important ones. First is because of social pressure, and secondly is because of pursuance of pure love. Social Pressure Marriage of people who were born around 1980s is at the peak time for love and marriage.

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