Changing Views on Marriage in China

He Si (何思) was described as a "Chinese romance expert", according to the book 百姓话题,当代名言 (China Wenlian Publishing House 1999).

He noted that given the revolutionary fervor in the 1950s, women were keen to marry "people's heroes" who were liked and admired. "Not only would the woman feel honored, so would her family, friends and relatives."

When politics became polarized in the 1960s, women were more interested in finding someone from either a "compatible", or at least an "unbourgeois" background.

In the 1970s, women set their sights on soldiers and those with military backgrounds.

In the 1980s, women were attracted to intellectuals - known previously as "stinking old nine" (臭老九) but by then as "fragrant old nine" (香老九).

From the late 1980s, women's attention were turned to men who had fat wallets. And since He had not spoken about the 1990s, it is assumed that wealth was still a factor in women's choice of marriage partners then, and even now.

He also coined a "Four Awareness" (四悟) on marriage.

结婚是失误,
独身是觉悟,
离婚是醒悟,
再婚是执迷不悟.

(Marriage is a lack of awareness,
Singlehood is a discovery of awareness,
Divorce is waking up with awareness,
Re-marriage is a refusal to imbue oneself with awareness.)