It’s China’s Time to Bid Farewell to an Outdated Institution
The novel Spring Grass, in exploring first the marriage between the parents of Spring Grass and later her own, provides a look into the topic of love and marriage in contemporary China. However, Spring Grass herself rejects this practice of marriage as an obligation, turning down suitor after suitor to the outrage of her mother until she manages to marry for love. The 1970s rural China that Spring Grass lives in is still very traditional and pragmatist in its view of marriage, yet it depicts a China that is changing. This essay investigates the quintessential Confucian marriage through a socioeconomic lens and examines its role in a traditional Chinese rural society as the core mechanism that holds together a demonstrably patriarchal society. This essay then provides additional commentary on the shifting global paradigm of marriage and argues why such a change is fitting in the context of a society evolving to embody more equitable gender roles.
To approach the global shift in the paradigm of marriage, one must first understand the various ideals of marriage that are present in the many cultures of the world. While there are countless forms of marriage, this paper explores specifically the Confucian view of marriage that arise in traditional Chinese societies and the modern, western view of marriage. The most important distinction that can be drawn in this dichotomy is the focus of the marriage. While marriage is understood by definition to be between two people as individuals, the Confucian marriage is really between two families. The sole consideration in a marriage is how the marriage would affect the family as a whole rather than the individual. Therefore, love and marriage are two separate constructs— love is not a prerequisite for marriage. Whether the two people love each other is of little importance when the family is considering a marriage; much more important is what a marriage will bring to the family. Being linked by marriage to a noble family or a wealthy family could raise the status of the one’s family. This is in the same vein as how hypergamous marriages are the main option for lower-class women to improve their own social status (Wei and Zhang 2016). Due to this dynamic, the marriage of a young family member is viewed as an opportunity for upward social mobility.
On the other hand, the prospect of marriage often comes as a burden to the individual. Because of the socioeconomic importance of marriage, marriage was a filial duty, with parents often relentlessly pressuring their children to get married (Chang 2008, 207). Unmarried individuals past the optimal age for marriage were stigmatized. Unmarried women were especially stigmatized, given the derogatory label “Sheng nu” meaning “Leftover women”, and were stereotyped as being undesirable and being unable to contribute to society. Because of this stigma, “A young woman should lock in marriage early, when her value was at its peak”, to ensure that she could find the best possible family to marry into (Chang 2008, 207). In Spring Grass, Prunella’s mother speaks disparagingly of Spring Grass: “What use are her smarts? If she’s unmarriageable, she’s unmarriageable.” In this way, a woman’s value was determined by her reproductive function, her role as the wife of a man, the mother of children. On the other hand, a man’s value in marriage was largely determined by his or his family’s financial status. For example in Spring Grass, Spring Grass’s mother is elated at Robbie’s proposal to Spring Grass, whose family is financially stable, whereas she is highly against Spring Grass marrying Rivers Ho, whose family faces financial difficulties. These standards for men and women largely continued into modern China. “Women wanted a man with a good job and steady income. Men wanted a woman who was young and healthy. Women wanted a man who was over 1.7 meters tall and had his own apartment… Women had many more demands than men” (Chang 2008, 213). The Confucian view of marriage exacerbated the objectification of individuals and created a hostile social environment where individuals were forced into marriages for fear of being stigmatized and ostracized.
The consequences of such a collectivistic and pragmatic marriage befell squarely on the individual. The outcome of this type of marriage, being locked into spending the rest of one’s life with a nearly random stranger, was a complete gamble. The two people’s personalities and proclivities could turn out to be a great match, but more often this was not the case. Not to say there were no truly happy marriages in a traditional Chinese society, but the vast majority of these marriages were held together by obligation to the family rather than love. Both men and women were victims of these loveless marriages. Spring Grass illustrates one such marriage between Spring Grass’s own mother and father. This marriage is unusual in that Spring Grass’s mother wields authority in the household, even over Spring Grass’s father. Even though this marriage diverges from the Confucian ideals in this one way, Spring Grass’s mother wasn’t any better off for it as she solely bears the responsibility of feeding the family and maintaining the household, which was an astounding amount of work. The stress from this work had Spring Grass’s mother constantly taking out her anger on Spring Grass’s father by being verbally abusive. Spring Grass’s mother and father both suffered in this marriage. There was no division of labor, as Spring Grass’s father and brothers did the bare minimum despite being able-bodied men. As a direct consequence of this, Spring Grass was denied her education and was tied down to helping her mother throughout her youth and early adulthood, whereas her brothers had access to education and consequently an opportunity to build their careers. All the while her brothers attended school, it was Spring Grass and her mother’s labor that put food on the table, clothes on their backs, and a roof over their heads. The Confucian marriage is the glue that holds together a rural Chinese society such as the one described in Spring Grass, inseparable from their way of life. It is an institution that is reasonable in the context of gender roles in such a society. The institution functions strictly because of these prescribed gender roles, and these gender roles in turn upkeep tradition of the Confucian marriage. One cannot exist without the other.
In recent times, the paradigm of marriage and gender roles are shifting globally and China is no exception to this. This trend is the continuation of a voice for women’s rights that has persisted throughout history. In China, early texts date back as far as the Qing Dynasty when Li Ruzhen authored the novel Jing Hua Yuan, a scathing criticism of the deep-seated oppression of women in China (Wong 1995). Feminist movements in China in the 20th century have included efforts to put and end to footbinding, grant women better access to education, and allow them to enter the workforce, all of which questioned the traditional gender roles of women in a Confucian society (Mann 2011). The May Fourth Movement, a political movement in 1919 rooted in student protests, advocated marriages based on true love between two individuals. This would go on to influence the 1950 Marriage Law, where it was decreed that one had the right to choose their spouse in marriage while coerced marriages were banned. These changes reflected the voice of frustration in Chinese women as they began to perceive themselves as individuals. Their becoming of individuals in their own right, not defined by their reproductive utility or their husbands was the driving force behind these changes as their voices grew.
In a changing China with evolving gender roles, the Confucian ideal of marriage is clearly outdated. The institution is firmly rooted in Chinese tradition, and it has persisted through the power of tradition. It was necessary for the functioning of a traditional Chinese society, it was an institution that served its purpose in its time. However, it has outstayed its welcome. As China moved forward in time, the voices of women were heeded, and it is even now changing day by day to embody more equitable gender roles. This new China is a China that is closer to giving women access to good education and fostering them into individuals that contribute to society in many various and meaningful ways. It is a China that lets individuals find true love and live happier lives. This new China is a China that is better than the China fixated on tradition. The Confucian marriage is an institution that hinders this transition, going against China’s temporal progression. For China, now is the time to leave behind this outdated tradition and let people love freely and live better lives.
Works Cited
Chang, Leslie T. “Eight-Minute Date.” Factory Girls, From Village to City in a Changing China, New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2008, pp.207–245.
Wei, Yan and Li Zhang. “Understanding Hypergamous Marriages of Chinese Rural Women.” Population Research and Policy Review, vol. 35, no. 6, 2016, pp. 877–898.
Mann, Susan L. Gender and Sexuality in modern Chinese History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Yin Lee, Wong. “Women’s Education in Traditional and Modern China.” Women’s History Review, vol. 4, no. 3, 1995, pp. 345–367.