Age at Marriage in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

China's Marriage Law of 1980 went into effect on New Year's Day 1981, permitting women and men to marry at 20 and 22, respectively. This contrasts sharply with the late marriage requirements of the 1970s, whichstipulated 23 and 25 years for women and men in the rural areas and 25 and 28 years for their urban sisters and brothers. The new legal minimum ages for marriage caused an instant upsurge in the numbers of young people getting married in China. One scholar estimated that as many as 30 million marriages would take place in 1981 as millions of young women and men took advantage of the new legal minimum. It was later officially projected that first marriages in 1981 would probably reach at least 14 million, more than twice the number in 1980. And, because of the “baby boom” of the 1960s marriage rates are likely to remain high through the mid 1990s.

Mortality of the oldest old Chinese: The role of early-life nutritional status, socio-economic conditions, and sibling sex-composition

“…In China, only sons typically contributed financially to the natal household and care for older parents (Xu 2001). In contrast, daughters married at a young age (Tien 1983) and contributed little to their natal families thereafter (Whyte and Xu 2003). However, when a family had only a single daughter, the family was likely to find a man to shangmen (contract an uxorilocal marriage) for the daughter, with the daughter taking on the responsibilities of a son (Li et al 2001).…”

The Timing of Sexual Debut Among Chinese Youth

“…10 Prior to 1980, marriage was illegal before age 23 for women and 25 for men living in rural areas, and before ages 25 and 28 for their urban counterparts. 11 Parish and coauthors have demonstrated that trends in sexual behavior in China since 1950 are inseparable from changes in administrative policies, such as marriage laws and birth planning policies. 12 From the 1950s to the 1970s, the age at sexual debut rose, not only because of the government's regulation of sexual relations and reproduction, but also because of traditional attitudes about sex.…”

Analyzing the Transformation of China’s First Marriage Pattern Using Nuptiality Tables

“…Secondly, the Chinese marriage pattern has generally been characterised by early marriage. This is a feature which has certainly changed over recent decades, with age of marriage increasing in a near linear fashion (Wang and Yang 1996;Pimentel 2000;Tien 1983). Thirdly, female hypergamy, or an upward gradient to men whose age, wealth and education etc., appears to be a particular feature (Croll 1981).…”