A Study On The Communist Party Of China’s Theory And Practice Of Marriage In The Initial Stage Of People’s Republic Of China

The premise of talking about the subject of the Communist Party of China’s theory and practice of marriage is a socialized gender selection. Marriage not only contains individual privacy, but also social publicity. Therefore, the appropriate intervention of administrative power is a fundamental consensus. The central subject of this dissertation is the intervention of the CPC as a powerful public and administrative power in the marriages of ordinary people.The necessary basis of talking about the CPC’s theory and practice of marriage in the initial stage of People’s Republic of China is that the marital status before and after the founding of People’s Republic of China had drastic changes. And these progresses were not natural evolution. The core element of the progresses was the powerful pushing from the CPC. The change of ideology and the construction of the institution of marriage was not a natural evolution. If only depending on every individual to promote the progress, the change would have been very slow and sluggish. Furthermore, the fundamental interests of the people might have been violated. For these reasons, in the initial stage of People’s Republic of China, the CPC and the government solidified and deepened some basic concepts and behaviors of marriage which conformed with the fundamental marital interests of most people. And the CPC and the government used the state apparatus to standardize marital behaviors and protect such interests. It enhanced the complete and rapid establishment of the institution of marriage with Chinese characteristics. Before the founding of People’s Republic of China. ChengDu was a very isolated place, the feudalism atmosphere was very strong too. Therefore, ChengDu is a typical sample for observing these drastic progresses of ordinary people’s marriages, and reflecting the CPC’s theory of marriage.In light of the aforementioned key factors, this dissertation mainly examines the causes,means and effects of the CPC’s intervening in people’s marriage. And the typical sample of this dissertation is specific marital status of ChengDu in the initial stage of People’s Republic of China.The first issue is why the CPC had intervened people’s marriage. The building the new China was no less than an earthshaking revolution. The steadiness of new government always needs suitable political adapter and reasonable revolutionary principles. The aim of the reforming the marital institution was to remove the old and establish the new. Such means and objectives complement each other and formed an integral system. The reform was expected to set up new institution of marriage, new family relations, new social life and new moral standards. In addition, the reform of marriage was expected to promote the advance of political, economic, cultural and national defense. The elaboration of "Four New" and "Four Advance" completely and systematically indicates the CPC’s cognition in the extremely important value of the reform.The second issue is how the CPC had intervened people’s marriage. In the initial stage of People’s Republic of China, the CPC and the government promulgated Marriage Law of People’s Republic of China, as well as relevant laws and regulations. These laws turned into mainline and carrier of appropriate intervention from the CPC and the government. The specific contents include establishing an advanced theory of marriage, constructing a reasonable institution of marriage, using the state apparatus to intervene people’s marriage, as follows:One, the CPC’s theory of marriage directly derived from the Marxist theory about marriage. In addition, it was integrated with Chinese traditional family ethics. The main contents of the theory include values on love about independence and purity, values on coupling and divorce which combined and balanced with responsibility and emotion, family values with unity and harmony, values on life which will were baced on increasing in production and saving. The theory established a complete cycle, including love, marriage, divorce (only in some marriages) and family life. Among them, freedom of marriage, equality of the sexes and harmony in family were the CPC’s perseverant ambition and pursuance. And the value on increase of production and saving was confined to the situation of dire poverty in the initial stage of People’s Republic of China.Tow. taking the theory as the core and guide, the CPC and the government constructed a systematic institution. The institution was an effective system for guiding and regulating the behavior of people’s marriage. The institution of marriage included marriage laws, support system and supervision system. They made up a complete operation cycle involving legislation, judiciary, law enforcement and supervision of the executive body.Three, the CPC’s institution of marriage is an intermediary for popularizing the theory into practice. The general guidelines of the CPC’s practice about marriage were to change the old for establishing the new, the property of the practice being contradictions among the people. And the tactics of the practice consisted of attaching to the central task and targeting backward institution of marriage of the old China. The methods of the practice included publicity, education and nomocracy such as the "Mass Movement". Publicity and education were main measures, and the nomocracy was the minor but essential one. Moreover, the practice of the "Mass Movement" was confined to the powerful revolutionary atmosphere and inadequate legal environment in the initial stage of People’s Republic of China.The third past of the dissertation attempts to study the effects of the CPC’s intervention of people’s marriage. The CPC’s theory and practice about marriage in the initial stage of People’s Republic of China nearly eliminated the feudal family ideology which was represented by traditional patriarchy, broke the capital domination on marriage to a certain degree, and generally improved ideas and behaviors of marriage. What is particularly worth mentioning is women’s general transition to a socialized personality. This transition should be regarded as an important marker of women’s liberation. Of course, in order to further improve ideology and practice of marriage, we need to continue building an advanced and progressive marriage culture.