The Values And Attitudes Of Female Postgraduate Students In China Towards Romance And Marriage

This paper describes and analyzes the values and attitudes of female postgraduate students in China towards romance and marriage based on data collected from questionnaires and open-ended interviews. It focuses on five relevant conceptions: romance, gender-role, chastity, spouse selection and marriage. a) Female postgraduate students tend to be more realistic than romantic in dating and courtship as they are more serious and earnest about finding a husband. They also tend to treat their potential spouses as equals in the ways they date and share the expenses for dating. Students from coastal areas and inner regions differ in who should pay the dating bills whereas people from inner land behave more homogeneously. Most students exercise caution and prudence in premarital sex and hold a rational view on breakups in romance. b) While they still value the importance of family, female postgraduate students hold a weakened view on gender roles. Remarkable difference exists between science/engineering students and humanity majors, humanity majors and art students, art students and medical students in their beliefs on gender roles. c) Students from science/engineering departments also hold very different opinions on traditional conception of chastity from their counterparts at art school, yet students from other departments/disciplines more or less agree on this issue. Almost all students are tolerant yet cautious about premarital sex. Whether or not a student has had premarital sex would influence her viewpoint on this issue. Most students does not regard extramarital sexual affairs as normal but a few of them are more lenient. Yet, their attitudes on extramarital sex has low correlation with their response to the hypothetical scenario of her husband having an affair. d) The top three criteria used by female postgraduate students for spouse selection are as followed: character and personality of the candidate, mutual love and romantic feelings, capabilities and talents. The selection criteria do not correlate with geographical origins of the students. More than half of the female postgraduate would accept a spouse with lower academic qualification as well as a blind date set up by parents, relatives or friends. They do insist that a husband should be a bit older than a wife although marriage history does not matter. e) Facing the prospect of "not being able to find a suitable partner", female postgraduate students hold various views. Most consider marriage as the natural result of successful romantic relationship and many still value the legal recognition offered by marriage. Most students consider both sides equal when it comes to sharing marriage expense. Nearly all students would rather visit their in-laws regularly instead of living with them.