Research On The Evolution Of The Beginning Of New China In Beijing Culture Of Marriage (1949-1966)

During the 17 years after the establishment of PRC, the marriage culture in Beijing saw a fiercely changed course, appearing a new look ranging from marriage system, marriage concept, husband-wife relationship and so on. After promulgating Marriage Law of PRC in 1950, it became a common pursuit for people to desire the freedom of marriage and equality between men and women. Over the time, a new marriage culture was being formed that people had the free choice in marriage, life was simple and unadorned, and husband and wife study and progress each other, while traditional marriage is treated as the feudal remnants and bourgeois feelings was thrown away. However, as the political movement in the 1960s came to the people's daily life, the marriage inclined to politicize.At that time, the people's concept of marriage changed a lot. For instance, divorce cases were increasing, so many unhappy marriage relationship could be broken off, and especially the state also pays special attention to protecting women's right to freedom of choice in marriage and forbids mercenary and arranged marriages and other acts of interference in other people's freedom of marriage. Suffering with the traditional custom badly, some women had taken the heavy cost to break away the bad marriage tie, causing many of them killed or even committing suicide. The phenomenon did mainly result from the people's prejudice and misunderstanding that Marriage Law is Women Law or Divorce Law. Later on, with the Marriage Law propagated widely, a new marriage was gradually recognized and accepted from the people, and the previous unreasonable marriage relationship improved.In a word, the kind of change of the marriage culture showed people's reactionary and negative to the traditional marriage, pursuing and looking forward to a new kind of one. We can know that the change is political and typical with time from the description of the marriage system, marriage concept and husband-wife relationship. Combining with the change of the social system and people's life, the study shows that a national policy has a great effect on the change of the marriage culture and that a new power results in a change to social, common citizen's marriage lives and so on in many aspects. That is to say, the change of the marriage culture in Beijing area reflected and suggested the then social regular pattern that a change in politics and economy of a state will influence the local people's life.