Rapid Population Change in China, 1952-1982 (1984) / Chapter Skim
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3 Marriage in China Since 1950
3 Marriage in China Since 1950
Pages 39-45
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From page 39... ...
The annual total rate of first marriage has nevertheless differed from unity in most years, often substantially. It reached a low of .74 in 1959, during the Great Leap Forward, a high of 1.19 in 1962, as the economy and society recovered from the Great Leap Forward and the "bitter years" of 1960-61; and fell again to .71 and .73 in 1965 and 1966, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (see Figure 9)
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From page 40... ...
In 1980 the total first-marriage rate reached 1.14, higher than in any previous year except 1962; in 1981 and the first 6 months of 1982 it rose to a new high above 1.30, a boom in marriages that caused increased births in 1981 and 1982 and will have a continued upward effect on births in 1983. There are two reasons for differences from unity in the annual total first-marriage rate even when every cohort experiences a proportion ever married very close to 100 percent.
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From page 41... ...
A rising mean age at marriage has the opposite effect, thinning out the occurrence of marriage until the rise in mean age ceases. The average value of 0.885 of the total marriage rate from 1950 to 1982 (despite the continuation of virtually universal marriage)
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From page 42... ...
. From the cohort reaching age 15 in l9SO to the cohort reaching 15 in 1965, the curves showing age of attaining successively greater proportions of ever-married women moves to the right -- to higher ages -- with each cohort, ultimately reaching nearly 100 percent.
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From page 43... ...
The standard curve is a mathematical function of age that with suitable choice of constants fits the marriage experience of many quite different populations. The standard distribution -- an asymmetrical curve skewed to the right -- fits different experiences, ranging from early-marrying to late-marrying cohorts, if the appropriate starting age (or, alternatively, the proper mean age)
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From page 44... ...
that forces the standard curve to pass through the cohort's recorded proportion ever married at ages 16.5 and 20.5. For cohorts reaching age 15 in 195D, 1960, and 1965, the nuptiality experience past age 20 is fitted very well indeed by the standard curves forced to pass through these early points in the cohort's entry into marriage.
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From page 45... ...
In 1980 a new marriage law was passed that increased the legal minimum marriage age for women from 18 to 20. The passage of the new law was reportedly accompanied by a relaxation of the measures that enforced later marriage because of the social problems created by postponing marriage past age 23 in a society in which women are traditionally married soon after menarche and in which sexual relations among unmarried people are not socially acceptable.
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