I recently attended a small wedding banquet that I think approximates what’s normal in smaller cities throughout China: an arranged marriage between a first-generation city girl and her countryside guy, who’s been stuck in an army barracks nye on four years now. The girl’s father thought it would be a good match as the boy’s from the same village as the father and the father himself was in the army twenty-five years ago. What more can a girl ask for?

Chinese young people, though, are finding ever more variations on marriage, including: the hidden marriage, the flash marriage and the increasingly popular trial marriage. My favorite is the marriage of the Phoenix Men and Peacock Women. A Chinese friend explained to me the variation is quite common, in which fellows from the countryside have good prospects in the city and pick up a wife with greater expectations for his status. Life gets more complicated as the two cannot communicate with in-laws, who at times seem from different universes.

At least in international marriages one set of in-laws or another are on the other side of the planet.

Further reading: China Daily, Wife vs. House: Chinese Men Discuss What They Can Afford

See also:

Naked Marriages

“Straying Cows” Still Unable to Meet Bachelor Demands

Divorce, Chinese Style