The Emerging Conjugal Relationship in the People' Republic of China.

Family Structure is a core social unit and fundamental social change necessarily involves a redefining of such a basic structural element. The leadership of the People's Republic of China, largely through specific attention to mate selection and marital arrangements and rituals, has attempted to strengthen the conjugal bond and weaken the filial bond in the Chinese family. Information gathered from press reports, and more importantly, Chinese families, suggests significant changes have occurred in the area of mate selection. It was found that a marriage between two well-acquainted individuals characterizes one-half of rural marriages and all urban marriages of respondents since 1958. The socially and geographically mobile youth are most likely to many freely because they are beyond parental control, and they have participated in heterosexual peer relationships in school and on the job. Closer examination reveals, however, that changes in the more complex areas of obligations and responsibilities to the household and parents are much slower to manifest. The ultimate form and style of the family relationships will be in large part determined by the balance between the community and peers and the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]