Chinese women more and more practical in choosing partners

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 07, 2003

Chinese women more and more practical in choosing partners

Women often used "secondary handicapped" to describe short men in the past. Nowadays, this wording has long been out of people's mind. A research made by Peking University has proved that over the 15 years, Chinese women have become more and more practical in choosing their partners. The height and appearance of men are seldom mentioned.

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Valuing age while neglecting height

A sample investigation made by people including Qian Mingyi, psychological professor and director of doctoral candidates on the advertisements for partners in the magazine "Women of China" from 1985 to 2000 shows that in terms of physiological conditions, age, top as in 1985 and 1995, is an important criterion for women to choose their partners. However, women have been less strict in men's height year by year and their requirement on their appearance even falls to the 10th place. Women now care more about the personal, social and economic conditions of men. However, women have always value the health of their partners and this has not changed much during the 15 years.

Valuing career while neglecting educational experience and job

In terms of social and economic conditions, during the 15 years, the mentioning rate of women's requirement on the job and educational experience of their partners has been falling but that on career rose from the 9th place in 1985 to the second place by the end of 1990s. The changed of the criteria on partners are a forecast of the political, economic and cultural changes in the society. According to experts' analyses, in early 1980s, educational experience and job represented the income level of an individual while in late 1990s, with diversified channels of income and increasingly frequent occupational differentiation, educational experience and job could not directly indicate one economic income. Comparatively, the elements of career, social and economic status are more relevant. Men with achievement in career are more attractive to women and lives after marriage can be better ensured. Women have been asking more and more for men's properties and this also indicates a tendency for women to be more and more practical in choosing partners during the 15 years.

Valuing moral quality and cultural cultivation while neglecting marriage history

In terms of personality, women's requirement on the cultural cultivation and moral quality of their partners have been rising and jumped to the top criterion at the end of 1990s. This indicates that modern women, while valuing "material" conditions, value more the "person" himself. Personality and moral quality have more and more become most important criteria, representing women's pursuit of stable marriages. There is no change in women's requirement on the marriage history of their partners. Men's birth-giving condition and family background has not been mentioned too much since these can be learnt during further contacts.

By PD Online staff member Gao Lanrong

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