Chinese families become smaller: Expert

China's reform and opening up has not only brought about great changes to the economy and society, but also transformed Chinese marriages and family structure in an unprecedented way. Population expert Tang Can believes that in the last thirty years Chinese families have shown diversified patterns. The scale of family is becoming smaller and the marriage functions of families are being gradually weakened.

Smaller family is an important characteristic of the changes taking place in Chinese urban and rural family structure, said Tang in an article published on the latest Gazette of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences titled The Changes of Urban and Rural Family Structure and Function. Nuclear family is the dominant form of family structure and small families are becoming increasingly diversified. In 2002 the average number of family members was 3.39, down by 1.42 from that in 1973. The average number of persons in each household is approaching that of developed countries such as the USA and Canada, which is about 3.

Tang Can believes that non-nuclear small families account for more proportions in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. One-member households and two-member households together represent 35.91 percent and 35.98 percent respectively. One-generation households make up 30.93 percent in Beijing and 35.18 percent in Shanghai. Two-generation households hardly account for little over fifty percent in Beijing and less than half in Shanghai. The statistics indicate that "apart from nuclear families other non-nuclear small families such as empty-nest families, DINK families, one-person families and single-parent families are forming the important components of Chinese urban and rural family structure".

Tang said at the meantime Chinese's concept of marriage is transforming and the importance of the marriage system is declining. Traditional functions of marriage are being challenged by values and life styles emphasizing individual value and life enjoyment and are being weakened".

Marriage rate in China reached the peak in 1981 (20.8бы). Since then it has been gradually declining. From 1987 up to now marriage rate has shown a trend of successive falls. Apart from passively staying unmarried voluntary choice of staying single and late marriage are the causes behind the decline of marriage rate. The put-off of first marriage age and increase of people who choose to be single have contributed to the delay of first birth age and fertility rate. Since the 1990s the mean reproductive age for females has ranged from 25.1 to 25.5. It was 25.5 in the year 2000.

The data provided by Tang Can indicate that reproductive ideology and behaviors in big cities have shown even more noticeable changes. In 2002 the two highest reproductive age groups were those between 25 and 29 and between 30 and 34. The prime reproductive age keeps delaying and is prolonged. In Shanghai continuous fall of fertility rate has brought the population into a negative growth period.

Tang said many surveys proved that in big cities compulsory birth control has, to a large extent, been replaced by voluntary contraception or even sterility as a result of ideological changes. The reproductive function of marriage is being slighted and ignored by the new generation.

Tang asserted that as urbanization and modernization advance divorce rate in China would keep increasing. The jump of divorce rates in big cities has challenged the bilateral breeding function peculiar to marriage and changed the system environment considered ideal by sociologists for child fostering.

Besides, another important change of family and marriage structure in recent years is the rapid development of cohabitation and its acquiescence by social and moral conventions. The sanction power of marriage on intersexual relations is declining. More and more sexual acts no longer rely on marriage or dodge the constraint of this form.

By People's Daily Online