Mate selection in China: Trends and determinants

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Hao Liu,Zheng Mu
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12718

RESEARCH

Mate selection in China: Trends and determinants

Hao Liu

1

|Zheng Mu

2

1

Strategic Planning Office, Renmin University

of China, Beijing, China

2

Department of Sociology and Anthropology,

National University of Singapore, Singapore,

Singapore

Correspondence

Zheng Mu, Department of Sociology and

Anthropology, National University of

Singapore, 11 Arts Link, AS1 #04-16,

Singapore 117573.

Email: socmuz@nus.edu.sg

Funding information

This research was financially supported by the

NUS FASS start-up grant to Zheng Mu.

Abstract

Objective: Using pooled data from the 2010, 2012, and

2014 China Family Panel Studies, this paper elucidates the

internal heterogeneity among non-arranged marriages by

examining changing patterns and determinants of mate

selection in China from 1950 to 2014.

Background: Previous research has documented a decline

in arranged marriages and a rise in self-initiated marriages

in the Asian context.

Methods: This study uses two measures to capture the

nuanced nature of mate selection, namely, arranged versus

non-arranged marriages among all couples, and introduced

versus self-initiated marriages among non-arranged couples.

Results: While arranged marriages declined rapidly and

were replaced mostly by introduced marriages before

1980, after 1980, self-initiated marriages began to increase.

Urbanization and better education led to more non-

arranged marriages, particularly through self-initiated

means. The influence of county-level per capita GDP on

mate selection is quadratic.

Conclusion: The two-stage transitions in mate selection

reflect the importance of accounting for both structural

and ideational factors in explaining these changes.

Implications: We challenge the assumed unilinear change

from arranged marriages to self-initiated marriages along

the processes of economic development. The intensified

economic pressures may have driven some young adults

back to introduced, even arranged, marriages.

KEYWORDS

arranged marriage, China, introduced marriage, mate selection, self-

initiated marriage

Social context shapes mate selection, which, in turn, influences patterns of assortative mating, a

crucial mechanism of social stratification with profound implications for the general level of

social openness (Kalmijn, 1991; Qian, 1998; Smits & Park, 2009). Yet, previous research on

mate selection has primarily documented the transition from arranged marriages to love

Received: 16 July 2021Revised: 30 December 2021Accepted: 20 March 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12718

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:755–773. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 755

matches. Most of them focused on the decline of parental control and the rise of romantic love

and premarital intimacy without granting adequate consideration of the nuances in the search

process and the implications for assortative mating (Rosenfeld & Thomas, 2012).

Specifically, the extant literature on mate selection concentrates on the evolutions of arranged

marriages. In these unions, parents dictate marital decisions. The bride and thegroom have lim-

ited opportunities to develop romance. In contrast, in love matches, spouses develop intimacy

and romantic relationships before marriage (Cherlin, 2012). Arranged marriages emphasize the

institutional aspects of marriage, such as continuing family lineages and sustaining family busi-

nesses. With the help of go-betweens or professional matchmakers, parents or elderly family

members select spouses for their children based on family backgrounds and other socioeconomic

considerations.In comparison, a love match is often initiated by the couple and prioritizes emo-

tional attachment and romantic feelings between the two young adults (Allendorf &

Pandian, 2016; Mitterauer & Sieder, 1983). Previous research on this binary categorization has

documented a decline in arranged marriages and a rise in love matches in the Asian context (for

example, Thornton & Lin, 1994, and X. Xu & Whyte, 1990 in China; Allendorf &

Pandian, 2016, and Ghimire et al., 2006, in India; and Nedoluzhko & Agadjanian, 2015,in

Kyrgyzstan).

However, this binary distinction between arranged marriages and love matches only

accounts for changes in the role of parents and the couples’participation in mate selection. It

ignores the potential roles of other parties and the complex interactions among parents, couples,

and go-betweens during the search process, which is driven by diverse motivations to pursue

assortative mating. Assortative mating, defined as the extent to which marital couples are mat-

ched on various characteristics, is associated with social openness and the degree to which indi-

vidualistic values are realized (Schwartz, 2013; Smits & Park, 2009). In arranged marriages,

parents and extended families are keen to ensure that the couple is matched on ascribed

characteristics—particularly family backgrounds such as family wealth and social class. The

other half of the picture, non-arranged marriages, can be heterogeneous in both the ways of

encounter and the implications for assortative mating. Non-arranged marriages can be realized

in ways other than self-initiated encounters and can be contracted based on a combination of

instrumental and romantic factors. For example, young people may first get to know each other

via introductions by friends, relatives, and acquaintances, who tend to match two young people

based on instrumental factors, such as family background and education. After their initial

meeting, the couple may develop romantic love and premarital intimacy.

China presents a unique case study for considering changes in mate selection. In ancient

China, parents made marital decisions for their children. But in 1950, after the foundation of the

People’s Republic of China, arranged marriages against the couple’s will were formally forbidden

by the Marriage Law, which required legal marriages to be based on the consent of bothpartners.

Since the late 1970s, along with economic reforms, China has experienced economic growth, edu-

cational expansion, and globalization (Mu & Xie, 2014). According to the developmental ideal-

ism framework, individuals, particularly policy makers in less developed countries, tend to

associate family patterns prevalent in industrialized Western societies with economic development

(Thornton, 2005).An enthusiastic promoter of modernization campaigns, the Chinese govern-

ment has fervently promulgated modern family ideals throughpolicy making, public propaganda,

and public education during the post-reform era (Greenhalgh, 2010). Family practices, such as

self-initiated marriages, have gained rising endorsement at the grassroot level over China’s recent

past. These social changes may have promoted individual independence and Westernized family

ideologies and facilitated the transition from arrangedmarriages to self-initiated marriages.

Yet, besides the rapid economic growth and Westernized family ideologies, China’s post-

reform era has also witnessed a dramatic rise in consumer aspirations and costs of living and

household establishments (Davis, 2005; Mu & Xie, 2014; J. Yu & Xie, 2015). Therefore, the

same period of economic development may have exerted counteracting social forces. Although

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