Chinese family: traditions and customs. Number of children in a Chinese family

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Recently, there has been a decrease in the value of the institution of the family in society, but in many countries there are still those families that wholeheartedly preserve customs and traditions, pass them on from generation to generation and are not influenced by modern society. A real example is a Chinese family.

Modernity

Modern families in China have been significantly influenced not by culture or historical features, but by the high dynamics of demography. Judge for yourself. How many Chinese are there in the world? According to statistics, every fourth inhabitant of the planet Earth is Chinese. Initially, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire rejoiced that they were ahead of everyone in numbers. But the 20th century was a turning point in the minds of the Chinese people. Indeed, back in the 50s, there were about half a million citizens in China, and already in the early 80s this figure exceeded a billion. But the catch is that already at that time the country's resources were at the stage of depletion, they were only enough for 800 million people, but not for a billion. Such a critical situation and the possibility of humanitariancatastrophes forced the country's leadership to voice for the first time the following principle, which is paramount so far: "One family - one child."

Birth control program

While most of the world's countries were trying to increase the birth rate in every possible way, China was developing a control program that would help reduce the incredible rate of population growth. So the strategy of an only child in a Chinese family began to gain momentum. And in everyday life there was such a term as "little emperor". So they call the only baby in the family, literally deifying him. Different families put different concepts into this name. Someone treats with humor, someone with a certain amount of admiration. If we talk about the number of children in a Chinese family, there are two children for every average family. Nevertheless, certain results have already been achieved, and today the country has about 70 million families that adhere to the one-child rule.

Modern families and ancient traditions

Not only Chinese culture, but also the life of families has a strong contrast between the modern principles of life and the traditions of the ancestors. Of course, the trends of modern culture and the influence of world changes have their weight in the development of society, but the Chinese do not plan to abandon family traditions that have been sacredly observed for thousands of years. The same cannot be said for many other countries. For example, from time immemorial it has been consideredthat the task of every man, who is the head of the family, is to live not only to his grandchildren, but also to great-grandchildren, in order to control their upbringing, and also to prevent his family from being interrupted. As has been accepted since ancient times, the continuation of the family is precisely the sons. After marriage, the daughter goes to her husband's family, takes his last name, leaves the parental nest and no longer takes care of her parents, but of the relatives of the newly-made spouse. It has always been customary for every family to have a son - the successor of the clan. That is why there are much more men in the country than women. This is another tradition of Chinese families.

Large families

Traditionally it was believed that a large family in China is a blessing from above. The absence of children and the infertility of women have always been accompanied by disrespect and a wall of misunderstanding on the part of society and relatives.

A woman who could not bear and give birth to a child was a priori considered a useless housewife. This factor was the most common cause of divorce. Despite the fact that it may seem wild to us, such traditions continue in China to this day. The height of respect and nobility is if a woman gives birth to a boy. The birth of sons means that there is someone to share the accumulated knowledge and experience with, that in the future there will be someone to take care of the ancestors.

The girls were treated with indifference, because sooner or later they still have to get married and leave their parental home. This left a significant imprint on the perception of the family by the Chinese.

Birth control

Such customs will seem wild to many, but they still occur to this day in some regions and rural areas. There are places where women are still treated disrespectfully, and they rush to get rid of the born daughters as soon as possible.

It is precisely because of such traditions and customs that it is difficult for the Chinese government to regulate the birth rate, and population growth only increases every year. The improvement of the demographic situation in the country and the decline in the birth rate were facilitated by legislative acts that fix various benefits for families that have only one child. There is even a special law on family planning. Those who break the law are punished with fines or face high taxes. It is not worth condemning China for such a policy, because with a sober assessment of the economic situation, it is not easy to provide such a huge number of people with housing, jobs, food, and this seriously affects the economy.

It's no secret that large Chinese families do not live richly, many even face poverty and unemployment. In large families, parents do not have the opportunity to provide all children with a decent level of education, since this will require too many financial resources. But the state will not be able to get rid of the traditions that have accumulated over the centuries.

Chinese wedding

Ancient wedding traditions are especially popular in China. Many families adhere to these customs to this day, because this is notonly beautiful and unusual, but also memorable. For example, traditionally, the wedding day is not appointed by the bride and groom, but by a holy person or a fortune teller, who, according to the Chinese, are able to determine the exact date that will bring only happiness. The wedding ceremony and preparation for the celebration involves a huge number of rituals and rituals, the implementation of which also costs a lot of money. Therefore, preparation takes a lot of time, effort and money. A Chinese wedding is truly spectacular.

Regarding age

China has set the age of marriage. Yes, it turns out, and it's not all that simple. For Chinese women, it is 22 years, for men - 24. After the wedding, the newly-married family must obtain permission from the local family planning committee to have a child. In order to get married, lovers will have to get a marriage license at work, for which they will have to sweat and go through a medical examination and an interview. If all the stages went perfectly, you can start building a family.

Permission to have a child is valid for a year, if you fail to conceive a child in 12 months, you will have to repeat the procedure again. But despite such a seemingly tough policy in matters of marriage and childbearing in China, there are a sufficient number of illegitimate babies, early marriages and single parents.

Working on bugs

Family planning committees have the responsibility to leadexplanatory work, primarily with residents of rural areas, where parents are in no hurry to comply with laws aimed at limiting the birth rate. Despite the fact that considerable fines are provided for violations of the laws, these threats do not have sufficient influence on rural residents, because there is practically nothing to take from them. Therefore, four or five children in one family in the old villages of China is a normal practice.

Citizens take a different position and do not seek to have more than one child themselves. Thoughts on this issue among young Chinese families are simple: it is better to provide everyone with one child than not to give anything to four. To some extent, Europeans hold similar views.

Chinese families living in large cities such as Beijing or Shanghai are an example of a partisan attitude. Father, mother, one child. Such a principle is not a whim, but a vital necessity, the state thus takes care of the welfare of the population. And if birth control measures had not been taken, the population in China would now be 200 million more. Impressive, isn't it?

China Development

Despite all the problems, China is considered one of the most developed and constantly improving countries, where the standard of living is quite high.

The Chinese have found a way out of this situation. So that the feeling of a large family always lives in their hearts, they sacredly cherish family ties: quite often three or even four generations of one family can be found in some restaurant at a Friday dinner. According to statistics, for every100 families in China account for about 400 people.

In the past, an important tradition of the functioning of the family was the presence of the head. Now the spouses manage their budget and make plans for the future on their own, without consulting with any of the "seniors". Daily duties are evenly distributed among all family members, and a Chinese woman and her husband go hand in hand in household chores and at work.

One of the important Chinese traditions, which, fortunately, does not lose its relevance to this day, is caring for the elderly and children. Citizens try to maintain warm relations with all relatives. The question of how many Chinese there are in the world worries many. At the moment, this is 20% of the total population of the planet.