We would like to acknowledge the insightful comments by the two anonymous referees on an earlier version of the paper. The paper is supported by national Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40901090).
1Intermarriage means marriage between members of different groups. Whether the group is defined by religion, race, social class, or other difference, the difference is a barrier that is not easy to cross. In fact, it may be that the effect of intermarriage is to overcome the barriers and tensions between those of different social groups through the bonding of new familial groups. Such families may be the foundation of a happier world of peace and harmony1. People live at different places. Each place varies from others in economic development level, culture and way of life. Sharp regional differences (especially economic development) do exist in China and lay the basis for “spatial hypergamy” in mate selection [Lavely, 1991]. When a man marries a woman from a different place, they intermarry. So here intermarriage refers to marriage between members from different geographical backgrounds.
2Intermarriage lies at the heart of the study of inter-group relations. It is both a measure of assimilation and an agent producing it [Pagnini et al., 1990]. High rates of intermarriage are considered to be indicative of social integration [Blau et al., 1984]. The patterns of incidence and selection in intermarriage are concerned by sociologists [Barron, 1951]. For geographers, the temporal and spatial patterns and its consequences in intermarriage are their interests [Skinner, 1965 ; Fan et al., 1998 ; Fan et al., 2002 ; Davin, 2007 ; Bossen, 2007]. Meanwhile geographers in China are little involved in the research of intermarriage in this vast and complex territory compared to their peers abroad. Hence there is great space for investigation for them. Does geography matter in intermarrying and how ? If geography matters then what are the main geographical characteristics of intermarriage behaviors ? How do social and cultural groups intermarry across space and through time ? Are there distinct regional differences in intermarriage behaviors ? How do political, economic and technical changes influence intermarrying behaviors in China ?
3This paper, from a social geographical perspective, contributes to an understanding of residents’ intermarrying behaviors in the largest southern coastal city-Guangzhou, the provincial capital city of Guangdong Province. Guangdong Province is the first place in China testing the policy of reform and opening up to outside world and putting market economy into practice and always the Number one province in economy with little exception since 1978. Largest in-migration flow stirred up a substantial number of migration marriages. Therefore the area can be a typical sample for analyzing intermarriage behaviors across space and through time in China.
4The authors attempt to outline the chief features of city dwellers’ intermarrying behaviors from a social geographical perspective by analyzing data collected from more than 800 questionnaires. Five prominent features are outlined and discussed on the political, economic and social background which may help with the understanding of human relations in China.
5The survey area (fig.1, dark area) confined only to the area of former 8 municipal districts (presently 6 districts, namely Baiyun district, Haizhu district, Huangpu district, Liwan district, Tianhe district and Yuexiu district) prior to the administrative boundary change in 2005 plus the northern part of Panyu district. Other districts and counties are excluded out of the study for their short history integrated into the municipal system and not suitable for longitudinal comparison.
6Interviewees refer to people who have married and resided in the above mentioned defined areas for a period of no shorter than one year. To make it comparable, only first marriages are investigated. Sample assignment for each district is decided with reference to the distribution of married women of different age groups in each district according to the result of one percent population sampling in 2005. Then certain number of typical communities is chose representing certain category of social stratum and residential history. To guarantee the proportion of newly married couples, surveyors are assigned to marriage registration sites for interviews with these new couples. Taking into consideration of the diversity of housing provision and social space distribution, many residents who work with public university and public hospitals and governmental departments and institutions live in exclusive work-unit communities (dan-wei xiao qu), surveyors are also assigned to these communities.
Figure 1. Location of survey area
7Demographic information and geographic information of both husband and wife before marriage are asked. Years of marriage, marriage agent as well as social stratum of both parties are also included in our question list. Marital distance in this paper refers to the surface distance between two families before marriage. The distances are reported by interviewee themselves on the same criteria of calculation : intra-province marriage refers to road mileage and inter-province marriage refers to railway mileage plus road mileage if direct railway connection between two places is not available and shifts with road system are needed.
8The survey covers the period from December 12 to 31, 2009 and both weekdays and weekends are guaranteed for certain group of residents who work at night or at day. A handful of questionnaires are finished by emails and the rest finished at face interviews. Altogether 862 questionnaires received and 807 valid after validity test and elimination of some special marriages as international marriages. SPSS 15.0 is used for statistical analysis.
960.8 % of the marriages happen in the range of 50km. 83.3 % of the couples select their mates in the distance of 500km. 92.2 % of the couples mate in the range of 1000km. 1500km includes 95.2 % of the marriages while 2000km covers 98.4 % intermarriage cases (fig.2). The frequency distribution over distance displays a distinct phenomenon of distance decay and fits a curve of Leptokurtic advanced by scholars while analyzing marriage frequency distribution over space [Bateman,1950].
Figure 2. Marriage frequency distribution over distance
10Compared with mating behavior in Netherlands, in which 99 % of the citizens mate in the distance of 250km, the spatial distribution of marriage distance is much dispersed in Guangzhou when 250km covers only 73.7 % of the marriage cases here. The disparity between China and Netherlands is believed mainly be attributed to the great difference in the size of territories.
11The marital distances of residents married in the same decade are averaged and then the average marital distances for each of the 6 decades can be attained in the same way. Average marital distances are plotted against time as shown in figure three. Average marriage distance of each decade in Guangzhou fluctuated through the past 60 years since the establishment of the P.R. China. The time serial curve of average marriage distance of each decade demonstrates a wide V-shape trend from 1950s to 2000s with the 1980s at the bottom and the 1990s and first 8 years of 21st century a dramatic increase to the maximum (fig.3).
Figure 3. Average marital distance of each decade in Guangzhou
12Cities in China constitute a hierarchy. Provincial capital city usually is the primary city and ranks Number One in importance in a province. Place of origins of husbands and wives are classified into two groups, provincial capital cities and non-provincial cities. 78 % of the marriages are provincial capital city matching provincial capital city marriages and non- provincial capital city matching non- provincial capital city. 22 % of the rest marriages are provincial capital city matching non- provincial capital city. If the former is considered as hierarchically well matched marriages and the latter hierarchically violated marriages, then among all the marriage cases surveyed, the majority of marriages (78 %) in Guangzhou is pro-hierarchy marriages (tab. 1). Age gap, disparity in Hukou (household registration) status and disparity in residency history between husband and wife show significant influences on the result of pattern of place-matching in intermarriage. Couples with larger age gap or larger disparity in Hukou status or residential history show higher probability to appear on the group of against-hierarchy in place-matching. City rank hierarchy can tradeoff with attributes such as age gap, disparity in Hukou status and disparity in residential history. This distinct phenomenon of spatial hierarchy in mate-selection across spaces may relate closely to the hierarchy of Chinese cities.
Table 1. Sense of city hierarchy in intermarriage in Guangzhou
category of intermarriage
|
frequency
|
percent
|
valid percent
|
against-hierarchy
|
168
|
20,82
|
21,62
|
pro-hierarchy
|
609
|
75,46
|
78,38
|
missing
|
30
|
3,72
|
|
total
|
807
|
100
|
|
13Five common marriage match-making media and an optional “other” are listed in the choices. In total number, relative/friend/colleague is the first important media in marriage matching, followed by romantic encounters (tab. 2). Since the 1990s, internet played a significant role in mate-selecting and ranked number three in contribution to marriage cases in Guangzhou. This is closely related to the prevalence of personal computer and internet in modern life.
Table 2. Marriage matching media of Guangzhou residents
Marriage matching media
|
frequency
|
percentage
|
traditional marriage-matcher
|
70
|
8,67%
|
internet
|
68
|
8,43%
|
commercial go-between(agency)
|
24
|
2,97%
|
relative/friend/colleague
|
359
|
44,49%
|
romantic encounter
|
180
|
22,30%
|
other
|
106
|
13,14%
|
total
|
807
|
100,00%
|
14The weighted mean effective distance of different media varies pronouncedly. Internet displayed the longest effective distance with weighted mean distance of 437km, while the traditional professional individual marriage matcher has the shortest effective distance of 39km. The weighted mean distance of romantic encounter is the second longest effective distance, followed by relative/friend/colleague and commercial marriage agencies (tab. 3). This suggests Internet really compresses the space and time of men and women and proves to be the most distance-effective media in mating. Commercial marriage match-making agencies are not well accepted in Guangzhou, which is regarded as one of most open-minded cities in China. Interestingly, the second largest group of couples claimed their marriages are merely romantic encounters. If internet acquaintance can also be accepted as kind of romantic encounter, then citizens have a proportion of 31 % of romantic encounters which may suggest that traditional practice (meipo, professional individual marriage matcher) in mate-selecting is diminishing while romantic spirit is boosting in Guangzhou.
Table 3. Cluster analysis of marital distance and marriage media 3.5 Important boundaries in mating : county boundary and province boundary
1524.16 % of the marriages are intra-town marriages, among which 8.67 % are intra-village marriages, 15.49 % are cross-village marriages. 54.28 % of the husbands and wives originate geographically from the same county. These intra-county marriages can be further classified into two parts, 24.16 % intra-town marriages and 30.12 % cross-town marriages. 78.56 % of the couples come from within the same province. These intra-province marriages can be further classified into two groups, 54.28 % intra-county marriages and 24.28 % cross-county marriages (tab. 4). Among all the couples, only 21.44 % of the marriages are cross-province marriages. Cross-village marriages exceeded the number of intra-village marriages and cross-town marriages exceeded the number of intra-town marriages. However, Intra-county marriages outnumbered cross-county marriages, intra-province marriages outnumbered cross-province marriages. These suggest county boundary and province boundary are the most important physical and social boundaries for mate-selecting in China. County boundary is established as the first line of barrier and province boundary the second line of barrier in intermarriage.
Table 4. Crucial intermarriage boundaries
|
accumulated frequency
|
accumulated percentage
|
intra-village
|
70
|
8,67%
|
intra-town
|
195
|
24,16%
|
intra-county
|
438
|
54,28%
|
intra-province
|
634
|
78,56%
|
intra-nation
|
807
|
100,00%
|
16Residents’ intermarriage behaviors in Chinese cities left almost blank for geographers in China. Survey from the largest southern metropolis Guangzhou, which has experienced the longest in history and largest in magnitude migrant flow since the implementation of market economy in China, provide a typical picture of residents’ intermarriage behaviors in big Chinese cities. Meanwhile how to understand the above outlined five features of residents’ intermarriage behaviors in this southern gateway metropolis ? The following paragraphs will present our discussion with reference to the political, economic and social context in China and authors’ observation in the city and in the whole country.
17Geographers concern the rule of spatial distribution of physical and social phenomena. Intermarriage cases distribution over space is studied by scholars, who found that the spatial distribution of intermarriage cases follows the general rule of human behavior—distance decay [Haandrikman,2008], other proposed a rule of Leptokurtic [Bateman, 1950]. A.J. Boyce (1967) advanced their explanatory concept of neighborhood knowledge and intermarriage frequency. Distance decay can physically relate to the law of gravity between subjects or places, can also relate economically to the consideration of cost and benefit when men are assumed to be economically rational. As geography matters in most of human behaviors, physical distance become one of the important elements in geography and shape man’s spatial behaviors. When distance increases, the distribution frequency of physical or human phenomenon will decrease. Survey in Guangzhou demonstrates that residents’ intermarriage behaviors also follow the rule of distance decay. China enjoys a vast territory and the largest population in the world while transportation services leave much to be desired. The large scale of intermarriage geographical background and synthetic cost (economic, psychological and social cost) of marriage-related visits as well as utilization of the affinal network in China reminds residents of the fact that intermarriage distance need to be considered, which suggest distance is still one of most important elements that shape residents behavior in mate-selecting. As some cases studies reveal that for the bride, the longer marital distance, the higher risk she will face in right protection [Bossen,2007). This is to illustrate from one aspect that mate-candidate in short distance has more chance to be put on the privileged list.
18The time serial of average marriage distance of each decade demonstrates a wide V-shape trend from 1950s to 2000s with the 1980s at the bottom. The fluctuation of average marital distances need be analyzed with its social context. Internal migration is strongly state apparatus shaped and dominated especially before the market transition took place in 1987 and migration patterns can be tied to the political and economic dynamics in China [Liang et al.,1996]. Marriage distance means migration distance of one party of the couple. According to the 2000 National Census, marriage is one of the top 2 reasons for permanent migration and particular important for female as 29.3 % of the permanent female migrants migrate for marriage [Liang et al.,2004]. The proportion of long distance migrants among all migrants has direct influence on the marital distance. Number of interprovincial migration through 1950s to the mid 1960s increased pronouncedly when national renewal plan put in full swing under the background of national economic development passion of the newly established regime (Great Leap Forward, factories transfer from coastal regions to interior areas, Young People Rustication Movement). Inter-province migration reduced to lowest during 1967 to 1976 when the Cultural Revolution happened. From 1978 when market economy practice was introduced, the inter-province migration started to resume and accelerated in 1990s. The proportion of intra-province migration and inter-province migration revealed from the 1990 National Census is 72.3 % versus 27.7 %, which changed dramatically in the 2000 National Census to be 46.1 % versus 53.9 % [Liang et al.,2004]. This means the 1990s experienced more long distance migrations compared the 1980s. Therefore migrants number especially inter-province migrants number is significantly influenced by political and economic context and migrants numbers fluctuate dramatically throughout the past 6 decades in China and this fluctuation is closely reflected by the variation of marriage distance.
19The strong sense of city hierarchy in intermarriage revealed by our survey and the different probability to appear in the group of pro- or against- hierarchy under different variables suggest that there is a trade-off mechanism between city hierarchy-rank and personal attributes. The hierarchical rank of a city in which one party resides can be exchanged with other personal attributes as demographic characteristics (e.g. age) or the status of Hukou (household registration) or residential history. As resources exchange theory believers illustrated, age is an important resource in marriage and demonstrated its potential to be exchanged with social and economic status [Humbeck, 1996 ; Rosenfeld,2005,Ge et al.,2008]. The Hukou system (household registration) is a key institution for defining an individual’s opportunities and socioeconomic position in China [Flemming, 1990 ; Cheng et al., 1994]. Hence the status of an individual’s Hukou can easily become an important resource and be compensated by other attribute. Residential history in municipal city (e.g. provincial capital city) may reflect an individual’s familiarity with and affiliation to and social network in the city. In a society as China where social networks are highly valued, residential history acts as an exchangeable resource is understandable. When the majority of the intermarriages prove to be pro-hierarchy (in city hierarchy) behaviors, when attribute of age, Hukou status and residency history can be compensated by city hierarchy, this phenomenon is believed to be a hidden expression of match-door tradition (good match marriage, men dang hu dui) and exchange theory in the hierarchy of cities. The hidden expression may be influenced by institutional (e.g. household registration practice) and structural factors (e.g. city hierarchy) in China.
- 2 CINIC (China Internet Network Information Center), 24th China Internet Network Development Statisti (...)
20A particularly interesting trend that bridges the two worlds of the virtual and the real is online dating, a phenomenon which has increased dramatically in recent years. Online dating occurs whenever people use the online environment as a starting point to establish romantic relationships that then move into the offline environment. Internet dating is regarding as a contemporary transition in courtship [Maclaran et al., 2008]. Internet matchmaking is a socially and economically significant phenomenon that is part of more general changes in gender relations within in post-socialist Russia society [Luehrmann, 2004]. In China the well-known mate-seeking site Shiji jiayuan (www.jiayuan.com) alone has more than 20 million registered members. There are also a dozen of similar websites each claims having millions of registered members. According to the recent (deadline June 2009) official report [CINIC, 2009]2, internet user numbered 338 million in China, 60.4 % of these user are at the marriage age of 20-49. The huge number of internet users, further facilitated with dating websites and convenient constant communications in China, enables residents turn to internet for seeking their mates. In our survey, internet has ranked the third agent in matchmaking since 1990s and displayed its unique advantages in effective distance to bring strange man and woman afar together. For young people in Guangzhou, internet has replaced traditional professional match-maker and is gaining increasingly attention and curiosity. When computer and internet are becoming part of our life, the spatial pattern of intermarriage is further to be influence by them. Naturally to explore the pattern and the consequences of further influence is important.
21In 1989 a nationwide survey of rural residents’ mate-selecting behavior show that 30 % of the farmers choose mates intra-village, 56.98 % intra-town and 84.71 % intra-county (Brief news). This reveals that for rural residents in China at that time county boundary is a critical boundary for intermarriage. In our survey, residents in Guangzhou who married during and prior to 1980s choose their mates 12.09 % intra-village, 27.47 % intra-town, 64.47 % intra-county. The proportion of intermarriage cases inside the same boundary is much lower than their counterpart in rural area in the same period but they share the common feature that county boundary demonstrated to be a critical boundary which shapes the geography of intermarriage in China. Throughout the past 6 decades, 54.28 % of the husbands and wives come geographically from the same county and 78.56 % from within the same province. These numbers suggest even in modern times county boundary and province boundary are still the critical boundaries in marital behaviors. It can be detected that county boundary is established as the first line of barrier and province boundary the second line of barrier in intermarriage in metropolis Guangzhou. These boundaries can remain as physical barriers or psychological barriers or cultural boundaries.
22However, it is not surprising to see that 21.44 % of couples in Guangzhou seek their mates inter-province when the proportion of inter-province migration is increasing dramatically from 1980s to 1990s. According to Zai Liang et al. (2004), the proportion of inter-province migrants has increased from 28 percent in 1990 to 54 percent in 2000, although the increase varies by province. The most dramatic rises are in China's coastal regions. In 1990, 29 percent of inter-province migrants in Guangdong came from other provinces. The corresponding percentages increased to 72 percent in 2000. The proportion of inter-province intermarriages is thought closely related to the proportion of inter-province migration as marriage counts for 29.3 % [Liang et al., 2004] of the female permanent migrants.
- 3 WangYuming, The first law issued in the PR China: Marriage Law.Xinmin Wanbao(Shanghai), September.0 (...)
23Marriages are almost parents arranged or even forced in feudal societies in China. Rough statistics for 1949 - 1950 demonstrate that 90 % of the marriages were parents arranged3.Young people were strictly guided to behave by feudalism rites among which respect towards monarch and parents is of extreme importance. In feudal societies on the issue of marriage they need to obey rules as “Parent’s orders and marriage broker’s words (fu mu zhi ming, mei shou zhi yan)”, “While his parents are alive, the son may not go abroad to a distance. If he does go abroad, he must have a fixed place to which he goes (fu mu zai,bu yuan you, you bi you fang)”. At the same time when social welfare is almost absent, especially in countryside, sons and daughters are the only party upon which elderly people could depend for old-age-support. Parents prefer their adult daughters marry not far for the sake of convenient connection and care-taking for themselves when they get aged. In that case, the couple can supply labor and economic supports for both families. Under this back- ground, the marital distance in traditional society could not be great.
24Liberalization of young people from feudal rites and practices soon extended their geographical scale of social activities and marriage markets. Facilitated by modern technologies in transportation and communication, especially the internet, the scope of social interaction of adults expanded dramatically compared to their ancestors, who in mate-selection depended almost on a quite narrow scope of social network. It is then understandable for us why marital distance increased dramatically in the recent 20 years. Meanwhile, Chinese have long been strictly confined in migration by the practice of Hukou system (household registration). Tightened or loosed control of people’s movement has direct impacts on the marriage patterns of the nation.
25Marriage age has significant social and anthropological influences in history. In the 16th century in Europe, the transition from the feudal tenure to short-term tenure(share-cropping and tenant farming) delayed marriage age, especially for women, for whom in one century this age increased from around 20 years to more than 25. The increase of first marriage age has proven to lay ground for the birth of industrial revolution [Devolder,1999]. In feudalism China, young people marry at free age ranging from as young as less than 10 to one’s 20s or 30s since many of their marriages were arranged by their parents when they were still children. After the establishment of P.R. China, legal age of marriage of man was stipulated in marriage law to be 20 years old and woman 18 years old. In the 1980 and 2000 version of marriage law, marriage age changed to 22 years old for man and 20 for woman. Delay of marriage age is considered as an important part of birth control policies. At least two of the positive effects of speculation and delay of marriage age are : the older, the maturer (much sufficient and rational) for girl and boy in selecting the mate ; the delay of marriage age compared to that before 1980 and 1950, young men and women have much more time to experience the society and to extend their social networks (including extension in geographical scale), which would contribute to the expansion of marriage market and hence marital distance.
26When communist party came into power, Hukou system, an amended historical policy governing citizens obtained. Each Chinese citizen since his or her birth is classified into “non-agricultural” (mostly urban) population heavily subsidized by the state or the “agricultural” (mostly rural) population who receives little state welfare. The registration classifications actually connote one’s identity and socioeconomic status. Also each Chinese citizen since his or her birth has a registered location, usually the place of birth, this place is usually may be for lifelong where he or she “belongs to”. Civilians who want to travel need permissions from local authorities both at the place where he or she registered and at the destinations. This system for decades has successfully tied Chinese peasants to their birthplace. City migrant from agricultural Hukou is refused from many desirable jobs and subsidized welfare benefits that are necessary for survival (e.g. housing, education). At the same time, the transformation of one’s Hukou classification or location is exceedingly difficult, especially from agricultural to nonagricultural Hukou, or from a rural Hukou to an urban Hukou. Only under cases such as be enrolled by the army or college or governmental agency or state-run establishments, or get into marriage, can a person have the chance to change his or her Hukou classification and location. Behind the government’s strict control on Hukou are the real purposes of rigorous control of civilian’s migration. The practice of Hukou system thus made (urban nonagricultural) Hukou to be a rare resources and can be exchanged with and compensated by other resources such as age gap and city hierarchy gap as revealed by our study. This help us to understand why there discovered a strong sense of city hierarchy in intermarriage in China mentioned above.
27It is not until the late 1980s that witnessed no signs of release of the Hukou and attenuation of welfare and benefits that tied to Hukou. With the transition from strict plan economy to market economy, regional disparity in socioeconomic development became sharp. One of the features of market economy is the free flow of resources including human resources. Consequently labor forces were attracted to flourishing cities. Since the late 1980s to today, this period is characterized as a period of great migration and be called by scholar as the age of migration and migration during this period was one of the most prominent demographic events in 20th century in China [Liang, 2001]. Nationwide roaring migrant labor flows become irresistible and remain on the rise. To some extent this picture mirrors social and economic state of the nation. Market economy hence is thought to be a force eroding the severe Hukou system in post-Mao China [Liang, 2001] and is escalating the population migration. As Hukou-associated social and economic conflicts and problems increasingly demand solutions from the authorities, attenuation of functions tied to Hukou system is attracting institutional renovation.
28Besides job seeking, marriage is one of the important reasons why women migrate in long distance, intra-province or inter-province [Liang et al., 2004]. This means marriage-related migration would increase marital distances, which is especially true with long distance marriage migration. On the other hand, population movement creates much more chances for social contacts. A person who migrant frequently proved to have more chances in mate selection when migrants may experience dual marriage markets in the local and destination settings [Jampaklay, 2006]. Therefore with the increase of migration population, the social interaction between groups from different distances also increases. This can be an explanation for why the recent two decades witnessed a drastic increase in marital distance.
29Here presented are the simple but prominent features in intermarriage behaviors in Guangzhou, China. As the authors already made it clear that the study area is a typical place in China not only for its location but also for its contextual uniqueness in China and in the world. Therefore, whether the findings demonstrate a common picture of love map of metropolis or just a unique local practice, case studies from other places in China are expected for comparison analysis.