Chinese reforms and opening to the world not only caused dramatic changes to the country's economy and society, they also brought unprecedented upheaval to Chinese families and marriages. Population specialist Tang Can said, "In the past thirty years, Chinese families have become more multi-faceted and smaller in size and the institution of marriage has been gradually weakened."

In a recent issue of the Gazette of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an article titled "Changes in family structure and roles in society," Tang pointed out that an important characteristic of Chinese society's changing family structure was its diminishing size. Nuclear families now account for the majority of modern families and smaller families are becoming prevalent. In 2002, the average family size in China was 3.39 persons, down 1.42 from the same figure in 1973 and approaching the 3.0 figure prevailing in developed countries such as the US and Canada.

According to Tang, non-nuclear families are even more important in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai with one-person household and two-person household accounting for 35.91 and 35.98, respectively, of the total. This means that "Other than nuclear families, other non-nuclear small familial structures, with households run by empty nester, DINK, single person and single parent, now play important roles in Chinese cities and villages", said Tang.

Tang further pointed out that at the same time, views on marriages in China are changing. The importance of marriage is slipping. Traditional marital roles are being "challenged, weakened and softened by individualism and personal lifestyle choices."

Moreover, in recent years, familial and marital structure underwent another big change in that pre-marital cohabitation has become prevalent and has met with society's tacit moral approval. Marriage's restraint on personal relationship has been weakened, leading to the increasing prevalence of sex outside of wedlock or sex running away from marital vows.

(Chinanews.cn May 10, 2005)