Love & Marriage

A woman married is like a pony bought --to be ridden or whipped at the master's pleasure.

For generations this maxim said much of what there was to say about marriage in the male-dominated world of China. But in line with the universal Communist policy of liberating the underdog the better to enslave him (or her) later, the first reform enacted into law by China's Communist masters was directed at marriage.

A year after the Reds took over China, the New Marriage Law was promulgated: the old "arbitrary and compulsory feudal system of marriage, based on the superiority of men over women, shall be abolished." Marriages in the future were to be arranged only "by the parties concerned ... of their own free will," said the new law. It also promised economic freedom and equality for all women, divorces "issued without delay" at the request of either party (except the husbands of pregnant women), an end to discrimination against bastardy, and the protection of illegitimate children. Just to make everything absolutely clear, the law stated specifically in Article XIII: "It is strictly forbidden to drown newborn babies."

Women Being Murdered. The first effect of the marriage law, just as the Communists hoped, was to release a huge portion of the population from the feudal bondage of fathers and husbands to serve the new state in work cadres. The women, among other privileges, got the equality of the hoe and the lathe. By 1953 more than 1,000,000 women held jobs in Red China's industry. Mao Tse-tung's air force today has a squadron of jet fighters manned entirely by women. But the Red marriage law could not change the way of a man with a maid overnight. Even among Communists, particularly in the back-country cadres, the notion of equality between men and women was hard to digest. Some local party leaders, in an effort to preserve male superiority, took over the functions of parents and arranged marriages accordingly.

Caught in a vortex of conflicting orders from party leaders, husbands and fathers, confused girls committed suicide by the thousands. In the central-south area alone during the first year of the marriage law, 10,000 women either killed themselves or were killed by angry males. "The present situation of women being murdered and youth committing suicide is extremely serious." noted a government report.

Wives Caught Young. Where the new freedom was accepted, it ran riot. The urban women of China began streaming in droves to the divorce courts, whose business soon amounted to one-third of all civil litigation in some parts of the country. The simplicity of severing marriage ties led inevitably to a further disregard of their importance, and illicit love affairs bloomed on every side. Naturally enough, this interfered considerably with the work of the state, what with intra-factory jealousies and unexpected pregnancies. Country girls, seeking a better mate than the local lout behind the plow, began flocking to the cities. Party workers in the backwoods were instructed to "explain to young women that it is incorrect to seek mates only among urban youth." In the China Youth magazine, a schoolteacher wrote an article entitled "Do Not Make Love to Middle School Students Who Are Still Young," directed at soldiers who were raiding schoolrooms.

Too Many Babies. By last week, with the situation thoroughly out of hand, official party publications were full of pleas for a return to conjugal continence. "Shameless licentiousness," cried one writer, "is the capitalist way. We young people must uphold the principles of Communist morality." But it was not morality that was worrying the minds of the practical men--and women--at the head of Peking's government as they watched the effect of their new marriage law on millions of young people suddenly freed from the taboos of their ancestors. It was the simple fact that the situation was resulting in too many babies.

With food already scarce, Red China's population of 630 million is increasing by an alarming 15 million every year. This not only means extra mouths to feed, it means taking time off to feed them. In one Shanghai textile mill alone 7,000 men and women workers produced exactly 7,000 children during the seven years of the law. In another factory, 17% of the women got pregnant twice within one year.

Recently, government statisticians estimated that without strict birth control China's population will reach 855 million in 15 years' time, pointed out that even with all the country's remaining virgin land broken up and cultivated, there would still not be enough food for all mouths. "Without planned childbirth," said China's brisk, close-cropped (female) Minister of Health Li Teh-chuan, "China will never be truly free."

Many teen-age couples, afraid that the government is about to raise the age of consent to the mid-twenties (it is now 20 for men, 18 for women), are rushing into what the Peking People's Daily last week lambasted as "commando marriages." Another factor worrying Peking's Communist moralists is the rising divorce rate. The Workers' Daily recently had sharp words for a man who sought divorce on the ground that his wife was "too revolting to look at." "In fact," said the Workers' Daily, "this man has already been married for 20 years, has six children, and besides his wife is a People's Deputy."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.