Page 228 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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The two He-he, the gods of marriage

Attitudes to marriage have changed radically in present-day China. The main
differences are that the part-time marriage broker has vanished, her place being taken by
an amateur mediator, or a party member who also deals with the quality and quantity of
the marriage gifts. This is mainly in country districts; in the towns, people are now
largely free to choose their own spouses. In the universities, in factories and offices, this
can be done much more easily than in the villages, though advice from parents and
friends continues to be listened to with respect.

Married Bliss

hunpei

The oldest oracle bones extant are concerned with political problems and the happiness to
be found in human togetherness. The relationship between man and wife is one of
the five ways which are accessible to all (Li-ji, ‘Book of Rites’).
Chinese thought and Chinese society have always conferred upon marriage and the
family (including, in the case of the middle and upper classes, concubines) a status
unparalleled in any other advanced culture. A syllogistic chain leads from order and
harmony in the family to order and peace in the state; and the clan system constructed on
the basis of Confucian family ethics has given China the biggest population in the world.