People just need identity cards and household registration documents to get married in China, but it is hard to maintain a happy marriage. China has long advocated harmonious relations among family members, but is now experiencing waves of divorce. More than 1.2 million Chinese couples tied the knot in 2009, but nearly 2 million Chinese couples divorced in the same year. What factors have affected the Chinese people's marital happiness? Are they emotions, money, or children? In order to find answers, the "Well-being Magazine" and Tsinghua Media Survey Lab conducted a nationwide survey on the Chinese people's marital happiness in 2012.
According to the survey, the top 10 factors influencing marital happiness, listed in descending order of votes received, are love between spouses, willingness and ability to communicate and understand, loyalty, children, income, sexual life, relations between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, one's relationship with the family members of his/her spouse, and housing conditions and housework allocation.
Love prevails over money. Nearly 62 percent of respondents voted for "love between spouses," while only 37 percent voted for "money."
Nearly 80 percent of respondents said that they would choose the same spouse if they were given a chance to choose again. People who have been married for less than three years are the happiest, and people who have been married for seven to 10 years are least happy. Infidelity is the number one killer of marriages. Only nearly 58 percent of respondents are sure that they will not cheat on their spouses even if they meet people they like.
More than 50 percent of respondents talk with their spouses for less than an hour every day. Chinese couples tend to talk sweet with each other when they are just married. As time passes by, love gradually turns into a family bond, and they forget about romance. The longer they are married, the less they understand each other.
70 percent of married women believe that children are the most important factor contributing to a happy marriage, and nearly 46 percent of respondents want to have a second child. Most Chinese people pay excessive attention to children, and sacrifice too much for them.In fact, truly happy spouses see each other as life partners.
Life is a big school, and the marriage is one of the most important lectures. A couple can accumulate wealth, and improve their communication skills as well as ways of dealing with each other's parents and doing housework, but the precondition is that both spouses are willing to learn and make progress together.
