Attitudes to love and marriage continue to change since the first Marriage Law was introduced in 1950, and have to play catch-up with people`s evolving love lives since then.
自1950年中國第一部《婚姻法》頒布之后,人們的婚戀觀念一直在轉(zhuǎn)變著;該法自誕生之日起就一直伴隨戀人們的腳步,與時(shí)俱進(jìn)著。
Wu Bo, the 55-year-old mother of a 23-year-old unwed son, was taken aback when Ma Nuo, 22, a model from Beijing said on China`s most popular TV reality program Don`t Bother Me: "I`d rather weep in a BMW than smile on the bicycle of my true love."
22歲的北京模特馬諾在熱門電視真人秀《非誠勿擾》中說:“我寧愿坐在寶馬里哭,也不愿坐在愛人的自行車后座上笑。”這番言論著實(shí)使現(xiàn)年55歲的吳波(音譯)大吃一驚。她的兒子今年23歲,目前還是單身。
"I don`t like to generalize, but Ma`s words show that young women today worship money. They won`t get married unless their boyfriends have a house and a car. They`re so mercenary," Wu says.
吳波說:“盡管我本人不喜歡以偏概全,但是馬諾的這番話將當(dāng)下年輕女性的拜金心理顯露無疑。她們是如此的金錢至上——除非男朋友有車有房,否則不會(huì)結(jié)婚。”
A civil servant in Chengdu, Wu remembers her own younger days in the 1980s as being rosy and romantic.
吳波是成都的一名公務(wù)員?;貞浧鹕鲜兰o(jì)80年代的那段青春歲月,她表示那是一段浪漫的美好時(shí)光。
"Material success was not so important to my generation. Most of my peers wanted to find a mate who was a spiritual match more than one who was materially rich."
“對(duì)于我們這代人來說,物質(zhì)上的成功并不像現(xiàn)在這般重要。對(duì)于當(dāng)時(shí)的大多數(shù)同齡人來說,我們擇偶的條件主要是看彼此是否心心相印,而不是追求物質(zhì)上的富有。”
"Being materialistic is not our fault. Our whole society is already that way," says Sun Mei, 24, a project officer with a Canadian company in Beijing.
24歲的孫梅(音譯)是北京一家加拿大公司的項(xiàng)目主任。她表示:“注重物質(zhì)生活并非我們的過錯(cuò)。我們整個(gè)社會(huì)都是這個(gè)樣子。”
"If I marry a poor man for love, I will lose face, and the quality of my life will be worse than if I were single."
“如果我為了愛情而嫁給一個(gè)沒什么錢的人,我會(huì)很沒有面子,我的生活質(zhì)量也會(huì)比婚前低。”
While the freedom to marry for love had become socially acceptable, divorce was not. As in marriage, couples had to get the permission of authorities before they could divorce.
在過去,自由戀愛結(jié)婚雖然已經(jīng)為社會(huì)所接受,而離婚則不然。夫妻雙方需要得到單位的批準(zhǔn)才能離婚。
In 1980, Yu Luojin, a writer in Beijing, filed for divorce, claiming she was no longer compatible with her husband. But, incompatibility was not legal grounds for divorce under the existing Marriage Law. The term incompatibility was so foreign that Yu`s appeal triggered a social controversy about the reasons for divorce.
1980年,北京作家遇羅錦聲明自己和丈夫之間感情破裂,遂訴請(qǐng)離婚。但在當(dāng)時(shí)的《婚姻法》中“感情破裂”尚無法律依據(jù)。“感情破裂”這一術(shù)語如此陌生,以至于遇羅錦的申訴引發(fā)了社會(huì)民眾對(duì)于離婚原因的廣泛爭(zhēng)論。
With Yu Luojin`s case, the 30-year-old Marriage Law no longer met the needs of the contemporary social landscape.
遇羅錦離婚案說明,已有30年歷史的《婚姻法》無法滿足當(dāng)今社會(huì)形態(tài)的需求。
In 1980, the first amendment to the Marriage Law was issued. Incompatibility was written into the articles of the new Marriage Law.
1980年,《婚姻法》進(jìn)行了首次修訂后頒布。“感情破裂”這一術(shù)語被寫入了新的《婚姻法》條例中。
"People realized that love could be the reason for a marriage. They gradually gave up the old idea of sex as reserved for having children. They began to see sex as a way of expressing love and affection, and for the pleasure of body and soul," says Chen Mingxia.
陳明霞(音譯)表示:“那時(shí)人們意識(shí)到結(jié)婚是為了愛。他們逐漸摒棄了之前‘傳宗接代’的兩性觀念。他們開始將性視為表達(dá)愛與情感、追求身心快樂的一種方式。”
Love, affection and enjoyment became the standard by which many people judged the quality of their marriage.
愛意、感情以及快樂成為許多人衡量婚姻好壞的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
Later the influence of Western-style sexual liberation affected marriage stability and in the 1990s, some old practices returned.
后來,西方“性解放”對(duì)婚姻的穩(wěn)定性造成了威脅。在上世紀(jì)90年代,一些舊習(xí)俗再次死灰復(fù)燃。