Ugly Wife Is a Treasure At Home - True Stories of Love and Marriage in Communist China

"The ugly wife is a treasure at home" is not just an idle expression in China. For centuries, Chinese marriage involved matchmakers, child brides, dowries, and concubines, until the People's Republic of China was established by Mao Zedong and his Communist Party in 1949. Initially encouraging citizens to reject traditional arranged marriages and wed for love, the party soon spurned "the sin of putting love first," fearful that romantic love would distract good Communists from selflessly carrying out the State's agenda. Under Mao, the party established the power to approve or reject proposed marriages, to dictate where couples would live, and to determine if they would live together. By the 1960s and 1970s, romantic love had become a counterrevolutionary act punishable by "struggle sessions" or even imprisonment. The importance of Chinese sons, however, did not wane during Mao's thirty-year regime. As such, in a world where nobody spoke of love, 99 percent of young women still married.

 

The Ugly Wife Is a Treasure at Home draws the reader into the world of love in Communist China through the personal memories of those who endured the Cultural Revolution and the generations that followed. This collection of intimate and remarkable stories gives readers a rare view of Chinese history, social customs, and Communism from the perspective of today's ordinary citizens.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Pronunciation

Introduction: Who Wants an Ugly Wife?

Prologue: Rooster Weddings, Second Wives, and Little Feet

Chang Xing

Part 1. The 1950s Generation: When Love Didn’t Exist

[1]Love after Revolution

Jack Chou

[2]We Didn’t Know What Love Was

Lucy Lai

[3]The Three Wives of a Former (Teenage) Intelligence Operative

Tom Liu

[4]The First Group Wedding in Zhengzhou

Ma Yajing

[5]The “Old Hand” Man

Mr. Yang

Part 2. The 1960s Generation: Forbid the Early Love

[6]Marriage Is Nothing Special

Ziu Shouhe and Lin Chunjiao

[7]Wearing White for Chairman Mao

Xu Kiwi

[8]The Boy with the Baby-Raise-Wife

Liu Wumin

[9]My Reasons for Hating My Father

Wen “Ayi”

[10]A Good Fortune-Teller and Three Tips for Concealing Your Outside Woman

Mr. Zhang and Mr. Wu

[11]You Know Your Boyfriend Is Married If . . .

“Big Carol”

Part 3. The 1970s Generation: Sex and Love . . . or Marriage?

[12]My Lover’s Name Is Sam

Fangfei

[13]For One Tree, Do Not Sacrifice the Forest

Ming-Ming

[14]Shenzhen Marriage Park: Want Ads of Last Resort

Jason

[15]The Ultimate Perfect Happiness as a Stay-at-Home Mom

Sally

[16]A Man Who Could Speak His Own Name

Chou Xiao

Part 4. The 1980s Generation: Reform and Opening Up of the Heart

[17]Girls

Ben Wang

[18]Six Times Love

Pan Shanshan

[19]Everyone Knows That a Girl Shouldn’t Like a Girl

Riley

[20]A Wife of Noble Character, Who Can Find?

Lightly Chanchan

[21]A Tale of Two Sisters: Arranged Marriages and Secret Boyfriends

Lingyu

[22]She Cut Out My Chicken Eyes

Licai

Part 5. The 1990s Generation: Unguided Love

[23]The Buddhist Oracle Said “No Boyfriends”

Carrie

[24]I Thought We Would Be Together Forever

Ethan Li Mingwen

[25]I Thought to Myself

Yu Lihe

[26]A Conventional Man

Will Guo Pingyou

[27]There Are Three Kinds of Chinese Parents

Emma Yang Xichi and Peony Li Dandan

Conclusion

Appendix: Timeline of Recent Chinese History

Selected Bibliography

Über den Autor / die Autorin

MELISSA MARGARET SCHNEIDER is an American couples’ therapist, writer, and the founder of LuvWise.com. She wrote this book while living overseas in Shenzhen, China. She currently lives in the New York City area with her husband. 

Zusammenfassung

For centuries, Chinese marriage involved matchmakers, child brides, dowries, and concubines, until the People's Republic of China was established in 1949. This book explores love in Communist China through the personal memories of those who endured the Cultural Revolution and the generations that followed.

Produktdetails

Autoren	Melissa Schneider, Melissa M Schneider, Melissa M. Schneider, Melissa Margaret Schneider
Verlag	Potomac Books Inc
Sprache	Englisch
Produktform	Taschenbuch
Erschienen	15.08.2014
EAN	9781612346946
ISBN	978-1-61234-694-6
Seiten	277
Themen	Ratgeber > Lebenshilfe, Alltag > Partnerschaft, Sexualität; Sachbuch > Geschichte > Sonstiges; Sozialwissenschaften, Recht,Wirtschaft > Soziologie > Soziologische Theorien

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Melissa Schneider, Melissa M Schneider, Melissa M. Schneider, Melissa Margaret Schneider
• Verlag: Potomac Books Inc
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 15.08.2014
• EAN: 9781612346946
• ISBN: 978-1-61234-694-6
• Seiten: 277
• Themen: Ratgeber > Lebenshilfe, Alltag > Partnerschaft, Sexualität; Sachbuch > Geschichte > Sonstiges; Sozialwissenschaften, Recht,Wirtschaft > Soziologie > Soziologische Theorien