{"id":1336,"date":"2023-10-24T03:59:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T19:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/2023\/10\/24\/dating-in-china-whats-the-difference\/"},"modified":"2024-07-02T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:48:29","slug":"dating-in-china-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/dating-in-china-whats-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Dating in China: What’s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you may expect, dating is a little bit different in China than it is in most Western countries. The basics are the same\u2014people are people everywhere\u2014but there are still a few differences regarding culture and social cues to note.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As you may expect, dating is a little bit different in\u00a0China\u00a0than it is in most Western countries. The basics are the same\u2014people are people everywhere\u2014but there are still a few differences regarding culture and social cues to note.<\/p>\n

\"Dating<\/p>\n

Image: Love to Know<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Beginning of a Relationship: Dating in China<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because of China\u2019s rigorous\u00a0college entrance examination<\/a>, dating is rarely tolerated among high school students. They simply have too much work to do.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that Chinese teens don\u2019t have high school crushes or even relationships (mostly secret ones). But in general, Chinese students leave high school with a lot less romantic experience than their American counterparts. For a lot of Chinese people, serious dating starts after they\u2019ve finished school.<\/p>\n

Pragmatic Purposes<\/strong><\/p>\n

More so than Westerners, many Chinese view dating as a pragmatic affair. It\u2019s not always about finding love so much as it is about finding a potential marriage partner who fits with one\u2019s own ideals.<\/p>\n

For example, although many men get married without a house and a car, Chinese women will often say that they\u2019re looking for these things\u00a0because that\u2019s the sort of person who probably has a stable career and will be able to provide for her and their future children in the long-term.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not always about love. As one contestant on\u00a0China\u2019s most popular dating\u00a0show put it, “I\u2019d rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle.”<\/p>\n

\"ChineseDating<\/p>\n

Image: Drama Fever<\/p>\n

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Parental Involvement<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every parent is different, of course, but in general Chinese parents expect to be more involved in their children\u2019s relationships. It\u2019s not uncommon for parents and grandparents to set their children up on blind dates with suitable matches they\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n

If their child\u2019s significant other doesn\u2019t meet with the parents\u2019 approval, continuing the relationship will be very difficult.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why if you\u2019re dating someone who is Chinese, it\u2019s very important you make a good first impression with the parents!<\/p>\n

\"ChineseDating<\/p>\n

Image: Youtube<\/p>\n

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Sex<\/strong><\/p>\n

In general, sex before marriage in China is less common and considered more serious than it is in many Western cultures. Attitudes toward sex are changing, especially in more cosmopolitan cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but in general, many Chinese women see sex as a sign that a relationship is headed towards marriage.<\/p>\n

Additionally, many Chinese men say they would prefer to marry a woman who hasn\u2019t had premarital sex.<\/p>\n

Marriage<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ultimate goal of most relationships<\/a> in China is marriage. Young Chinese adults are often under a lot of pressure from the elders in their family to find a good husband or wife and get married relatively early.<\/p>\n

This pressure is particularly acute for women, who can be called \u201cleft-over women\u201d if they pass the age of 26 or 27 without finding a husband. Men can find themselves similarly left-over if they wait too long to get married.<\/p>\n

This is a big part of why dating is often taken so seriously. Chinese young people often feel like they don\u2019t have the time to \u201cplay the field\u201d that their Western counterparts are afforded by society.<\/p>\n

\"ChineseDating<\/p>\n

Image: China Hush<\/p>\n

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Expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The actual experience of dating in China can also be somewhat different.<\/p>\n

For example, you\u2019ll often see Chinese couples wearing matching outfits, which is almost unheard of in the West. Many Chinese couples do not share the Western expectation that two people dating will maintain their own separate social lives and friend circles.<\/p>\n

Chinese couples also sometimes refer to each other as \u201chusband\u201d (\u8001\u516c) and \u201cwife\u201d (\u8001\u5a46) even when they\u2019re not actually married\u2014another indicator of the serious implications dating in China.<\/p>\n

Of course, these are all just generalizations, and they don\u2019t apply to all Chinese people. More than tradition, society, or culture, dating in China is governed by what the specific individuals in the relationship think and feel, and it\u2019s not too hard to find Chinese couples that don\u2019t fit all or even any of the general observations above.<\/p>\n

Source: Thought Catalog<\/p>\n

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How do you think dating in China differs from dating in the West? Let us know by commenting below! Remember to follow GuideinChina and stay up-to-date on current events and advice for life in China!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As you may expect, dating is a little bit different in China than it is in most Western countries. The basics are the same\u2014people are people everywhere\u2014but there are still …","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[60,306,29,559],"class_list":["post-1336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-tips","tag-china","tag-hiredchina","tag-jobs","tag-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11795,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1336\/revisions\/11795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}