Traditional Customs In China

Traditional customs are perceived as perennial practices exercised and safeguarded by a unit, a group or a nation (Thompson 1993). In fact, the notion of customs being achievements of a community (Kambarami 2006) has served as a prerequisite for the defence of traditional customs. In other words, traditions are often recognised with a sense of pride that cannot be substituted. Prevalent examples of traditional customs in contemporary society include the annual occurrence of Chinese married couples preparing Ang Paos for single relatives during Chinese New Year (Ong 2008). Despite the positive connotations that are associated with traditional customs, a large segment of society has gradually shifted perceptions of the practices. Indeed, it has

In essence, contemporary Chinese families with conservative perspectives towards a wide spectrum of issues remain adamant that marriages are primarily to foster procreations and ensure the continuance of the paternal bloodline (Wang, Kok and Chuang 2008), instead of being an authentic manifestation of genuine romance (Wang 2016). As a consequence, not only that the Chinese have been constrained by an authoritarian form of parental conviction in the selection of spouses (), but also various marriage steps, especially dowry negotiations and the settings of wedding ceremonies, have been arranged beyond the arguments of the engaged couples. In fact, parental intervention of the custom can be justified with two beliefs of cultural importance. Firstly, while questionable marital partnership may jeopardise the reputation of a family within a community, the selection of a new family member (husband or wife) remains regarded as a decision of familial importance to the Chinese family institution as a collective even in contemporary society (Zang 2008). Moreover, the deeply assimilated Confucius concept of family relations – particularly the inculcation of filial piety that is still ubiquitous in Chinese families – means that conformity to parental decisions remains a heavily promulgated virtue across the entire ethnic (Deutsch 2006). However, various post-liberal arguments seem to have challenged the firmly held beliefs. Prominently, despite the importance of respect to parental authority, it must be kept in mind that arranged marriages could be dangerous because a failed process of socialisation with and adaptation to newly acknowledged spouses may be decisively negative to the quality of a marriage (Cao, Fang, Fine, Ju, Lan and Zhou 2016). What is more, multiple traditional marriage prerequisites, such as the