Marriage Payment in Chinese Families(1978-2018):Trends,Urban-Rural Differences,and Regional Patterns
Drawing on the China Health and Aging Tracking Survey(CHARLS)database,the trends,urban-rural differences and regional patterns of marriage payments in Chinese households over the past 40 years of reform and opening up(1978-2018)were analyzed.The results showed that,first,the growth rate of brideprice and dowry in urban areas was more balanced than in rural areas,and the rising trends of brideprice and dowry in urban areas were basically the same,whereas the growth rate of brideprice in rural areas was much faster than that of dowry after 2000,and the rapid growth of brideprice in rural areas had brought a greater economic burden to families than in urban areas.Then,according to the amount of brideprice and the ratio of brideprice to dowry in urban and rural areas,K-means cluster analysis was used to classify the marriage payment patterns of urban and rural areas in 26 regions,and the marriage payment patterns were categorized into five types:"Unbalanced High Brideprice","Unbalanced Medium Brideprice","Balanced Medium Brideprice","Balanced-Unbalanced Low Brideprice",and"Balanced High Brideprice"(unique to urban areas).The results showed that the brideprice and dowry in different marriage payment patterns imposed different economic burdens on families,and the brideprice and the dowry should be analyzed in parallel to reveal the causes of"overpriced"brideprice.
marriage paymentsbridepricedowryurban-rural differences
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
