Family and Fertility

The aim of the study is to assess the views of young people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong on family and feritily.

Major findings:

1. Young people consider the feeling of love between a couple as a main contributor to a conjugal marriage.
The survey demonstrated that young people considered the feeling of love, such as “having compatible personalities” and “fidelity and affection”, between a couple as the main contributor to a conjugal marriage.

2.Young people treasure the values of freedom, independence and equality in a husband-wife relationship
When asked how a couple should handle their finances, young people in Hong Kong preferred to handle their finances separately, the highest proportion of young people in the four cities to think this way. For a traditional Chinese society, woman take the responsibility for looking after children. The survey, however, indicated that around 60 to 70 per cent of young people in the four cities believed both the husband and wife should share the same responsibilities. It reflected that young people in the four cities emphasized equal responsibility between a husband and a wife in looking after children. In conclusion, the findings above suggest that young people treasure the values of freedom, independence and equality in a husband-wife relationship.

3.Young people perfer to establish their own household and have a nuclear family
The survey observed that young people preferred to establish their own household and have a nuclear family. When asked to describe the ideal place to live after marriage, more than half of the respondents in each city wanted to established their own household.