ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ideas and opinions regarding dating practices, premarital sex and ideal boyfriends and husbands and girlfriends and wives. Dating culture in China has expanded significantly since the onset of economic reform, with a variety of new options now available for courtship. Dating culture throughout the Mao period was virtually non-existent, with barriers to mate choice persisting even after the Marriage Law of 1950. Free choice in marriage was guaranteed in the 1950 Marriage Law, other overriding factors of class background determined eligible mates under Mao. People are now more concerned with the pre-1949 preconditions for marriage such as financial success, occupation, housing availability and stability. Ideas of love and romance are often cited as prerequisites for marriage in reform China and such notions have spread rapidly through the media. Reform China offers young women a series of conflicting messages when it comes to pursuing and choosing a partner.
