用英语讲中国文化 Unit 01.pptVIP

TB-Text TB-Text Smile on your brother: marrying into a Chinese family So you have decided to marry the Chinese woman of your dreams. You envision pictures of the two of you drifting on a boat alone on the waters ahead. You are sure you have formed a special, lifelong relationship with your beloved. Think again. You have formed a special, lifelong relationship with a much bigger crowd. They are called her family. If adapting to China has started to seem easy lately, a whole thirty new people in the family will still seem intimidating. Family obligations are stronger here than they are in much of the West. Independent-mindedness is not. So to prepare for all those years of kinship harmony, let’s drop the oars for a minute and discuss what comes next: TB-Text TB-Text Support  Social security in China has for thousands of years been the family. That’s true for other parts of the world as well, but China still relies quite heavily on children taking care of parents and grandparents. Sure, some are independently wealthy, but this hasn’t changed China’s system of family support very much. Your new parents-in-law would probably like to see you as their own son or daughter, and will expect some of this help from you too. That means caring for sick relatives, and helping out financially when necessary. Most of the financial side comes down to the son traditionally, but with more and more well-to-do women around, it’s becoming common for daughters to take care of parents as well. Since many Westerners are entirely new to this, relying very often on government care instead, it might be good to talk to your new family about what they need and expect. That way there are no misunderstandings or hurt feelings. TB-Text TB-Text Pay for What? A lot of foreigners in China are surprised that many Chinese still pay a bride price (cai li) before marrying a woman. We figure that was a part of antiquity which died out. The news is: it didn’t. Although not uni