How much do you know about the marriage about ancient Chinese? Have you heard the idiom “嫁鸡随鸡嫁狗随狗”？Do you know the meaning? Maybe the story I found athttp://www.hellomandarin.com will help you understand it.
Follow the man you marry, be he a cock or dog. In ancient, China arranged marriages by parents and matchmakers were the rule. A woman had no right to choose her husband, no freedom to love a man of her own choice. As a matter of fact, many girls did not meet their fiancés until the wedding day when their wedding veil was lifted by the bridegroom. In the idiom, the “fowl/cock” and “cur/dog” refer to different kinds of men. It means that whoever your husband is, whether he is good or bad, a girl has no alternative but to live with the man obediently for the rest of her life. There is a connotation of helplessness on the part of the married woman. Life has changed a great deal since then. When people use this idiom today, they do it half jokingly. Examples ① A: Life was really a misery for women in ancient China, for even if they were badly treated by their husbands they had no alternative but to bear with them. B: This is called “follow the man you marry, be he a cock or dog”. Fortunately, today’s women enjoy much more freedom. ② A: Your husband is just an ordinary office clerk and he treats you so badly. Why don’t you divorce him? B: Well, “follow the man you marry, be he a cock or dog”. As the children are already so big, I will just put up with him.
Though Chinese Today are more open, but they still regard family as an important thing in life.
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Thank you! Chinese people are so interesting, but I think in this way the wife will sacrifice a lot for the family, how do you think? I'm trying hard to learn Chinese, and I have found a good site http://www.learnchinese.bj.cn to learn Chinese with excellent bilingual teachers .