Running head: Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 1

Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong

A. A. Dickson
Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 2

Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong

The perception of marriage has transformed over time due to modernity and

globalization. In an intimate marriage setting partners, usually of different sex, stay within

traditional customs and governmental regulations. Marriage is an intimate form legally and

technically acknowledged as a partnership between two individuals (Bennett, 2019). The people

involved in a marriage setting must be open, familiar, and vulnerable in their interaction to be

genuinely private. Intimacy improves a close personal relationship. It is vital in romantic

relationships; however, it is crucial in friendships and interactions between parents, children,

sisters, and others. However, it is not always simple to maintain intimacy and keep the spark

alive in a marriage. Fortunately, couples may maintain the spark blazing with contemplation,

hard work, and commitment. Thus, the transformation of the perception about marriage in Hong

Kong draws from the influence of Western culture and modern globalization.

There have been many changes in the marriage institution in Hong Kong based on the

role of the bride. Marriage in Hong Kong has been used to mark a hierarchy in society for

centuries. For instance, marriage has been considered a transfer of wealth and closely bounded to

the world of materialism (Barker, 2015). Patriarchy and petrological homes have been structured

by gender and class in Hong Kong's society and predominantly exist among Chinese society. In

Hong Kong, most marriages have involved the bride moving to the husband's residence, which is

normally headed by the groom's father or an elder to the groom's parents (Tonsing, 2017). When

the bride transfers from her parents' house to her groom's residence, the groom automatically

assumes the role of the head of the house. Although not all newlywed brides have lived

patrilocally in Hong Kong, living with the husband's family has been a significant trend in the

early days. Patrilocal residence in Hong Kong means that women fail to experience the
Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 3

emotional or residential continuity that the males in the matrimonial home enjoy. Marriage in the

19th century or earlier, all newlywed brides lived with the husbands' families. In the early days,

men always thought that they are superior to women in a marriage. It was a common practice in

the rural areas where village exogamy has remained a culture to the marriage institution in Hong

Kong (Tonsing, 2017). Thus, men used to provide for their wives, and the wives were to stay at

home and concentrate on home chores.

Furthermore, most newlyweds join the groom's family as outsiders. To the groom's

society, the bride is another stranger who adds an extra bead to the number of people in the

family. In a marriage in the past in Hong Kong, the bride must establish her identity in the

society she has being married into. In contrast to the way past society treated women in marriage,

grooms would enjoy to live in their society and work in their place of work they have always

known when the bride has to abandon her home, work place and society to live with her husband

(Chadhuri & Morash, 2014). Among this population in Hong Kong, the parents looked up to

their sons, not their daughters-in-law, irrespective of the bride's financial capabilities.

The marriage institution in Hong Kong was patriarchal but that has drifted gradually as

women realize their roles in society. Moreover, in the patriarchal society in Hong Kong, women

are only allowed to raise children, look after the elderly, and tend to fields that belong to the

families they join as brides. Notably, the past Hong Kong's marriage institution favored the male

gender over the female gender. In the past society in Hong Kong, reference to the male child is

expressed in quite a number of ways. Boys were more likely to access education than girls. In the

current society, male children get an education more likely than girls in rural areas in Hong

Kong. The past society in Hong Kong fails to recognize that a good marriage emerges from

treating women and men as equals and offering them the ability to choose where they will stay
Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 4

and equal roles as the house heads (Crabtree, 2011). Thus, the continuous practice of female

infanticide in Republic Hong Kong rules the possibility of considering females as expendables in

marriage.

Past society in Hong Kong recognized marriage as mainly concerned with the movement

of people or material things. The part of the complex integration and differentiation in Hong

Kong's matrimony is dowry, wedding gifts, and presentations. Wedding gifts and dowry has

been a culture is Hong Kong's wedding for a very long time. In this society, brides are not

coparceners in lineage wealth. In the past community, women or matrimonial brides had no legal

right to receive any inheritance that equaled their husbands' share of inheritance as they were not

recognized as part of the shareholders' family's property (Amy, 2015). In the 21st century, brides

in Hong Kong have been involved in equal property sharing among the husband's family, which

was not the case in the past society (Amy, 2015). Division of household property is only done

upon the death of the husband or the wife or divorce. In uncommon circumstances, the lady

channels her share of the wealth to her heirless dad and to the grandchildren through uxorilocal

marriage.

Additionally, luxurious bridal gifts by the family of the groom were the hallmark of

bridal exchanges among the parties involved in past Hong Kong's weddings. In the current

marriages in Hong Kong, the pattern of the elite family receiving lavish gifts from the natal

family. Voluminous and expensive dowries have been part of Hong Kong's elite marriage

transactions through the imperial period (Koo, 2011). Today, the natal family can present

substandard betrothal gifts and dowries. This pattern shows a change from society where the

patriline family endowed the natal family with bridal gifts that were in turn given as dowry to a
Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 5

society where people members of the wealthy family began to transmit a proportion of the

wealth to the members outside of the patrilineal family.

In the past Hong Kong societies, divorce was uncommon. The woman was considered a

man's property. Although in the 1970s, polygamy was officially banned in Hong Kong. Divorce

was very minimal, unlike in the current days when polygamy has greatly increased (Augustus,

2012). The trend for couples to postpone or not get married has increased over recent years in

Hong Kong. Data from the latest census indicate that about 33% of men and 28% of the women

never married in Hong Kong, and median ages for men and women at first marriages have grown

respectively from 29 to 26 in 1991 to 32 and 30 (Ng, 2019). In recent years, divorce rates have

substantially increased, with divorce rates currently more than double the figure of 3.1 in the

1990's per 1000 people (Alfred, 2019). Moreover, since 1991, cross-border marriages between

the mainland and Hong Kong, which is comprehensible in the light of rising integration with the

mainland, especially the Pearl River Delta region, have increased rapidly.

New data from the Hong Kong regime indicates that China has a men's surplus, whereas

its semi-self-related neighbor Hong Kong in the South has a female surplus. Notably, Chinese

women in mainland China are increasingly marrying rich men in Hong Kong, usually to get a

place of residence in Hong Kong (Kuo, 2014). No equal sex weddings or civil unions are still

recognized in Hong Kong. In its Domestic Violence Act, the Government of Hong Kong offered

limited recognition and protection in June 2009 for cohabiting same-sex couples, but only in the

wider context of LGBT+ rights and growth in general civil rights in Hong Kong this can be

regarded a tiny step forward. Whether registered within Hong Kong or outside Hong Kong,

Hong Kong law does not recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 6

On the other hand, many Hong Kong residents have UK national passports from outside

(Kung et al., 2014). After the approval of a Civil Partnership (Registry abroad and Certificates)

Order 2005 in the UK, all British citizens, including British nationals from outside of Germany,

are permitted to register civil partnerships with a limited number of British Consulates or n Hong

Kong Embassy. As a result, LGBT couples with British citizens can register civil partnerships in

22 countries with British consulates. In 2013, Hong Kong's High Court ruled that a transgender

woman may marry her partner, and the government was told that a law permitting trans-sexual

and transgender people to marry following procedures would be developed for a year (Hung,

2012). In the year 2013, In the spring of 2014, it was stated that transgender people would marry

in July of the same year; however, the law was not implemented. Some human rights

organizations object to the necessity that a person is a complete run-in to be awarded a marriage

license (The Law Society of Hong Kong, 2020). Some argue that delaying the final draft is good

because the current legislation has "a lot of room and uncertainty.
Transformation in Marriages in Hong Kong 7

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