Realize What is Flat Marriage 认识裸婚
1 何为裸婚?
A new term has become popular recently among Chinese netizens:"naked marriage" (裸婚). Don't be mistaken, but the term has a special meaning: it means getting married without a house, a car, a diamond ring and a proper wedding ceremony. Just taking a picture and getting a marriage certificate is all that is involved. Will you accept such kind of marriage?
Among these "naked" aspects, having no house is the key point. A popular Chinese TV drama, Dwelling Narrowness, strikes chord with China's "house slaves" (房奴), especially those born after 1980, whose youth ambitions are wrecked because of the high property prices in China and inability to afford a mortgage.
Perhaps "naked marriage" is common in Western countries, as couples in love will not care too much about having no flat, car or a big fat bank account. However, it is different in China, as housing is a very important symbolic guarantee. Few unmarried young women (or their parents) would agree to marry to unsuccessful men. And one important criteria of success is whether you have a flat.
This seems to be confirmed by an online survey last month conducted by Sohu. In a survey named "In this new era, will you accept naked marriage?", 43% say they will and 47% say they will not. However, when the result is classified by sex, it reveals a more interesting pattern: 80% of male will accept while 70% of female will not.
One day back in 2002, university graduates Leon Han and Yvonne Feng made the decision to walk down the aisle "naked". Although they did don clothes, the union-called a "naked marriage"-lacked some of the other finery that usually accompanies a Chinese wedding: a house, a car, a banquet, a lavish honeymoon or even a ring. They chose to be bound in matrimony but not by material things. "If you do away with all the rituals and big gestures, marriage does not fundamentally change who you are," explains Feng, who is now mother to a one-year-old boy.
2 和裸婚有关的表达方式
(1)lightening marriage 闪婚
Nowadays more and more young people choose lightening marriage and the two persons actually know each other little and both of them don't know how long their marriage can last. So the two persons choose to keep low attitude towards their marriage and they even don't tell their colleagues and friends that they got married, but if their marriage can last for some time(maybe over one year) ,they will buy house and car and let others know. In big cities, an apartment averagely costs around 2.5 million Yuan for 100 square meters, and the down payment even costs around 800,000 Yuan. If the lightening marriage will be ended soon, then both of the couples will suffer huge financial losses.
(2)half-naked marriage 半裸婚
You have the basic marriage ceremony, the ring and things like these, but without a car and a house.
(3)Whole naked marriage 全裸婚
The newly couple only spend nine yuan to get the certificate in order to register their marriage and the other expenditure to take the photos.
不买房、不买车、不办婚礼、不买婚戒、不度蜜月,只与双方家长见面即可。裸婚,是现在80后走进婚姻中最新潮的一种结婚方式,他们用"没房、没车、没钻戒、没婚纱、没存款、没婚礼和没蜜月",用诸多的"无"来诠释节俭的结婚方式,总之,结婚时除了去登记处办理红艳艳的结婚证之外,其他的什么都可以不需要。
Despite a centuries-old emphasis on elaborate wedding ceremonies, many young Chinese couples are choosing to get married without owning an apartment or a car, and even without a ring.
自古以来,婚姻一直都被人们看做是人生的头等大事,许多年轻人无房无车无钻戒也照样结婚。
They simply register their marriage, which costs nine yuan each.
他们只花9元钱去婚姻登记处办理结婚证。
Flat marriage speaks of a social problem.
裸婚,反映的是一个社会问题。
The society exerts too much pressure on men.
社会给男性很大的社会压力。
In this fast growing economy, salary is not fair given the rising price.
在这个发展迅速的社会里,物价上涨与工资待遇不对等。
The male friends around me are afraid of talking about marriage and discouraged by the spending it entails.
我周围的很多男性朋友,一说到结婚就害怕,说起结婚所要东西花费的钱就垂头丧气。
Nowadays, women demand a lot: flats, cars, etc. Just think about the slim salary men get and today's living costs.
现在很多女性对于男方的要求也很高:车、房子都要有。想想男性微薄的收入和现在的生活消费吧。
The typical monthly salary could only buy you a floor tile, not to talk about the living expenses.
一个月的收入也就够买一块地板砖,更不要说生活的花费了。
Unless you have a second job or illegal income, ordinary men can rarely afford a flat before marriage.
除非你有第二职业、非法盈利或收入,一般的男性是很难在结婚前买得起房子的。
This creates a lot of pressure for men.
这个给男性带来了很大的压力。
Perhaps the concept of "naked marriage" is a test of love. Love is the happiness created together, not in advance by men only.
也许"裸婚"对于爱来说真的是一种考验,爱是双方一起创造的,不是男性一个人先创造好的幸福。
"Naked marriage" is an escape from the reality.
裸婚是对现实的逃避。
As a twenty something young woman, I have met many women of marriage age, together with their parents, and they are actually quite reasonable.
作为20几岁的女孩子,我遇到很多适婚年龄的女孩子和他们的父母都是相当理性的。
My parents said, since housing is so expensive, it would be unreasonable to demand young men to buy a flat before marriage.
我的父母就说,现在房子那么贵,叫男方在婚前就买好房子是很过分的。
Having a flat is good, but without a flat, both sides could solve it gradually.
有房子的很好,没房子两家一起尽力买。
My parents also said, the character of the man is more important than whether he has money or not.
我的父母还说,男方的性格是比他有没有钱更加重要的。
Therefore, there are still many reasonable women around; those demanding houses, cars or diamond rings are rare.
所以,还是有很多理性的女人的,那些要求房子、车子、钻戒的女人还是少的。
Of course, it's another matter if you are after those material girls.
当然,如果你是追求物质的女孩那就另当别论了。
Nonetheless, isn't naked marriage a bit too much? I think it's safer to live separately instead.
但是,不管怎么说,裸婚还是有点过分的。我觉得各自住各自的更加安全。
Those men who want naked marriage are irresponsible, because you never think about contributing to a good life with your other half!
那些想裸婚的男人是非常不负责任的。因为你从来就没有想过对你的另一半做出贡献。
It's not that women are more realistic, but because our society is still male-centered, which means that the bulk of the family's responsibility still falls on men.
并非女性更注重现实利益,而是我们的社会毕竟是男权社会,男性在主导社会的同时也承担更多的社会家庭责任。
This also proves that our ladies still realize this fact and behave accordingly, and that the gentlemen do not have the courage to take on this responsibility.
这说明,社会的女性还是具有深刻的自身角色的意识,而整个社会本来应该勇于承担的男性倒是有所退缩。
In every society, wealth is linked to time. Young people have the desire but not the power to consume.
任何一个社会里,财产这件事都是与时间联系在一起的,年轻人都是有消费欲望而消费能力欠佳。
Modern society's solution to the dilemma is through financial innovation, transferring elder people's excess consuming capacity to young people on credit.
现代社会解决的方式就是金融产品的创新,使得中年之后过剩的消费能力预支到青年时期。
Ann: You look tired.
安妮:你看起来很累呢。
Lily: Yes, very.
莉莉:是的,非常累。
Ann: What's wrong with you?
安妮:你是怎么了?
Lily: My brother got married yesterday.
莉莉:我哥哥昨天结婚了。
Ann: Congratulations.
安妮:恭喜啊。
Lily: Thanks you. But I found that getting married is a trouble!
莉莉:谢谢,但是我发现结婚真是个麻烦。
Ann: Oh? Why?
安妮:哦?为什么?
Lily: It costs too much money, and it needs a lot of energy.
莉莉:这花了很多钱,而且还需要大量的精力。
Ann: That's right; it is quite expensive to get married nowadays. And there is a term called "marriage slave" to refer to a person who fall into trouble in life after spending a lot of money on his wedding ceremony and banquets.
安妮:那倒是,现在结婚花费十分昂贵,都有个称谓:"婚奴",指那些在花钱举办完结婚仪式和婚宴后生活陷入了困境的人。
Lily: I agree, but I don't want to spend too much time and much on this.
莉莉:我同意,但是我不想要花很多时间和金钱在这上面。
Ann: Then, you can choose "flat marriage". You don't have to have a banquet or a car or house. Just spend nine yuan to register.
安妮:那你可以选择"裸婚",不要举办酒席,不用车和房子,只要花九块钱去注册。
Lily: I like the idea. It is simple and free. I don't think the form is so important, what matters is love. Don't you think so?
莉莉:我喜欢这个主意。又简单,又自由。我不觉得形式有那么重要,重要的是爱,你不这样认为吗?
Ann: I agree with you.
安妮:我赞成你的看法。