Education About Asia: Online Archives

Web Gleanings: Marriage and Family in Asia

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ASIA, GENERAL

Title: Islamic Family Law and Justice for Muslim Women

URL: http://www.asiasource.org/asip/muslimwomen.cfm

This Web page summarizes the presentations of a conference that dealt with marriage, divorce, child custody, and other important issues facing Muslim women. The participants are mostly from four ASEAN countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

INDIA

Title: Marriage Customs of India

URL: http://www.oldandsold.com/articles25/marriagecustoms-1.shtml

This is a highly unusual article written in 1897 for Antiques Digest magazine. For those who wish to know about marriage in India in the nineteenth century, this will make interesting reading.

Title: About.com: Hinduism: Matrimonials and Weddings

URL: http://hinduism.about.com/od/matrimonial1/ matrimonials_Weddings.htm

This page has links to many articles about the process and the rituals of the wedding ceremony in India. Some articles are more detailed than others.

Title: Indian Society and Ways of Living

URL: http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no=106

AskAsia.org provides many good pages for teachers and students, including essays and lesson plans. This background essay looks at several facets of life in India. Among the topics are: family relations, marriage, caste, and class. Although the article was written in 2004, many of the references are from the 1990s.

Title: The Indian Family

URL: http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/ Courses/so142/India/india.htm

The focus of this site is the relationship between family units to one another and the roles of family members within these units. There are also brief remarks about marriage, dowry, and divorce.

CHINA

Title: The Traditional Chinese Family and Lineage

URL: http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/hbfamilism-u.html

David K. Jordan has compiled a concise and informative page about China’s family structure and lineage. He discusses kinship groups, clans, and other organizing systems in China’s patrilineal society. Jordan also has a brief section on marriage and divorce, giving reasons for divorce and situations that prevent a divorce.

Title: Family Life in Modern China

URL: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/documentaries/060823doc

This 30-minute radio documentary, produced by Radio Netherlands, contains many first-person remarks about families and the one-child policy and its effect on many aspects of Chinese society, including migration within China. There is also a short textual summary of the program on this site.

Title: Campus Courtship in China

URL: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/ biennial-conference/2006/Southwell-Lee-meiling-ASAA2006.pdf

In 2005 the ban on marriage between university students was lifted; the original regulation stated that people went to universities to learn, not to foster romance. This paper discusses the effects of rescinding the ban on marriage and dating practices.

Title: Marriage Customs

URL: http://www.chinatour360.com/chineseculture/marriagecustoms.htm

This site is a compilation of remarks from unknown sources; it should be read with this context in mind. nevertheless, the information on exchanging letters, on gifts, on matching birthdays, and on the wedding ceremony itself is fascinating and worthy of a quick reading.

JAPAN

Title: Japan Echo: Marriage and Divorce in the Edo Period

URL: http://japanecho.co.jp/sum/2003/300518.html

The focal point of this article is the financial aspect of marriage and divorce during the Edo period. Much of the article deals with the economic and social consequences of divorce.

Title: Contemporary Japan

URL: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/at_japan_soc/index.html

In this series of short videos on contemporary Japan, the second section on the page offers several clips on the Japanese family. Each video is accompanied by a transcript—the link is on the lower left of each video page. Subjects include roles in the family, primogeniture, and divorce.

Title: Marital Dissolution in Japan: Recent Trends and Patterns

URL: http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol11/14/11- 14.pdf

This fairly detailed study of divorce patterns in Japan, published by Demographic Research in December 2004, looks at the likelihood of divorce, the socioeconomic factors in divorce, and the educational differentials.

Title: Single Mothers and Welfare Restructuring in Japan

URL: http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2623

This article, originally published in the Japonesia Review in September 2007, examines the situation of single mothers in Japan. The author studies education levels, work status, divorce rates, and other issues that have an impact on the lives of single mothers. Good charts and graphics accompany the article.

KOREA

Title: The Value and meaning of the Korean Family

URL: http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no= 67&era=&grade=&geo=

In this background essay written for teachers, the focus is on traditional family life in Korea. It was written in 1986 and makes comparisons to life in the 1960s. Thus, we have a historical document of family life in both decades.

Title: Family Customs in Korea

URL: http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/family_customs.htm

The information on this site is provided by the Korean Embassy. Its main subjects are kinship groups, social relations, and social order. The articles are short, informative, and easy to read.

INDONESIA

Title: Wedding Ceremonies and Customs

URL: http://www.expat.or.id/info/weddings.html

Although this is written for the benefit of outsiders (expatriates) living in Indonesia, there is a good deal of information, ranging from the elaborate invitations to gift giving, to the wedding reception. There is also a section on ethnic Chinese weddings.

IRAN

Title: Iranian marriage Ceremony

URL: http://www.iranchamber.com/culture/articles/ iranian_marriage_ceremony.php

Both modern and historical perspectives on marriage in Iran are offered in this article. There are specific details for the wedding ceremony and for the days preceding the wedding, including financial arrangements as well as family obligations.