In 1919, when Chinese students demonstrated for what they called Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science, they also demanded an end to arranged marriage. They called it “the freedom of love,” and from then on it was tied to a sense of individual autonomy.
Mao outlawed arranged marriages and concubines, and established a woman’s right to divorce, but the system left little room for desire. Dating that did not lead to the altar was “hooliganism,” and sex was so stigmatized in the Maoist period that doctors met couples who struggled to conceive because they lacked a firm grasp on the mechanics.
Source:
Osnos, Evan. “Baptized in Civilization” Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China. London: Vintage, 2014. 45-46. Print.
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