考研阅读精选：亚洲结婚率下降-亚洲人孤独的心

『亚洲女性拒绝婚姻，这种现象有严肃的社会含意。』

　　The decline of Asian marriage：Asia's lonely hearts

　　亚洲结婚率下降：亚洲人孤独的心

　　Aug 20th 2011| from The Economist

　　TWENTY years ago a debate erupted about whether there were specific “Asian values”. Most attention focused on dubious claims by autocrats  that democracy was not among them. But a more intriguing , if less noticed, argument was that traditional family values were stronger in Asia than in America and Europe, and that this partly accounted for  Asia’s economic success. In the words of Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore and a keen advocate of Asian values, the Chinese family encouraged “scholarship and hard work and thrift  and deferment  of present enjoyment for future gain”.

　　On the face of it his claim appears persuasive still. In most of Asia, marriage is widespread and illegitimacy  almost unknown. In contrast, half of marriages in some Western countries end in divorce, and half of all children are born outside wedlock .

　　Yet marriage is changing fast in East, South-East and South Asia, even though each region has different traditions. The changes are different from those that took place in the West in the second half of the 20th century. Divorce, though rising in some countries, remains comparatively rare. What’s happening in Asia is a flight  from marriage.

　　Marriage rates are falling partly because people are postponing getting hitched . Marriage ages have risen all over the world, but the increase is particularly marked in Asia. People there now marry even later than they do in the West. The mean  age of marriage in the richest places—Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong—has risen sharply in the past few decades, to reach 29-30 for women and 31-33 for men.

　　A lot of Asians are not marrying later. They are not marrying at all. Almost a third of Japanese women in their early 30s are unmarried; probably half of those will always be.

　　Women are retreating  from marriage as they go into the workplace. That’s partly because, for a woman, being both employed and married is tough in Asia. Women there are the primary caregivers for husbands, children and, often, for ageing parents; and even when in full-time employment, they are expected to continue to play this role. This is true elsewhere in the world, but the burden that Asian women carry is particularly heavy. Japanese women, who typically work 40 hours a week in the office, then do, on average, another 30 hours of housework. Their husbands, on average, do three hours. And Asian women who give up work to look after children find it hard to return when the offspring are grown. Not surprisingly, Asian women have an unusually pessimistic view of marriage.

　　At the same time as employment makes marriage tougher for women, it offers them an alternative . More women are financially independent, so more of them can pursue a single life that may appeal more than the drudgery  of a traditional marriage. More education has also contributed to the decline of marriage, because Asian women with the most education have always been the most reluctant to wed—and there are now many more highly educated women.

　　The flight from marriage in Asia is thus the result of the greater freedom that women enjoy these days, which is to be celebrated. But it is also creating social problems. Compared with the West, Asian countries have invested less in pensions and other forms of social protection, on the assumption that the family will look after ageing or ill relatives. That can no longer be taken for granted. The decline of marriage is also contributing to the collapse in the birth rate. Fertility  in East Asia has fallen from 5.3 children per woman in the late 1960s to 1.6 now. In countries with the lowest marriage rates, the fertility rate is nearer 1.0. That is beginning to cause huge demographic  problems, as populations age with startling speed. And there are other, less obvious issues. Marriage socialises men: it is associated with less criminal behaviour. Less marriage might mean more crime. (710 words)