Journal of Higher Education Research

Marriage is the most fundamental social institution in human society. Applying the comparative method, this paper aims at analyzing within the scope of marital and familial aspects of Chinese and Western culture, revealing specifically the underlying causes of the differences demonstrated in traditional Chinese and Western marriage culture. The paper finds that behind the apparent ritual practices, China and the West have different principles and priorities rooted in their ideological distinctions, namely, the differences in ethical foundations as well as family values. Chinese people, under the overwhelming influence of Confucian doctrines, regard parents as the sole authority in marriage, and ancestor worship has become the ultimate goal in the whole process, urging couples to conform to an extended family. In contrast, their western counterparts give priority to religious significance, and marriage is viewed as a divine unity of the two, which can be independent from large family relations thus forming a nuclear family of their own.