A woman married is like a pony bought —to be ridden or whipped at the master's pleasure.
For generations this maxim said much of what there was to say about marriage in the male-dominated world of China. But in line with the universal Communist policy of liberating the underdog the better to enslave him (or her) later, the first reform enacted into law by China's Communist masters was directed at marriage.
A year after the Reds took over China, the New Marriage Law was promulgated: the old "arbitrary and compulsory feudal system of marriage, based on the superiority of men over women, shall be abolished." Marriages in the future were to be arranged only "by the parties concerned ... of their own free will," said the new law. It also promised economic freedom and equality for all women, divorces "issued without delay" at the request of either party (except the husbands of pregnant women), an end to discrimination against bastardy, and the protection of illegitimate children. Just to make everything absolutely clear, the law stated specifically in Article XIII: "It is strictly forbidden to drown newborn babies."
Women Being Murdered. The first effect of the marriage law, just as the Communists hoped, was to release a huge portion of the population from the feudal bondage of fathers and husbands to serve the new state in work cadres. The women, among other privileges, got the equality of the hoe and the lathe. By 1953 more than 1,000,000 women held jobs in Red China's industry. Mao Tse-tung's air force today has a squadron of jet fighters manned entirely by women. But the Red marriage law could not change the way of a man with a maid overnight. Even among Communists, particularly in the back-country cadres, the notion of equality between men and women was hard to digest. Some local party leaders, in an effort to preserve male superiority, took over the functions of parents and arranged marriages accordingly.
Caught in a vortex of conflicting orders from party leaders, husbands and fathers, confused girls committed suicide by the thousands. In the central-south area alone during the first year of the marriage law, 10,000 women either killed themselves or were killed by angry males. "The present situation of women being murdered and youth committing suicide is extremely serious." noted a government report.
Wives Caught Young. Where the new freedom was accepted, it ran riot. The urban women of China began streaming in droves to the divorce courts, whose business soon amounted to one-third of all civil litigation in some parts of the country. The simplicity of severing marriage ties led inevitably to a further disregard of their importance, and illicit love affairs bloomed on every side. Naturally enough, this interfered considerably with the work of the state, what with intra-factory jealousies and unexpected pregnancies. Country girls, seeking a better mate than the local lout behind the plow, began flocking to the cities. Party workers in the backwoods were instructed to "explain to young women that it is incorrect to seek mates only among urban youth." In the China Youth magazine, a schoolteacher wrote an article entitled "Do Not Make Love to Middle School Students Who Are Still Young," directed at soldiers who were raiding schoolrooms.