Chinese family ethics

Marriage and family are two concepts that are often used together and are extremely closely related. Marriage is the basis for building a family, and the family is the continuation of marriage. Marriage is a legal union between men and women, emphasizing the establishment, continuation, maintenance and dissolution of the relationship between husband and wife. A family is a social system composed of husband and wife, parents, children and other family members. Its members are bound together by husband-wife relationship, blood relationship or adoption relationship, and have the same daily life and mutual rights and obligations. From a quantitative point of view, marriage is a union between the sexes and a matter between two people. A family is not just made up of two people, but there are other members as well. Qualitatively, marriage is just a relationship, while family is an organized form of social union between people.

The moral norms that regulate marriage and family relationships are collectively called marriage and family ethics. In specific applications, people divide it into marriage ethics and family ethics to distinguish different adjustment objects and adjustment scopes. Family ethics mainly refers to social moral norms that adjust relationships within the family and regulate the behavior of family members. Marriage ethics is mainly used to adjust the relationship between husband and wife and standardize the social moral norms of marriage behavior. Marriage ethics only adjusts the relationship between husband and wife in the family relationship. In addition to the relationship between husband and wife, family ethics also adjusts the relationship between generations. Marriage ethics focuses on regulating the conclusion, existence, maintenance and dissolution of marriage relationships, while family ethics regulates the mutual rights and obligations between all family members.