THE CHINA JOURNAL. NO 48 to constitute approximately one-third of the village's out-migrant seasonal workforce. The experience of being a migrant worker, often in cities, has had a profound influence on the attitudes and behaviour of young villagers Choosing a Spouse in Xiajia village During my fieldwork in 1998 and 1999, I surveyed 484 marriages entered into by male villagers between 1949 and the summer of 1999. Following the conventional typology of spouse selection used in many existing studies, I have classified the 484 cases into three categories: free-choice matches, where young couples become engaged without the assistance or interference of a third party matches-by-introduction, where couples were introduced by a relative, friend or professional matchmaker; and marriages arranged by parents. Table 1 summarizes the findings Table 1: Patterns of Spouse Selection among Xiajia Men, 1949-99 Arranged Matches-by Free-choice manages introduction matches number 1949-59 73%28 1960-69 11%882%61 7%5 79%101 16%21 l980-89 0 81%107 19%25 132 1%72 484 For further discussion on the impact of this urban experience, see Yunxiang Yan, Rural Youth and Youth Culture in North China, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Vol. 23, No. I (1999,pp.75-97 I used documentary sources to track marriage cases and then gathered ethnographic data on each of these through personal and group interviews. Documents included the 1982 and 1990 census, village household registers and records of population control in 1999. It was impossible to gather complete information about the marriages of Xiajia women, becaus there is no written record of such weddings inasmuch as when a woman marries out of the village her register is transferred to her husbands village32 THE CHINA JOURNAL, NO. 48 to constitute approximately one-third of the village's out-migrant seasonal workforce. The experience of being a migrant worker, often in cities, has had a profound influence on the attitudes and behaviour of young villagers.12 Choosing a Spouse in Xiajia Village During my fieldwork in 1998 and 1999, I surveyed 484 marriages entered into by male villagers between 1949 and the summer of 1999.'3 Following the conventional typology of spouse selection used in many existing studies, I have classified the 484 cases into three categories: free-choice matches, where young couples become engaged without the assistance or interference of a third party; matches-by-introduction, where couples were introduced by a relative, friend or professional matchmaker; and marriages arranged by parents. Table 1 summarizes the findings. Table 1: Patterns of Spouse Selection among Xiajia Men, 1949-99 Arranged Matches-by- Free-choice Total marriages introduction matches number % N % N % N of cases 1949-59 73% 28 24% 9 3% 1 38 1960-69 11% 8 82% 61 7% 5 74 1970-79 5% 6 79% 101 16% 21 128 1980-89 0 81% 107 19% 25 132 1990-99 0 64% 72 36% 40 112 Total 42 350 92 484 12 For further discussion on the impact of this urban experience, see Yunxiang Yan, "Rural Youth and Youth Culture in North China", Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Vol. 23, No. 1 (1999), pp. 75-97. 13 I used documentary sources to track marriage cases and then gathered ethnographic data on each of these through personal and group interviews. Documents included the 1982 and 1990 census, village household registers and records of population control in 1999. It was impossible to gather complete information about the marriages of Xiajia women, because there is no written record of such weddings inasmuch as when a woman marries out of the village her register is transferred to her husband's village