18 Modern China S24:Right,I wouldn't recommend young people do it this way. Sun:And this is because you hope that they'll be married for life白头偕 老？ S24:Right.I hope that they will forever have a good situation,right? Marriage isn't easy,right?It's not something you just do one day and then divorce the next. Sun:But you said that if their relationship is good,then if they signed a prenup it would not necessarily mean they would divorce,right?What is it that you fear?Why won't you recommend a prenup? S24:Because if there were some stuffand I said to the younger gen- eration,when you marry you should first put this stuff in order,this would imply a certain viewpoint,right?But this is not how I think adults like us should behave.Also others would start to look askance at me,right?The young couple now has a good relationship,but I'm ask- ing them to look into the distant future and consider what if their rela- tionship became bad,and suggesting that they now divide their property.Then others will say you're being too shrewd/calculating Also if they followed your view,then it would be harder for them to develop harmony and it would be hard to manage.Right?So sug- gesting it for yourself and for others is not the same. A second overarching rationale for not recommending others sign a prenup or loyalty agreement was a general reluctance to intervene in the private lives of others.Thus not only has the party-state granted marriages more autonomy and personal space,so too have individual citizens.Here I excerpt from an October 22,2010,interview by Jun Zhang with a married Guangzhou man who was born in 1982.In this case,the man would not condemn the agree- ments for others because he equated the existence of such agreements with the more general freedom to choose how to conduct one's personal affairs. J03:Yes.I personally don't feel it will have a very negative impact,and I also don't feel it's absolutely necessary.That's what I feel Jun:So you feel it's nothing so special. J03:Right,it's just one free choice选自自由.It has its reason to exist,but it's not that every couple will choose it.This is how I feel. Respondents also repeatedly noted that if people did not trust their part- ners before marriage,they should not marry,and that if later they were betrayed,they should simply divorce.Thus even in cases where respondents considered the prenuptial to be a good innovation for minimizing disputes, they did not enthusiastically endorse it because they believed a request for a Downloaded from mex.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12,201418 Modern China S24: Right, I wouldn’t recommend young people do it this way. Sun: And this is because you hope that they’ll be married for life 白头偕 老? S24: Right. I hope that they will forever have a good situation, right? Marriage isn’t easy, right? It’s not something you just do one day and then divorce the next. Sun: But you said that if their relationship is good, then if they signed a prenup it would not necessarily mean they would divorce, right? What is it that you fear? Why won’t you recommend a prenup? S24: Because if there were some stuff 东西and I said to the younger gen￾eration, when you marry you should first put this stuff in order, this would imply a certain viewpoint, right? But this is not how I think adults like us should behave. Also others would start to look askance at me, right? The young couple now has a good relationship, but I’m ask￾ing them to look into the distant future and consider what if their rela￾tionship became bad, and suggesting that they now divide their property. Then others will say you’re being too shrewd/calculating 奸 细. Also if they followed your view, then it would be harder for them to develop harmony 融洽 and it would be hard to manage. Right? So sug￾gesting it for yourself and for others is not the same. A second overarching rationale for not recommending others sign a prenup or loyalty agreement was a general reluctance to intervene in the private lives of others. Thus not only has the party-state granted marriages more autonomy and personal space, so too have individual citizens. Here I excerpt from an October 22, 2010, interview by Jun Zhang with a married Guangzhou man who was born in 1982. In this case, the man would not condemn the agree￾ments for others because he equated the existence of such agreements with the more general freedom to choose how to conduct one’s personal affairs. J03: Yes. I personally don’t feel it will have a very negative impact, and I also don’t feel it’s absolutely necessary. That’s what I feel 觉得. Jun: So you feel it’s nothing so special. J03: Right, it’s just one free choice 选自自由. It has its reason to exist, but it’s not that every couple will choose it. This is how I feel. Respondents also repeatedly noted that if people did not trust their part￾ners before marriage, they should not marry, and that if later they were betrayed, they should simply divorce. Thus even in cases where respondents considered the prenuptial to be a good innovation for minimizing disputes, they did not enthusiastically endorse it because they believed a request for a Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12, 2014