Davis 17 Shanghai and Guangzhou Interviews When asked if they had heard of a prenuptial agreement婚前t协议，most interviewees(40/48)answered they had.When asked if they thought prenup- tials were a good innovation,half thought they were and another third thought they might be useful.By contrast,barely a quarter(13/48)had heard of a loyalty agreement.However,after everyone understood what loyalty agree- ments entailed,more than half(32/48)thought they were either useless or no good. Given men's higher rates of admitted infidelity(Kong,2011;Zhang et al., 2012)as well as the widespread expectation that men (and their families)are responsible to provide a marital home,I initially had hypothesized that men and women would differ in their assessment of the utility and necessity of prenuptials and loyalty agreements.In addition,given the dramatic economic and legal changes between 1966,the year of the first marriage among our oldest respondents,and 2010,the year of the most recent marriage among our youngest respondents,I also hypothesized that older respondents would be more critical of these innovations than the younger.I was wrong on both counts.Although men more often spoke about the importance of being responsible in marriage and women more often prioritized security,beneath the juxtaposition of responsibility versus security there was gender-neutral agreement that the key threat to marital stability was a general lack of trust and the need for both men and women to protect themselves保护自己from being cheated.Women were described(by men and women)as being fearful that husbands would be seduced by young unmarried women at their work- place or during frequent business trips.Men were described (again by both men and women)as being taken advantage of by gold-digging girls,and in particular by poor women who came from another city or province.Given these fears,it was not surprising that most respondents deemed formal pre- nuptial agreements to be a good innovation.However,far fewer (N=19) were willing to say they would suggest that a friend or a relative draft a pre- nup,primarily because they feared that such a recommendation signaled doubt about their friend or relative's choice of spouse or they felt that deci- sions about marriage were a private matter between the two individuals. Typical was the exchange on January 29,2011,between my colleague Peidong Sun and a woman born in 1943 who approved of prenuptial agree- ments but would not recommend them to others,including her own daughter. Sun:So,even though you would do it yourself,you wouldn't recommend it to your daughter? Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12,2014Davis 17 Shanghai and Guangzhou Interviews When asked if they had heard of a prenuptial agreement 婚前协议, most interviewees (40/48) answered they had. When asked if they thought prenup￾tials were a good innovation, half thought they were and another third thought they might be useful. By contrast, barely a quarter (13/48) had heard of a loyalty agreement. However, after everyone understood what loyalty agree￾ments entailed, more than half (32/48) thought they were either useless or no good. Given men’s higher rates of admitted infidelity (Kong, 2011; Zhang et al., 2012) as well as the widespread expectation that men (and their families) are responsible to provide a marital home, I initially had hypothesized that men and women would differ in their assessment of the utility and necessity of prenuptials and loyalty agreements. In addition, given the dramatic economic and legal changes between 1966, the year of the first marriage among our oldest respondents, and 2010, the year of the most recent marriage among our youngest respondents, I also hypothesized that older respondents would be more critical of these innovations than the younger. I was wrong on both counts. Although men more often spoke about the importance of being responsible in marriage and women more often prioritized security, beneath the juxtaposition of responsibility versus security there was gender-neutral agreement that the key threat to marital stability was a general lack of trust and the need for both men and women to protect themselves 保护自己 from being cheated. Women were described (by men and women) as being fearful that husbands would be seduced by young unmarried women at their work￾place or during frequent business trips. Men were described (again by both men and women) as being taken advantage of by gold-digging girls, and in particular by poor women who came from another city or province. Given these fears, it was not surprising that most respondents deemed formal pre￾nuptial agreements to be a good innovation. However, far fewer (N = 19) were willing to say they would suggest that a friend or a relative draft a pre￾nup, primarily because they feared that such a recommendation signaled doubt about their friend or relative’s choice of spouse or they felt that deci￾sions about marriage were a private matter between the two individuals. Typical was the exchange on January 29, 2011, between my colleague Peidong Sun and a woman born in 1943 who approved of prenuptial agree￾ments but would not recommend them to others, including her own daughter. Sun: So, even though you would do it yourself, you wouldn’t recommend it to your daughter? Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12, 2014