Chinese university offers courses in matchmaking and pre-divorce counseling
Stockholm, August 2 (Hibya)—China has launched its first university degree program in marriage-related subjects. The curriculum includes wedding planning, matchmaking services, and marriage counselling.
The Beijing-based Vocational University of Civil Affairs offers a four-year marriage services and management program. It aims to teach students how to deal with “the whole cycle of marriage and family,” said Yu Xiaohui, dean of the university's School of Wedding Culture and Media Arts.
“A couple's relationships start before they start a family - from marriage matchmaking to pre-marriage counselling, to marriage registration, to wedding services and then to pre-divorce counselling,” Yu told local media, adding that there is currently a shortage of talent demand for highly trained professionals in the marriage services market.
The course modules include sociology, wedding venue design, family ethics, the economics of the marriage industry, and family politics. Students will also be able to intern at agencies specializing in weddings, matchmaking, marriage registration, and counselling.
Zhao Honggang, vice president of the university, told local media that the program, which began recruiting students this September, will enrol 70 undergraduate students in 12 provinces in 2024.
New marriages in China increased by 12.4 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, ending a nine-year losing streak. However, more than half of the population aged 25-29 remains unmarried and late marriages have become more common in recent years.
The Vocational University of Civil Affairs is a newly established institution under the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs. In addition to the marriage management program, the school offers training in intelligent health care management, social work, rehabilitation assistive device technology and funeral management.
The Modern Funeral Management curriculum, the country's first undergraduate major in this field, aims to equip students with various skills, including body embalming and preservation, palliative care and age consolation, and cremation and maintenance of funeral equipment.
Albania News Agency