Taiwanese - Love or money ?

★★    Taiwanese LOVE or MONEY ?
                                      marriage, sex, divorce, love styles in Taiwan
                     ★  world No.1 rankings : 2020~22, 2017~19, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010~12    ★   Top rankings since 1998 ★

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click: ♣ Love OR. Money ♣ divorce rate ♣ SEX ♣ 8 love styles ♣ Chinese version ()
　

marriage for LOVE or for money ??
USA	Taiwan
Pew Research Org., 2019-2-13, 2013-2-13: Love tops the list of Americans' reasons to marry Americans ( 88% Americans and 93% married people) are more inclined to choose "love" as a reason for marriage than any other factor. (pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/02/13/love-and-marriage/)。 Business Insider (businessinsider.com/love-and-money-what-statistics-say-2012-2), ForbesWoman survey found "most marry more for love than for money ". An American Express survey found that only 43 percent of the general population talked money before marriage. In MarketWatch (2019-2-14), Randy Kessler , author of a book about divorce says: "people marry more for romance than for finance. However, for a second or third marriage, people may be looking for financial security".	CNA, Taiwan (台灣中央社), China News (中新網) reported: 65% Taiwanese chose "bread" (money) instead of "love", and 44% admitted they dream all the time to marry a rich guy so as not to work for living. (news.sina.com.cn/o/2010-08-14/144117964604s.shtml) 。 Washington Post, 1-2-2017: ..."83 percent chose bread over romance" (when it comes to Taiwan independence or reunification) 。

How was Taiwanese marriage for money over love ?

New York Times, 2021-11-18 ("What makes people happy" ): Most world people in a Pew Research Center survey said that family made them the happiest, such as the Australians (56%), New Zealanders (55%), Americans (49%), English(46%), Swedish, Italians, Canadians etc ranked family first, their percentages are about 3-4 times of that (15%) of Taiwanese, the % in Singapore and Japan is about 2 times of that in Taiwan. Taiwanese ranked Material well-being above family.

According to Wikipedia (2022-7-11, 2022-1-23, 2021-11-28): The number of crude Divorce Rate in Taiwan is higher than that in most countries of Asia & Pacific, such as Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, S. Korea, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, etc. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_demography ). Mainland China's divorce rate was worse than Taiwan's. Telegraph (UK, telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8714097/China-tries-to-stop-women-marrying-for-money-rather-than-love.html) reported that in mainland China, "Most pretty girls now try to trade on their beauty. It is an unhealthy trend", With divorce rates soaring, and widespread worries about a new culture of hyper-materialism, the Chinese government is now trying to stop women marrying for money.p


Pic.: No.1 "Taiwanese love or money" on US Google, 2022-9-26, 2022-9-18, 2022-9-9, 2022-8-16, 2022-7-24, 2022-7-18, 2022-7-7, 2022-7-4, 2022-5-27, 2022-5-20, 2022-5-14, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-12, 2022-4-9, 2022-4-3; Pic.: No.1 "Taiwanese love or money" on Yandex of Russia, 2022-9-26, 2022-9-18, 2022-9-9, 2022-8-16,2022-7-18, 2022-7-4, 2022-5-27, 2022-5-19, 2022-5-14, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-12, 2022-3-31, 2022-3-17, 2022-3-8, 2022-2-28, 2022-2-14, 2022-2-2, 2022-2-1, 2022-1-29, 2022-1-25, 2022-1-22, 2022-1-20, 2022-1-18, 2022-1-14, 2022-1-12, 2022-1-11, 2022-1-10, 2022-1-9, 2022-1-8 ; No.1"Taiwanese marriage for love or money" on Yandex, 2022-9-18, 2022-9-5, 2022-8-8, 2022-7-24, No.2 "Taiwanese marry for love or money" and "Taiwanese marriage for love or money" on US Google at 2022-7-1, 2022-5-19, 2022-4-12

pic.: No.1 "Taiwanese love" on Microsoft Bing, 2022-7-24, 2022-6-22, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-9, 2022-4-3, 2022-3-31, 2022-3-29, 2022-3-28; No.2 at 2022-9-18, 2022-9-9, 2022-8-16, 2022-7-18, 2022-7-1, 2022-5-31; No.1 "Taiwanese love or money" on Bing, 2022-8-19, 2022-8-10; No.1 "Taiwanese love or money"
on Ecosia of Germany, 2022-8-19
　

PIC. : No.1 "Taiwanese love or money"
on US Yahoo, 2022-9-18, 2022-9-5, 2022-8-16, 2022-7-24, 2022-7-18, 2022-7-1, 2022-6-22, 2022-6-1, 2022-5-19, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-9, 2022-3-31, 2022-3-17, 2022-3-12, 2022-3-8, 2022-2-28, 2022-2-21, 2022-2-20; No.1"Taiwanese marry for love or money", 2022-7-1; No.2 "Taiwanese love" on US Yahoo, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-9, 2022-3-31, 2022-3-29, 2022-3-28

　

marriage for LOVE
or for money ??

Taiwanese girls
exchange
their bodies
for living resource
and certain personality

Marrying for LOVE or Money

Abby Rodman, a psychotherapist said in MarketWatch (2019):“Marrying for love is the only good reason to marry. The beauty is most of us (Americans) have the freedom to do that".

Are Taiwanese poor so as to choose money over love ? According to Credit Suisse, Research Institute (Sept., 2022), Taiwanese' "Median wealth per adult", USD 113,940, is higher than Americans' USD93,270 (credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html). In June 2021, Taiwanese USD 93,044, Americans USD79,274. On the report of IMF (International Monetary Fund , 2021), GDP per capita (US$ PPP) of Taiwan, 59,398, is higher than that of Canada, 51,713. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita )   Furthermore, the percentage of college degree Taiwanese is more than that of Americans.

Or Taiwanese are lazy ? greedy? or social value systems, culture, national policy, women rights status ... made them to choose all those bourgeois things    ? ......

An academic paper of National Chung-Hsing University ( 中興大學, July 2018, "Flows between the Mainstream and the verge - transmutation of the sex industry in Taichung", 劉育民, 吳政憲教授 ) pointed out: marriage in today's Taiwan, to some degree, retains the logic of exchange in ancient China - women trade their bodies for living resource and certain personality (某種程度"保留了古老的交換邏輯" ―― 女人以"身體換取生存資源與一定人格"...).   By contrast, CNN, 2016-10-7 (edition.cnn.com/2016/10/07/health/infidelity-breadwinners-cheat-husband-wife/index.html) reported that in the US in four out of 10 households with children, women are the sole or primary breadwinners, based on a 2013 report by the Pew Research Center... more and more women become the sole or primary breadwinners ...

A very famous Chinese writer, Eileen Chang (張愛玲), has a saying : "Marrying for financial security is nothing but being a prostitute for long term". However, <the China Times >, Taiwan, Oct. 30, 2010 : "Sneering at the poor instead of the prostitutes" (「笑貧不笑娼」) is Taiwan's social value system . The Liberty Times, 2015-5-15 , talk.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/1318118 "Welcome to the times" ─ "Laughing at the poor instead of the prostitutes" 。

The 'gold-diggers' or pretty swindlers back to the future to barter with the rich guys ─ each takes what he/she needs and gains what he/she worths ─ huge money or a green-card (permanent residency in the US worths about USD 1 ~ 1.5+ millions)...... Those "high-end" materialistic girls at heart are similar to "low-end" mail-order brides. Wikipedia (2021-12-21, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail-order_bride) "Motivations and stories" reported that most of Asian mail-order brides come from 5 countries including Taiwan. They are sleeping with 'a carefully calculated set of venal choices'.

Medium (US, 2017) said "Often, people who do not marry for love are judged for their decision". Daily Mail (UK), 2021-10-21: A British woman is accused of 'teaching her daughters to be gold diggers' after admitting she'll advise them that wealth and earning potential is more important than marrying for love... some took it as far as comparing it to 'sex work'.

Money matters in marriage. But money can't buy you love (Wall Street Journal at 2020-11-21, Brigham Young University, 2012). Friedrich Engels (German philosopher, critic of political economy) : marriages based on love are moral. New York Times, 2014-3-9: "In the days of old, the economic basis of marriage was made explicit... Now it has been replaced by romantic love". Pew research Center, 2013-2-13: Americans believe that love is the main foundation of marriage. (pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/02/13/love-and-marriage/) Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, 2016-6-10: "marriage is regarded as strictly for those who've declared their romantic love"'。 People's Daily online (China), 2012-10-29: According to mainstream values, true love is a precondition for good marriages...money marriage is the "hell of soul" worse than the "tomb of love". Rodman (MarketWatch, 2019): "when life gets tough — and it always does — it's the love that will sustain you, not the cash".

pic. left: No.1 "Taiwanese love or money" on Duckduckgo, 2022-9-5, 2022-8-16, 2022-7-18, 2022-7-7, 2022-6-16, 2022-5-19, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-9, 2022-3-28, 2022-3-17, 2022-3-12; pic. : No.1 "Taiwanese love or money" on AOL, 2022-9-5, 2022-8-16, 2022-7-18, 2022-6-16, 2022-5-19, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-9, 2022-4-1, 2022-3-28, 2022-3-20, 2022-3-12;
No. 2 "Taiwanese love" on AOL, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-6, 2022-3-28

without bread,
love might
starve to illness;

without love,
bread
becomes difficult to swallow;

without extreme luck,
you won't have
plenty of both

Debts might bring unhappiness to marriage, but a research ( 2014 ) in Emory University found that wealthier couples don't necessarily last longer than those who earn less, and the more you spend on a wedding ceremony, the shorter the marriage. Many marriages of the celebrities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China are short - such as Alexander、Leehom Wang (王力宏): 8 years˴ Barbie Hsu(大S) 10 yrs.˴ Gillian Chung (阿嬌, 鍾欣潼）1 yr.˴ Huang Xiao Ming (黄晓明) 5+ yrs.˴ Cynthia Wu (Shin Kong Life Insurance vice president) Jhih-Yan Lin (Hua Nan Financial Holdings Vice President ) 2 yrs. ˴ Chang Chia-Chen (甄珍) Patrick Tse Ka Yuk (謝賢) 2 yrs. ˴ Chin Han (秦漢 Sun Siang-chong) , Shao Chiao-Ying 9 yrs. ˴ Stella Chang (張清芳) 15 yrs.˴ Steven Liu (劉家昌) Chiang Ching (江青) 4 years ˴ Steven Liu (劉家昌) Chang Chia-Chen (甄珍) 9 years ˴ Winnie Ho (何妤玟) 8 yrs. ˴Belle Yu (于美人)15 yrs.˴ Fukuhara Ai (福原愛) 4+ years. ˴ Kao Kuo-hua, Tsai Yu-hsuan (高國華, 蔡郁璇) 8 yrs. ˴ Brigitte Lin / Lin Ching-Hsia (林青霞) , Charlie Chin (fiancé) 4 yrs. ˴ Annie Yi (伊能靜) , Harlem Yu 8 yrs. ... (They may divorced for different reasons) ; China Times, editorial, 2021-12-30 (chinatimes.com/opinion/20211229004676-262101?chdtv): Politician 楊秋興 said 80-90% of Taiwan's lawmakers have affair (or sex scandal, "緋聞"). Taipei Times (2015-8-6) calls Taiwan "Infidelity Island", Panorama (Taiwan), Aug. 2002 ("Screwing things up - adultery"): A study on extramarital affairs in Taiwan conducted by the TVBS survey center estimates one Taiwanese woman in four suspects her husband of having an affair.

In Science Daily (Feb. 8, 2012), Brigham Young University noted : "Couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure. When both partners are materialistic, they are better off financially – but money is a bigger source of conflict for them". Telegraph (UK, 2011-8-21), says: In China, "almost half of all divorces see a court squabble over the family assets".

One of biggest marriage-conflicts in Taiwan in recent years is the couple of Belle Yu, she claimed that love is the tomb of marriage, money is the paradise of marriage. ( ref. to tw.news.yahoo.com/愛情和婚姻是兩條平行線！于美人催淚「離婚-10-金句」：愛的成分很少，婚姻才能維繫下去-154300092.html ; star.ettoday.net/news/186529; ns2.doctorvoice.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=82864) American-Taiwanese super star Leehom Wang is another case, his wife Lee Jinglei was trying to "destroy" him by accusing that Wang has multiple mistresses, cataloged prostitutes, had affair with married woman, and used her as a "chess piece" and had controlled her throughout the marriage (South China Morning Post, 2021-12-20), monitored her private life by rvs remote video surveillance to be a semi "Truman Show" (UDN, 2021-12-26, udn.com/news/story/121823/5988620?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2), etc. The serious war of words between the couple became a public trial in which every Taiwanese takes a part (udn.com/news/story/11091/5998228?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub11091_pulldownmenu_v2 2022-1-2; udn.com/news/story/7340/5992453?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7340_pulldownmenu_v2 2021-12-28) , and lit up the internet across Asia, made Taiwan's media to collectively lose a sense of responsibility (UDN, editorial, 2021-12-27 udn.com/news/story/7338/5989905?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2) , and seemingly made enough noises to attract the Communist Party's attention - Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned the industry to "pay attention to morals". (ref. to scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3160443/wang-leehom-scandal-communist-party-warns?module=hard_link&pgtype=article Dec 20; taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4380609, taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4382124 2021/12/20 , chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20211221003957-260404?chdtv 2021-12-21)

Wall Street Journal, 2020-11-21: 'getting and losing money activates the same pleasure and pain centers in the brain, respectively, as falling in love and having your heart broken'.

Education should be a better means for "poverty alleviation" or getting money.

According to Wikipedia (Dec. 25, 2021), 45 percent of Taiwanese aged 25 to 64 hold a bachelor's degree or higher. By contrast, the percentage of Americans is only 37.5% in 2020 ( statista.com/statistics/184260/educational-attainment-in-the-us/#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20about%2037.5%20percent,population%20had%20graduated%20from%20college. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Taiwan#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20role%20in,a%20bachelor's%20degree%20or%20higher. )

But it appears lots more Taiwanese than Americans try to bet money by using marriage, although some do need a marriage to be wealthy in modern Taiwan.

pic. : No.1 "Taiwanese love" on Ecosia of Germany, 2022-4-26, 2022-4-21, 2022-4-16, 2022-4-9, 2022-4-4, 2022-3-31, 2022-3-29, 2022-3-28 ;
No.2 at 2022-6-16 　
　

No.1 "Taiwanese love" on Yahoo Taiwan, 2022-4-26,
2022-4-16, 2022-4-6, 2022-4-4;
Top 3 at 2022-6-15

Studies on marriage & divorce

n STATISTA, 2021-11-24 (statista.com/statistics/1078824/taiwan-crude-divorce-rate/): The crude divorce rate of Taiwan stood at 2.19 couples per 1,000 population in 2020. The divorce rate peaked at 2.51 couples per 1,000 population in 2010. The total number of divorce registrations in Taiwan decreased to around 51.7 thousand in 2020 (STATISTA: In 2020, the resident crude divorce rate in Singapore was 1.7 ) ; Statistical Handbook of Japan 2021: the divorce rate (per 1,000 population) in Japan was 1.57 ; World Population Review.: S. Korea 2.1, Mongolia 1.3, Qatar 0.4 (Divorce Rates by Country 2021   worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/divorce-rates-by-country))
n TAIWANnews, 2020-7-11: One-third of Taiwanese divorces take place within 5 years of marriage, setting a new decade high, The average duration of the marriages of the couples divorcing last year was 8.17 years, (taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3964637)
n TAIWANnews, 2019-6-23: An average of 149 couples file for divorce per day in Taiwan in 2018   (taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3730261)
　

★ Wikipedia , 2022-7-11 Divorce statistics by country/region (per 1,000 population / year)
Rank in Asia	main country in Asia	Crude Divorce Rate
1	Kazakhstan	4.6
2	China	3.2
3	Taiwan	2.3
4	S. Korea	2.2
5	Kuwait	2.2
6	Cyprus	2.2
7	Saudi Arabia	2.1
	NZ (Asia & Pacific)	2.0
	Australia (Asia & Pacific)	2.0
8	Singapore	1.9
9	Jordan	1.8
10	Israel	1.8
11	Japan	1.7
12	Lebanon	1.6
13	Kyrgyzatan	1.6
14	Iran	1.6
15	Malaysia	1.6
16	Azerbaijan	1.5
17	Tajikistan	1.4
18	Thailand	1.4
19	Syria	1.3
20	Qatar	1.1
21	Mongolia	1.1
22	UAE	0.7
23	Vietnam	0.4
24	Sri Lanka	0.15
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_demography

According to Wikipedia (2021-11-28): The number of crude Divorce Rate in Taiwan is higher than that in most countries in Asia & Pacific, such as Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand etc. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_demography ). United Daily (聯合報), 2021-11-29: Since 2016, Taiwan became the most "youngsters Never-Marry" or "young peopele marriagefree" country。udn.com/news/story/7340/5923528?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

★ Taiwanese females like to marry a rich guy, Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 2015.1.26

ideal monthly income (NT$)	girls in Northern TW	girls in middle of TW	girls in Southern TW
a stable job will be fine	15%	26%	26%
20,000~30,000	3%	8%	11%
30,000~50,000	13%	21%	26%
50,000~70,000	48%	31%	27%
70,000~100,000	14%	11%	8%
100,000 (about USD3,300)~above	7%	3%	2%
★ United Daily, 2022-3-8: According to Academia Sinica, 56% husbands feel very happy, 45% wives feel very happy; Gov data: nearly half of young people, , particularly female, born between 1981 and 1990 are still single. udn.com/news/story/7339/6147653?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7339_pulldownmenu_v2 ★ United Daily, 2022-4-4: The non-marriage rate of Taiwan's young people is the highest in the world, with 80% of females between the ages of 25 and 29 unmarried, and more than half of females aged between 30 and 34 unmarried; the males's rate is about the same. Besides, Taiwan's fertility rate is the lowest in the world. udn.com/news/story/7340/6213572?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 楊志良 (former chief Health Gov., Taiwan)

★ Housing & marriage

n United Daily (<聯合報>), 2021-6-17: udn.com/news/story/7340/5537697?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 medical expert 楊志良's project found out: under the circumstances of low salary and high housing price, it will be less and less marriage and child born。(楊志良研究計畫顯示: 在台灣普遍低薪及房價過高的情況下，未來不婚不育的情勢，只會更加嚴峻。近數十年來，女性受教育及就業比率已大幅提升，社會地位也是如此，但因性別分工，男性需承擔養家活口的社會認知仍深植人心。女不嫁，尋求自由是主因，但無房、無力養家，男不娶，才是不婚、不育的首要原因。)
Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 2021-3-6, tw.appledaily.com/headline/20210306/HJMLA6LWAJGABED753Y4ZNFOHU/, 社會學研究指出：女性承擔經濟任務，具備獨立發展的物質條件，很容易掙脫家庭紐帶，追求自我的實現...

n finance.yahoo , 12-30-2020, (finance.yahoo.com/news/retire-taiwan-costs-visas-more-215449948.html), SmartAsset (smartasset.com/retirement/retire-in-taiwan)

Purchasing an apartment in Taiwan, is significantly more expensive than in the U.S. An apartment in a city center in the U.S. will cost an average of $292 per square foot, according to Numbeo. In Taiwan, it costs an average of $761 per square foot to purchase an apartment in a city center. When it comes to renting, Taiwan is still significantly cheaper than in the U.S. In the average city center in America, a one-bedroom apartment costs an average of $1,346 per month. In Taiwan, the same apartment costs about $485 per month. If you were to choose a three-bedroom apartment, it would cost $2,156 in the U.S. and $1,132 in Taiwan.

further : Taiwan housing , 台灣居住
　