Introduction to my neighbourhood
I live in Guangzhou, China. My community is a large, diversified and modern complex. There
are more than 1000 households. The difference between Chinese communities and Western
countries such as Canada is that there are two important organizations in Chinese communities:
neighborhood offices and neighborhood committees, which are administered by the
neighborhood offices, and community neighborhood committees for self-management and
mutual assistance.
The community was established in 2015. Although it is a modern community, many old
buildings have been preserved. Community service centers, shopping malls, kindergartens,
schools, parent-child activity centers, domestic service centers, elderly care institutions,
psychological counseling centers, rescue stations, financial service centers, etc. are provided in
the community to provide residents with catering, entertainment, medical care, education,
economy and other services
Generally, the community adopts the mode of government support, community organizations
and residents' participation, joint construction and management. The official color and the folk
autonomy color are intertwined in many aspects of community management. The government is
relatively loose in the development of community intervention, and basically adopts indirect
means, which can only be planning, guidance, supervision and financial support. However, in
special periods (such as the period of COVID-19), the government will take over the community,
restrict the travel of residents in the community, import foreign population (including materials),
and suspend property sales.
The development of the community determines the development of the society to a certain
extent. The rich and colorful community cultural activities can directly reflect the spiritual
outlook of the residents and the cultural atmosphere of the whole community. The construction
of a harmonious community effectively drives and affects the development of the whole society,
and is the foundation for building a harmonious society Community brings people together with
its unique spiritual inspiration and enlightenment. In today's society, community has become one
of the important ways for people to feel and enjoy happiness
1. what is family/ family definition
As an important part of society, marriage and family naturally assume certain social functions.
Throughout the history of human development, we can find that the social functions of families
are constantly changing. However, no matter how the social functions of families change, they
always serve a goal, that is, the reproduction of human populations.
When human society was just born, there was no difference between family and society. The
primitive tribe was a big family. The reason was that the productivity was extremely low at that
time, and the living unit based solely on blood relationship was unable to survive independently,
so naturally there was no way to complete the task of continuing the ethnic group. With the
increase of the number of ethnic groups, people gradually realize that the mutual reproduction
between blood relatives is not conducive to the development of ethnic groups, that is, "men and
women have the same surname, and their children are not strange", "people with the same
surname do not marry, and they are afraid of not breeding". Consanguinity is gradually
differentiated from social relations and forms a family. The improvement of social productivity
provides the basis for the existence of the family and enables the family based on consanguinity
to live independently. Therefore, a society with region as the core and a family with blood as the
core have been formed. （McCaffrey, P，2013)
In different social periods, the family plays different roles in society. In the self-sufficient
agricultural society, the family is the most important social unit, and the individual is the vassal
of the family. At this stage, the family is given the most important social status and needs to
shoulder the most important social functions.
The function of ethnic group reproduction is the most important function of the agricultural
society. Although ethnic group reproduction is caused by human nature, the number of ethnic
groups is of great significance to the rulers to maintain their own rule. In the agricultural society,
the population is not only the labor force, but also the source of wealth, and more importantly,
the source of troops. The ruling class in ancient China has always been very concerned about the
population problem, and often took administrative measures to ensure population reproduction
and promote fertility.
The economic function of the family is mainly manifested in that the family is not only a living
unit, but also a production unit. The production activities in the agricultural society are usually
completed by the family itself. On the one hand, the closed natural economy makes the workers
have no more labor options and can only choose the same work from generation to generation.
On the other hand, the backward social productivity leads to insufficient living resources. Taking
the family as a unit can increase the acquisition of living resources.
The social management function of family is a special function of agricultural society. Because
of the low social productivity of the agricultural society, the management of the ruling class can
not reach the grassroots level, so there is a saying that "since ancient times, the imperial power
has not been under the county". This management gap is filled by the family. Therefore, the clan
system linked by blood relationship has become the basic management system in ancient China
to a certain extent, and has undertaken most of the organizational and judicial functions in the
basic management.
The family ancestral hall is the place where the power is exercised and still remains in the
community（Picture 1）
The educational function came into being very early, and it appeared at the beginning of the
family. With the development of society, the function of education has changed from teaching
survival skills to teaching knowledge and culture. Because of the lack of social education in
agricultural society, most of them are only taught by families, which is an inherent saying of
"family origin”.
Upbringing is one of the basic functions of the family. Because of the low productivity of the
agricultural society, the social security system is at a very low level. The society is unable to bear
the support function of the elderly and can only transfer this function to the family. In modern
society, this function has been replaced by community nursing homes to a certain extent.
（Picture 2）
With the explosion of social productive forces, human history has entered the industrial society
from the agricultural society. The great improvement of productivity has changed the
relationship among individuals, families and society. The social function of the family has also
changed greatly.
The development of social productive forces has given birth to the awakening of individual
consciousness, which provides the basis for individual's independent survival and makes
individuals no longer the vassal of the family. The emergence of the "DINK" family proves that
a single individual can no longer need to use the family as a link to connect the society, and
individuals can survive independently in the society; The increasingly high divorce rate also
indicates the decline of the cohesion of the family, a special social unit, and indirectly indicates
the continuous decline of its importance in social relations.
The development of productive forces has greatly strengthened many functions of society, and
many functions originally belonging to families have begun to be undertaken by society.
Due to the awakening of self-consciousness and the optimisation of living environment, the
function of ethnic reproduction has become more personal choice than family function; The
economic function of the family has been affected by the great development of industry and
commerce, and has no longer become the mainstream of society; Due to the strong power of
government agencies and social organisations, the social management function no longer needs
the family as the necessary assistance; The educational function has been greatly weakened due
to the emergence of various schools; The maintenance function has also been reduced due to the
establishment of social welfare institutions. （united nations，1995）
However, the industrial society does not mean that the family is no longer important. The family
still has important functions that other social organizations cannot undertake. In the industrial
society, the functions undertaken by the family include education function, emotional comfort
function and weakened upbringing function.
The educational function of industrial society refers to moral education and a small part of
intellectual education for the next generation. With the popularization of schools, families do not
need to invest too much energy in the cultural education of the next generation.(picture 3：
public kindergartens in neighbourhood) However, at present, the moral education of the next
generation can only be undertaken by families. In the growth process of the next generation,
family is the most influential factor for the next generation.
The function of emotional comfort comes from the intensification of competition in industrial
society and the indifference of interpersonal relationship among individuals. As the most
intimate existence with individuals, family can meet the emotional needs of individuals. When
facing adversity, the encouragement and comfort of family members can not be replaced by
anyone else.
As the current social security is still insufficient, the society still cannot fully assume the support
function of the elderly, and families need to participate. On the one hand, it can make the elderly
have a more comfortable environment for the elderly, and on the other hand, it can avoid the
worry of empty nests of the spinning elderly.
The family is a part of society, and the social functions of the family will also change with the
development of society. Perhaps with the development of productivity, the family will eventually
disappear. However, at present, it is of great significance for creating a civilized and harmonious
social environment to let the family play its social functions.
2. historical and contemporary perspective on family
In this part, I do some research about the development of the marriage and family system in my
country and how the community functioned in this process.
After a long period of development, the feudal society of China finally declined in the late Qing
Dynasty. After the Opium War, the invasion of foreign capitalism also brought the atmosphere of
civilization and opening to China. The concept of marriage in modern China has undergone earth
shaking changes, and the marriage reform has opened the prelude in this ancient land of China.
The traditional paternalistic arranged marriage has been gradually abandoned. More and more
young people who are suitable for marriage have autonomy in their choice of marriage. The new
concept of marriage and love has gradually been accepted by people. Love has begun to be
injected into the new concept of marriage and love. In ancient times, women who were
dominated by men were treated equally and gradually gained freedom and respect in gender
relations.
a. Gender relations tend to be equal
In the feudal society of China, men played a dominant role in marriage and family, while women
were always regarded as the appendages of men and the tools for bearing children from birth to
marriage, and had almost no independent personality and status. Since modern times, with the
influx of Western civilization, Chinese traditional marriage concept has been greatly criticized.
Chinese people began to learn from Western civilized marriage, advocate monogamy, and abide
by the principle of equality between husband and wife, for which community has provide some
guarantees(P4). as an independent individual, women began to be respected and gradually had
great autonomy. （Liu, J., Sun, N., & Zhong, Y. 2020）The concept of equality between
husband and wife has gradually taken root in the hearts of the people and played an important
role in people's marriage and family. The traditional Chinese marriage dominated by men has
gradually transitioned to gender equality and independence. Women's activities organized by
community organizations have enhanced women's status (p5)
b. Freedom of marriage for marriageable men and women
As we all know, feudal marriage is a matter of two families or even two families. Most men and
women have no right to choose. The "orders of parents and the words of matchmakers" must be
followed by marriageable men and women
As we all know, feudal marriage is a matter of two families or even two families. Most men and
women have no choice. "Parents' orders and matchmakers' words" are the principles that
marriageable men and women must follow. In modern times, with the in-depth spread of the
western concept of equality, more and more young men and women began to advocate marriage
independence and love freedom. The traditional arranged marriage was impacted and
suppressed, and many enlightened parents gradually accepted the fact that their children freely
fell in love and formed a marriage. At the beginning of 1920, women's magazine launched a
discussion on "what is freedom of marriage". It is pointed out that "the combination of free love
is the true, correct and meaningful marriage and the freedom of marriage". Marriageable men
and women can choose their own marriage, and the decision-making power of marriage is in
their own hands, which is a great progress compared with the ancient traditional marriage.
c. The criteria for choosing a partner have changed
Since modern times, the traditional mate selection standard has been severely impacted. Under
the influence of the new concept of marriage, more and more young men and women pay more
attention to each other's talents and moral character and their common interests when choosing a
marriage partner, and regard the combination of love and soul as the highest standard for
choosing a spouse. Before marriage, both parties should understand each other, then fall in love,
and finally enter the palace of marriage. (P6：The community committee supervises the
implementation of free marriage) Swedish women's activist Ellen Kay said: "no matter what kind
of marriage, it is moral to have love. If there is no love, it is immoral even after the legal
marriage procedures.”.
d. The original intention of marriage has changed
In modern times, young men and women who were influenced by new ideas began to establish
marriage on the basis of emotion. The original intention of marriage changed. Marriage is no
longer just for physiological needs and family generation. Chen Wangdao said in his article "my
view on marriage problems": "the real marriage combination should of course be the direct inner
marriage. In other words, it should be based on love and should be limited by love". More and
more young men and women advocate that marriage is the combination of love first, and regard
affection as the most important factor in the conclusion and maintenance of marriage.
In addition to the above changes, wedding customs, freedom of divorce, remarriage of widows
and other aspects have gradually opened up, and the media of marriage has also changed greatly.
Although it has not eradicated the unhealthy atmosphere, it has shaken the feudal concept of
marriage and pushed it forward.
3. Family economy:
Why do people get married? Apart from anthropological and sociological explanations such as
the attraction of the opposite sex and emotional needs, it is easy for people to think of a word
"economies of scale" from the perspective of economics. Indeed, it is more economical for men
and women to eat and live together than for one person, but several men or women can also
obtain economies of scale through eating and living together, so economies of scale are not the
main reason for marriage.(P. L. 1996) From the perspective of economics, men and women with
different professional advantages and greatly different abilities and incomes can maximize their
own and both parties' benefits through marriage. From the perspective of time economics, this is
the real reason for marriage. The traditional social roles of men and women are different. In
China, it is generally believed that the most acceptable model is that men are in charge of
external affairs and women are in charge of internal affairs. The division of labor between the
two is different. Adam Smith listed three advantages of labor division in the first volume of the
original wealth, that is, labor division saves the time for workers to change jobs between
different types of work (Smith, A.1947); The specialization of division of labor enables workers
to accumulate human capital; Division of labor increases the opportunity to create tools and
accelerates the accumulation of material capital. The first advantage mentioned here is the
arrangement of labor time between different jobs. The traditional model of "men in charge of the
outside and women in charge of the inside" clearly distinguishes the boundary between domestic
work and social work, and reduces the time spent by couples in constantly changing between
domestic work and social work. It is reasonable from the perspective of social division of labor.
Of course, on the other hand, the mode of "women dominating the outside and men dominating
the inside" can achieve the same effect. This mode has become a popular trend with the
enhancement of women's independent consciousness. In addition to the division of labor that can
save the total labor time, complementarity also plays an important role in marriage (career
women marry family men). In "the probability of marriage between two people with large
differences in income ability is higher, because there is complementarity between paid work and
family production". In fact, complementarity makes marriage a win-win solution. (Sharp, C.
1983)
The family activity is not only a simple consumption activity, but also a production activity,
which produces some "satisfaction". Any production behavior can be regarded as a combination
of various inputs needed to obtain an output. In order to obtain the greatest satisfaction, the
family not only uses a large number of consumer goods purchased from the market and the
means of production goods needed by the family production, but also uses time resources. The
human resources, material resources and time resources consumed by the family are always
limited and scarce, so the decision-making of the family is to maximize the utility of family
resources. Here, the sum of money income and time income constitutes the total income of
family members to obtain utility and meet the purpose. The concept of opportunity cost can also
be used to analyze the family fertility problem. The fertility behavior can be regarded as the
behavior of human life production. Raising children into adults requires human resources,
capital, time and other inputs, that is, it needs to use scarce family resources; Moreover, children
can also bring their parents utility: 1. Labor economic benefits. When children grow up to a
certain age, they can provide labor services for the family or engage in certain professional labor,
and provide economic income for the family (P7); 2. Endowment insurance benefits. Especially
in developing countries, due to the underdevelopment of social security, parents mainly rely on
their children to provide for the elderly. 3. Expand family benefits. Most developing countries
hope to have "more children and more blessings". Having more children means the prosperity of
the family. The cost of bearing children is divided into two parts: one is the direct cost, that is,
the cost of clothing, food, medical treatment, education, marriage, etc. from the mother's
pregnancy to the child's support to self-reliance (P8); The other part is the indirect cost, that is,
the utility (P9) lost by parents, mainly mothers, due to the time spent in nurturing and caring for
their children, including the income lost due to the reduction of working hours, the potential
income lost due to the loss of education and promotion opportunities, and the utility lost due to
the reduction of leisure time and consumption of other commodities.
Therefore, the ratio of the utility to the cost of having a child affects the decision-making of
family fertility to a certain extent, and then affects the fertility rate.
4. Dating and family formation/ marital relationship
Marriage is the social manifestation of the combination of men and women, and it is the husband
and wife relationship confirmed by a certain social system. From the form of expression,
marriage is the physiological combination of men and women. From the essence, it is a specific
social combination of men and women. It has both natural and social attributes. The difference
between men and women and the sexual instinct of people are the physiological basis of
marriage; It is also a natural condition for men and women to form a marriage relationship
Human sexual behavior, different from animals, is a love behavior with social norms. It is bound
to be restricted by social legal system, social customs and moral concepts. （Yamaura, C.
2020) ）Therefore, not all gender unions can become marriage relations. Only gender unions
that conform to certain social customs and international legal systems are marriage. (p10)
Marital conflict is the conflict between husband and wife, which is based on the gender
relationship in the family. The important determinant of family gender relations is the gender
division of labor in the family. The male axial gender division of labor and gender relations of
"male dominating the outside and female dominating the inside" have resulted in the traditional
women's complete dependence on marriage and family. Based on this division of labor, gender
stratification of men and women in the family and society has been generated. After the idea of
gender equality has been promoted in society, a large number of women have entered the labor
market, which not only means the change of gender division of labor, but also means that men
should share the family responsibilities that "once" belonged to women. However, the actual
situation is that when the wife is encouraged to go out of the family and enter the labor market,
the husband does not enter the family correspondingly and assume more family responsibilities
(P11). The ideology has not been completely changed. The male centered patriarchal culture still
has a great impact on the marriage relationship in modern society.
People often strive for the maximum value of "subject status", that is, people seek self-interest,
so conflict is possible and inevitable, because interests are inevitably antagonistic. This kind of
conflict constructs social stratification. Some people have the power to influence and even
control the subjective experience of others. When these people always try to control others, they
will encounter resistance and interpersonal conflicts. In the traditional society, the idea of "men
are superior to women" and the inequality between men and women in the system give men
more power to influence women's lives, especially in marriage. The decision-making power of
the family is mostly in the hands of men, who are usually the owners of power and resources.
Therefore, women are dominated by men and subject to unequal treatment. The basic feature of
gender stratification is the institutionalization of sexual property, which is composed of the
interaction relationship and rituals between men and women. With the change of society, the
gender roles and concepts have changed correspondingly, and the interaction rituals between
men and women in the family have also changed. Modern women have more control over
resources, so they can fight against the control of men and strive for their equal status. With the
liberation of women and women beginning to occupy more power and resources, conflicts
between men and women, especially in marriage, are inevitable. The emergence of the modern
nuclear family undoubtedly impacts on the original gender relations and social division of labor,
and directly changes the expectations and concepts of gender roles in modern society. Women
are not satisfied that they still play the role of internal affairs, and have new role expectations.
This change has led to the development of the gender division of labor in the nuclear family from
"the male is in charge of the outside and the female is in charge of the inside" to the direction
that both parties have jobs and share housework. In the process of reconstructing the gender
division of labor, the traditional family power distribution model and role expectations have been
challenged. If one party cannot accept this reality, or if there are differences between the two
parties, marital conflict is inevitable. (P12) the occurrence of marital conflict is a result of the
continuous enhancement of women's self-consciousness and an inevitable process of adjusting
the original marital power relationship.
5. Mothers and mothering， fathers and fathering
Traditional gender roles require fathers to be pioneering and take the responsibility of
"supporting the family", while mothers are encouraged to be gentle and considerate and bear the
responsibility of parenting.
With the continuous rise of women's power, the modern family division of labor is developing in
the direction of husband and wife sharing the economic responsibility and educating their
children. However, this mode brings great pressure to both husband and wife. For husbands, in
order to ensure the family's financial resources, they sometimes have to choose to extend their
working hours, accept the opportunity of promotion and pay rise in other places, and express
their love for the family by staying away from their relatives, but this is contrary to their original
intention; However, the contemporary workplace is still not friendly to women, which is mainly
reflected in the entry threshold and the glass ceiling effect. Many studies have shown that women
face many obstacles in promoting to senior management positions, such as gender stereotypes
and colleagues' doubts about their abilities. In addition, women who invest too much in the
workplace often become the target of criticism from their neighbors and the public. Research
shows that compared with mothers who are forced to work under economic pressure, mothers
who devote themselves to work for personal achievement will suffer more negative evaluations.
Many people believe that, on the premise that the father has a certain income ability, the mother
should fully participate in the family life, that is, the stay-at-home mom.
Stay-at-home mom's contribution to the family: a happy, happy and harmonious family must
have made absolute contributions to it. The stay-at-home mom cleans the house, prepares
delicious meals for the family, and go shopping. The retailed store in the neighbourhood make it
easier（Picture 13）Making the whole family warm, harmonious and happy, thus improving the
happiness of the whole family. In addition, full-time wives can concentrate on the education of
their children and the care of the elderly at home, which can reduce the burden on their
husbands. Finally, the stay-at-home mom can become the backing of the husband. When the
husband encounters problems in his career or other aspects, the stay-at-home mom can reduce
the burden of the family for the husband, coordinate the family relations, and be conducive to the
stable development of the relationship between the husband and the wife. （Riday, J. D. 2015）
The contribution of a stay-at-home mom to society: "the family is the world". If every family is
harmonious, the whole society is also harmonious. Full time wives have improved the quality of
life and happiness index of the family, created a good living environment for family members,
and laid a foundation for the stable development of society.
The benefits of women's return to family to social and economic development: ① Women
returning to the family can most effectively maintain the harmony and stability of the family,
fundamentally reduce and reduce the divorce rate, thus promoting the harmony and stability of
the whole society, and indirectly promoting the purification of social atmosphere. ②It is
conducive to the education of children, thus promoting the improvement of the quality of the
whole nation. When women return to the family, they can spend more time and energy on the
family. In the final analysis, they can spend more time and energy on the education of their
children. They can fundamentally promote the birth and education of children and solve the
problem of child rearing and education. Excellent children will become excellent citizens, and
excellent nations will bring up the excellence of the whole country and society. ③It is conducive
to alleviating the social pension burden. After returning to the family, women will have more
time to accompany the elderly at home.The neighborhood provides leisure space for housewives
and the elderly so that they can take better care of the elderly in both material and spiritual
aspects, thus reducing the burden of the whole society.
However, stay-at-home mothers are not perfectly fair to women: quite a number of women have
received good education. If they return to their families, the significance of their previous
education will be wasted to a certain extent. For those women who are willing to continue their
education, their time and opportunities are also greatly consumed. luckily the neighborhood
office provide some continuing-education opportunity for stay-at-home women(p15)
6. same sex couple
The same sex marriage is an innovation of the traditional marriage model, which reflects the
development trend of modern marriage diversification, meets the needs of people who choose
same-sex marriage, and has important historical significance. On June 28, 2005, the Canadian
Parliament passed a new bill after a difficult decision to allow homosexuals to apply for
marriage. As a result, Canada has become a country that legalizes gay marriage. However, this
bill was also strongly opposed by conservative forces and religious leaders.
The Universal Declaration states that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights; everyone is entitled to enjoy all the rights and freedoms contained herein, regardless of
race, color, sex, language, property, religion, political or other opinion, international or other
status." As one of the citizens, same-sex couples should also be treated fairly, regardless of their
status. As the main body of society, they can also have their own demands, such as love and
family, because this is the category of freedom and the lowest level of human rights.
In essence, family rights are a basic human right. Since same-sex couples are eligible to be
treated in accordance with human rights, they should be entitled to family rights within the scope
of human rights. This is the meaning of the natural level. As for the form of realizing family
rights, it should be freedom of choice under reasonable restrictions, and it is not necessary to
stick to a specific model. Therefore, same-sex couples enjoy the legitimacy of family rights.
The reproductive consciousness of homosexual groups comes from many aspects: the traditional
concept of family succession, homosexual groups usually have to bear the pressure of marriage
and childbirth from their original families. Therefore, formal marriage and assisted reproductive
technology have become an option for same-sex reproduction. The birth of homosexuals is not
only the result of responding to social expectations, but also the pursuit of autonomy, although
this pursuit may be regarded as a kind of "compensation" for parents and is based on the
expectation of parents to provide care. On the other hand, having children provides homosexuals
with a way to show their homosexual sexual orientation to their families and obtain parental
acceptance. Parents' participation in the childcare and daily care of same-sex families means that
they live together with their children's same-sex partners or marriage partners, which may lead to
more complicated family kinship and living arrangements. In fact, the study found that some
parents are important participants in formal marriage, and they provide childcare support such as
care and "silent" acceptance. In fact, intergenerational care not only provides practical support
for the same-sex family to raise children, but also enables parents to play a role in the process,
and expounds this family model of same-sex children in their own way. In other words,
intergenerational care has contributed to the normalization of same-sex families to a certain
extent, eliminating the differences between these families and mainstream heterosexual families.
（Corvino, J. 1999)
On the issue of educating children, same-sex families and heterosexual families have
intergenerational conflicts. Some people believe that children of homosexual families are more
likely to have psychological problems. The Committee on child and family mental health
published two summary reports in 2002 and 2013. They point out that in the United States, about
2 million children under the age of 18 are raised by at least one gay parent. In the past 30 years,
numerous researchers have conducted various studies on various samples, sometimes even tens
of thousands of families. Some are short-term visits and some are long-term follow-up studies.
These studies cover a large number of indicators, even almost all the indicators that researchers
can imagine. From the perspective of parents, these indicators include the provision of family
entertainment, the encouragement of independence, the provision of maternal warmth, the
conflict and degree of family, and the amount of supervision and care of children. From the
perspective of children, these indicators include mental health, behavioral ability, academic
achievement, peer group relations, the quality and warmth of family relations, etc. Almost all of
the indicators show that there is no evidence of a difference between children with gay parents
and children with heterosexual parents.
Although gay marriage is not legal in China, the community still provides considerable
assistance to gay families. Including anti discrimination publicity (p16), as well as childcare
support for gay families (p17), and psychological counseling for gay fathers and children(p18)
7. Divorce and family in crisis
Nowadays, divorce in life has become a rare and ordinary thing, and two people (with the
emergence of a legal adjustment shield) will embark on the road of divorce. Family crisis usually
breaks out in middle age. According to statistics, men divorce at the age of 40 at most, while
women divorce at the age of 37, accounting for about 70% of the common marriage age of 6-15
years. There are various reasons. The community has made some effective interventions to the
marriage crisis
a. Middle aged husband and wife's sexual disharmony
In middle age, because of the physical, physiological, pressure and the reasons that the husband
and wife are too familiar with each other, the middle-aged husband and wife are at the most
disharmonious stage of sex, which is particularly prominent in men. More and more middle-aged
men, from the physiological point of view, are in the low tide of sex. In addition to the pressure
of work, life and other aspects, as well as bad habits such as smoking, drinking and staying up
late, many middle-aged men show low sexual function, Some even lost their sexual function and
could not satisfy their wives who were in the orgasm period, leading to disharmony in the life of
the husband and wife, resulting in quarrel and infidelity, and finally leading to a crisis difficult to
reconcile. The community provided some medical assistance to middle-aged couples, which
helped them to a certain extent (P19
）
b. The changes in the status of middle-aged couples lead to great changes in their
emotions.When the couple first got married, their economic and social status was relatively
stable, and they had accepted the differences in all aspects since they fell in love. However, after
middle age, the social and economic status of husband and wife changes greatly. Some become
leaders, some become bosses, and some become experts in various fields. The other party may be
laid-off, unemployed, bankrupt, etc. these changes lead to a great change in the status that
husband and wife once could accept. At this stage, it is possible to despise each other and cause
conflicts, and eventually lead to a crisis due to the change of husband and wife's feelings. (Why
divorce begets divorce. 2005)
c. Middle aged couples are prone to aesthetic fatigue
Many middle-aged couples have such feelings. In fact, there are not many emotions between
them. The beauty, virtue and sentiment of their wives have disappeared. In return, they are rude,
realistic and old, and their husbands who were once young, handsome and masculine can not be
found. In exchange, they are selfish, lazy and irresponsible. After the initial marriage, all the
once beautiful things have disappeared. In fact, the husband and wife have become a kind of
family relationship, However, it is not easy to adjust the family relationship. Therefore, the most
common phenomenon for middle-aged couples is maintenance. This kind of hard to maintain
marriage needs only a small thing to break out.
d. Family conflicts cannot be reconciled
Middle aged couples are old at the top and small at the bottom. The families of both sides need
them to face and bear. In particular, many parents only protect their children, and over time, they
form contradictory opposites. As a result, many family conflicts become more and more
irreconcilable, leading to an unprecedented crisis for the couple. When conflicts arise between
the two parties and escalate to divorce, the community neighborhood committee will carry out
some adjustment and intervention. （p20）
e. Economic crisis
The economy is the foundation of family support. If the middle-aged couples have poor
economic conditions, they will face economic disputes every day. In particular, the middle-aged
couples are the mainstay of the family. Their parents and children depend on you, and their
personal relationships and family living expenses. Such couples may quarrel over money.
Therefore, unemployment, bankruptcy, and lack of income sources are also the crises that the
middle-aged couples cannot face and reconcile, especially with their former friends When
compared with classmates, comrades in arms and colleagues, middle-aged couples have a sense
of crisis. Community credit cooperatives provide some legal and convenient small loans, which
not only relieve the economic pressure, but also help reduce family conflicts.
8. Lone parents
When it comes to single parents, it is generally considered that their parents are divorced.
However, with the diversification of family and social structure, families may have single
parents due to various factors, such as divorce, death of spouses, spouses living and working in
two places, and even unmarried pregnancy. Because of the different causes of single parents,
parents and children have different feelings and adjustments when facing single parents.
Reasons for the formation of single parents
1. Divorce or separation of parents;
2. Death of the father or mother due to illness or accident;
3. The parents in the family are subjected to reeducation through labor or reform through labor
for violating laws and disciplines, or their parents are abducted, trafficked or disappeared, etc
4. Abandonment of the family by the father or mother;
5. Families formed by adopted or unmarried mothers and their children. （Single-parent family
survey in Shanghai. 2010)
The problems faced by single parents are first of all economic. In particular, many families
belong to the "mother + child" combination type. The mother's income is low, and it is even
more difficult to maintain family life. Some even have difficulty in paying the children's
education expenses. The community gives certain help to such families, including spiritual and
material (p21) (P22)
Due to the economic pressure and the long-term tension of life, the psychological pressure of
single parents has increased. They feel helpless, at a loss, confused and sad. Due to the lack of
another half, they feel lonely emotionally, and cannot meet their physical needs and emotional
needs.
Another serious problem is the imbalance in the education of single parents
First, children lack complete love. The family in which children live suddenly has no father or
mother, and the original family life style has changed. Children must adapt to a new set of life
styles imposed by adults. Affected by psychological and life pressure, some fathers or mothers
lack patience and careful care for their children, have no time to communicate with their
children, or do not know how to communicate with their children, and cannot provide them with
timely psychological guidance. If children still feel that their neighbors, classmates and friends
discriminate against them and talk about them, it will bring them serious psychological pressure.
Lack of complete love will make children feel lonely, helpless and anxious. As parents are both
parents and mothers, they are devoted to how to earn more money to raise their children from
morning to night. Many of them have no time to pay attention to their children's education. In
addition, their own education level is not high, so they can not give good guidance or specific
help to their children's learning. The inability of single parents makes family education in a semi
vacuum state. Children lack correct guidance and restraint, resulting in poor study. No discipline
will make them more laissez faire, lacking self-confidence and self-improvement. What is more,
it will also produce a strong sense of inferiority and insecurity. In particular, children of divorced
families are often despised, even ridiculed and ridiculed by their classmates in school because
they can not get the complete warm family affection before their parents' divorce. In addition,
social prejudice and bad public opinion often make them unable to raise their heads. They are
ashamed of their parents' divorce, feel inferior, and have a strong sense of inferiority. The
inferiority complex makes most of them unwilling to talk about their family situation with their
teachers and classmates, and even more unwilling to let their classmates play in their own
homes. At the same time, the hostility of parents before divorce has destroyed the harmonious
family atmosphere, and the dissolution of marriage will even break the family apart. In this way,
children will suffer from the loss of paternal and maternal love, and will lose their existing sense
of security and happiness, resulting in a sense of abandonment and fear. For such families, the
community neighborhood committee will visit regularly and give some advice and help (p24)
Appendix
Picture 1
Traditional ancestral halls still exist in the modern
neighborhood where I live. But it is more symbolic
than functional, showing reverence for family and
ancestors
Picture 2
social elderly care service centre in neighbourhood
picture 3
public kindergartens in neighbourhood do not
charge any fees and are part of community welfare
Picture 4
marriage registration office in street office. the slogan on
the wall reads "free marriage, registered according to
law”\
Picture 5
Community women and children's activity center:
organize some community activities for women and
children, and also provide legal assistance
picture 6
Community matchmaking corner: men and women leave
some personal information and mate selection criteria for
two-way selection. matching does not mean the beginning
of a love relationship, but only provides an opportunity
for both men and women to get to know each other
Picture 7.
Community Service Center: children over 16 years old
can work part-time in the community to earn salary for
their family
Picture 8
Mother and baby life hall in neighbourhood: provide some
parent-child activities, such as swimming and building
blocks. All these items are charged and the price is not
cheap
Picture 9
Community postpartum care centers: provide
comprehensive care for newborn babies and mothers,
and also charge high fees
Picture 10
Community Law Popularisation Education Centre: conduct marriage law popularisation
education for newly married couples and couples preparing to get married
Picture 11:
Community housekeeping center: when both husband and
wife work long hours, community housekeeping service
becomes the choice
picture 12
marriage dispute mediation centre in my neighborhood
Picture 13
Community canteen: the majority of people who come to
shop are still women
picture 14
Community fitness square，Every day, many old
people exercise in the company of housewives
picture 15
The neighborhood committee regularly holds
lectures on family women's continuing education
P16
neighborhood bulletin board: was used to do anti discrimination propaganda for homosexuals
P17
Childcare Assistance Centre in community：
Provide parenting knowledge teaching, including
education, physical health, especially same-sex fathers
to their daughter
P18
Psychological counseling center:
provide free psychological counseling, including
for same-sex fathers and children of same-sex
families
19. Community Medical Center:
provide some medical consultation, including smoking and alcohol cessation
20. Community neighborhood committee:
provide mediation and intervention for some family disputes
21. Community neighborhood committee:
provide mediation and intervention for some family
disputes
22. Community assistance station:
it will regularly distribute some materials and raise donations to needy families
23.
Psychological counseling and rescue station
24.
Publicity of visit and assistance information for
families in difficulty
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