When the Chinese adaptation of the US series Sex and the City was released two years ago on the mainland, it immediately attracted a cult following. The elegant lifestyle and adventurous romances it portrayed sparked envy; its independent female characters were idolised and aped by many young urban women.
But the wind has switched directions with the dawning of a new year. Mainland women appear to be returning to their own traditions, as suggested by the soaring popularity of New Age for Marriage, a new television soap depicting young married life in Beijing. It stresses the message of sticking to marriage regardless of the bad times.
The new show's popularity appears puzzling on several accounts. First, the young couple in the story represent a typical white-collar family in an urban setting. Their marriage is torn apart by conflicts common in mainland China.
Coming from a peasant family, the husband imposes many unreasonable requests on his wife and in-laws. Fights erupt between the spouses, and the wife seeks a divorce. While it lacks inspiration, heroism and romance, the show ends with a positive - and thus illogical - spin.
Although the female lead character suffers constant emotional traumas, in the end the director reunites the estranged couple. Their reconciliation is at odds with what is happening in the real world.
Outside of TV scripts, the divorce rate has soared in recent years. From just 4.7 per cent of marriages in the 1980s, about 10 per cent of today's newlyweds end their marriages within a few years. Experts attribute that trend to the uncompromising attitudes of generations that grew up in one-child families.
