"I'm not young, I'm not young, I'm 23, and I'm going to be in my old age soon, and you should think about your personal life. I heard that the granddaughter of your fourth grandfather's family has been working in your company, what's her name? By the way, Mingjue, right? Aren't you two quite close? How about it? Is there anything you want to talk to grandpa?"

The old man looked at Zhou Fangyuan with a smile.

Zhou Fangyuan covered his forehead helplessly, he was really ...... The more you are afraid of something, the more you will come, you are only 23 this year, and you are still a virtual age, what's the matter, you have to think about marriage again?

What age is this, nowadays, it is not uncommon for people to get married at the age of thirty, how old are they this year, and they are married...... It's really too far away.

But perhaps in the minds of the elderly, getting married early is the right choice.

In fact, as we all know, ancient people got married relatively early. The book "Book of Rites" proposes that the age of marriage leave in ancient times was 20 years old for men and 15 years old for women. But antiquity contained numerous dynasties, each of which was slightly different. In the Tang Dynasty, it was stipulated that "men over the age of 15 and women over the age of 13 must be married"; in the Ming Dynasty, "all men who are 16 years old and women who are 14 years old or older should be allowed to marry"; during the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan decreed that "if a woman is 17 years old and her parents do not marry, the elders should match them." In other words, if a woman does not marry until the age of 17, the local government will find a leftover man to marry.

In ancient times, women got married early, mostly around the age of 15-17, which changed according to different dynasties. During the Tang Dynasty, the age of marriage leave for women was 15 years old, in the Han Dynasty it was between 13 and 16 years old, and during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the average age of marriage was 13 years old, among which Empress Liu of Emperor Chen Xuan was married at the age of 11.

There are probably several reasons why people in ancient times got married early.

First of all, it must be to give birth to children, the ancient medical conditions were poor, and the disease spread quickly, so the survival rate of newborns is not high. As a result, the country's population is less prepared, and the capacity of the labor force and army is weakened. In the era of cold weapons, the number of people can determine many things, especially in times of war. So in order to ensure the number of people, especially the number of newborns, the state and government at that time, well, or the imperial court, of course, hoped that the common people would have more children early. As for the common people, they are affected by social customs, coupled with the importance of the real labor force, subjectively, they are willing to have more children, and they are more willing to have children early, after all, in terms of ancient medical technology, for the so-called "advanced maternal age" of modern people, in ancient times, it is basically unimaginable.

Then there is the short life span of ancient people, the living environment of ancient people is worse than now, and the medical conditions cannot keep up, a plague can take the lives of countless people, which causes the overall life expectancy of the population. This situation is the same even for the royal family, let alone the commoners. Therefore, for various reasons, ancient people often got married earlier. Earlier marriage, earlier childbearing, and having as many children as possible while the body can still give birth, this is the appeal of the ancient people.

But modern people are different.

First of all, the modern state, the modern government, itself has a legal regulation on the age of marriage.

According to Article 6 of China's Marriage Law, domestic citizens must marry no earlier than 22 years old for men and 20 years old for women. Of course, in the future that Zhou Fangyuan is familiar with, some deputies to the National People's Congress have proposed at the two sessions to change it to "men must not be earlier than 20 years old, and women must not be earlier than 18 years old." This is related to the fact that the momentum of China's total population growth has weakened significantly, the working-age population and women of childbearing age have decreased significantly, the degree of aging has deepened, and the masses' willingness to have children has undergone major changes.

Some people may wonder why people's conception of childbearing has changed, and why has the state made policy adjustments?

It's very simple, because the country has different stages of development.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the land of China had just come out of the history of humiliation for hundreds of years, the population was seriously lost, the country was in ruins, and the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union at that time was intensified, and our country stood by the side of the big brother of the Soviet Union. So at that time, having children was the most correct thing, and the more children you had, the better, to a certain extent, and even be praised by the state and the government. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the world quickly entered a period of peace.

At this time, the state needs to step in to limit the speed of having children. The reason is simple, you can't afford it!

In the beginning, there was no way, the population was not enough, and after a big war, all the young people died, what should the country do? Although there were still many problems, at that time it was a situation where it was necessary to give birth and had to be born. Now, it is necessary to control it, because the country has initially stabilized, and there will be no more major wars in the short term, and the most important influencing factors have immediately shifted from war to the economy and people's livelihood. If a family has one more child, there will be millions more babies in the country, and when this group of people grows up, they will continue to marry and have children, and then the population growth will be absolutely terrifying and explosive.

Otherwise, the imaginary enemy may not have made a move, and the big foodie empire itself will eat itself first.

Of course, the benefits of a large population are also huge, first of all, the volume is large, the labor force is enough, when the Western countries because of the developed period, labor prices began to rise wildly, the domestic labor costs are so cheap that it is almost like no money. With such a large group of workers, the country can develop rapidly. In fact, until now, why has the Internet developed so rapidly, why has the mobile phone industry been out of control, and why has the country's economic strength risen rapidly? In the final analysis, it is the advantages brought by the demographic dividend. If there is no huge population, there is no demographic dividend behind us, and if the country wants to develop, it will definitely be much more difficult than it is now.

Of course, the legal age of marriage does not mean the specific time of marriage, and the legal age of marriage is not the age at which marriage must be married, nor is it the most recent time of marriage, but the minimum age for marriage. Only when they get married at this age will the Marriage Registration Office of the Civil Affairs Bureau give registration, otherwise the state will not recognize the newlyweds. The age of marriage is set on the basis of a person's physical development, work and study. At the same time, it is also determined according to the development of the country, just like the country later opened up the two-child policy, why? Isn't it because of the wave of baby boom that broke out that year, and now it has begun to enter the old age?

The huge population, which once made it difficult for the country's finances to bear, now makes the demographic dividend of the country's rapid economic development will soon become a new burden again, that is, the super-large-scale aging of the population.

Coupled with today's young people, the number of Dinks is starting to grow.

If we continue to engage in family planning, in another twenty or thirty years, the population will be small, but the country will still need people in all aspects to spread out such a big stall, so the policy is constantly changing, and it is also based on the actual situation, and it is not something that the leaders can decide by casually patting their brains, but this is an important decision related to a country.

But!

This has nothing to do with Zhou Fangyuan.

He's not a Dink.

The so-called Dink refers to those who have fertility and choose not to have children, in addition to actively not having children, or they may be subjective or objective reasons and passively choose not to have children.

For thousands of years, the traditional concept of "no filial piety has three, and no queen is great" has been deeply rooted in the minds of Chinese people.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, it is difficult for the Dink and the "Dink family" to become the life trend of the whole society, but in the family where the husband and wife have a relatively high level of education, this concept has a big market. One of the proofs is that from the early 90s to the end of the 90s, the number of "Dink families" in the major cities of our country was steadily rising, and it was inevitable that it would become the marriage fashion of a certain class.

According to a survey of the "Dink family" in the mid-90s, the first reason for choosing not to have children was anxiety about the country's demographic problems, the second was to make one's life easier, and the third was to achieve self-realization.

The second reason is to make life easier, which is actually very important.

Because many people think that the people around them and their parents are too tired of life, and while some people bluntly admit that their choices are hedonistic, many distinguish between the pursuit of pleasure and the pursuit of ease. One respondent said that the pursuit of pleasure is the pursuit of excitement and the pursuit of instant pleasure, but the pursuit of relaxation is the pursuit of escaping sin and pursuing a comfortable, indifferent, and elegant life, and there is a difference between the two. Despite these differences, the general impression of voluntary infertility is that they have abandoned the traditional Chinese way of life of enduring humiliation and unconditional sacrifice for their offspring, and value their own happiness more than they are willing to sacrifice personal happiness, joy and ease in exchange for what they call "things outside the body".

As for the third reason, self-fulfillment, this goal has more positive connotations than the search for an easy life. Some respondents mentioned that having children would ruin their careers and chances of success, especially middle-aged couples, who deplored the waste of their youth at certain times of the year, wanted to achieve something in their careers, and were unwilling to waste their precious energy and years to have children.

Well, this kind of thing, to put it bluntly, is a matter of public justification and mother-in-law saying that mother-in-law is reasonable. However, in the real society, there are some factors that the Dink people and the Dink family must face.

First of all, there is the sense of isolation. People often find out in their social circles that they are the only ones who are not parents. It's lonely, especially during the holidays, when people talk about how happy they are when their adult children come home to visit, or how they prepare for their marriage, or when their daughters-in-law are pregnant and their grandchildren are about to be born...... The Dinks will never experience these human experiences, and will feel like an other.

Secondly, this group of people in general needs more social support. There was once a Dink man who said that one year he fell and injured his back, and no one took care of him during his recovery, so he had to let his secretary come to serve him. The Dinks are very individualistic and very independent, which works most of the time, but it is also necessary to have close ties with others in case of emergency. People who have children naturally form this bond because they need help with the child's care and child-related matters in their lives. Moreover, others are also willing to lend a helping hand to parents with children.

And the help of others is actually not important, in the final analysis, the child itself is the biggest helper of parents. The idea of "raising children to prevent old age" may seem too old-fashioned to some people, but you have to admit that it makes sense and exists for a reason. Even if it is generally said that the so-called "family relationship is relatively weak" Westerners, in fact, they often go to see their parents or children, especially when they are old, when they need help the most, and the Dinks will encounter real difficulties at this time.

And then the third point, to whom can the property be left to?

Of course, you can use it for public welfare, or you can save money to find a good nursing home for yourself when you are old, but after all, this is not the choice of the mainstream crowd, so the so-called Dink, after all, can only be a niche choice, and the public will still choose the normal route of marriage and childbirth.

Well, the gossip is out of the way.

Zhou Fang is far from being a Dink, he himself is sure that he wants children and is willing to get married.

As for self-realization, in fact, he has already done it, Yuanfang Group was built by him, and it will continue to become stronger and larger, and his self-worth has been realized. He was reborn for a lifetime, and his biggest wish has always been to make money, make a lot of money, and make money that can't be spent, and now it's almost like that, so he doesn't have to worry about having children that it will affect his career.

To put it bluntly, he just feels that he is still young, he has just passed the legal age of marriage, and he still has a long time to continue this life, and there is no need to get married and have children early, tying himself to marriage and family. But it's also clear that parents don't think so. It doesn't matter if they are old-fashioned or old-fashioned, anyway, now from grandparents and grandparents, to their parents, aunts and uncles, they all hope that they can get married. Maybe they have other considerations? Just like the ancient emperors, the heir was a very important issue.

He now controls such a behemoth as the Yuanfang Group, but there are not many family members of his own, if one day he ...... If Zhou Fangyuan really had an accident, what would happen to this big business? If there is no heir, will it be cheaper for outsiders to be at that time? Although with the model and structure of a modern enterprise, it is not very easy for the dove to occupy the magpie's nest, but it is difficult to guarantee that this will not happen, right? Moreover, the grandparents really hope to see the fourth generation as soon as possible, especially when the grandparents of the oldest generation have just passed away, and the importance that the old people attach to the family makes them eager to continue to grow the family.

Not to mention the fourth generation, it would be even better if you could see the fifth generation in your lifetime and be truly in the same house for five generations. The old man had this expectation, so he was inevitably a little anxious, and as a result, he asked Zhou Fangyuan Alexander, facing his grandfather's gaze, he didn't know what to say for a while.